Systems thinking

Systems thinking is an approach to understanding and improving complex issues and situations. It attempts to deal with these as wholes rather than through the reductionism of conventional science. Reductionism understands complex issues by examining smaller and smaller parts. Systems thinking sees the whole as different from the sum of its parts, because of the interactions between the parts. The issue for systems thinkers then becomes one of defining a relevant whole. The way this question is answered leads to a variety of approaches to systems thinking. This entry presents an overview of these ideas and outlines the history, development and current state of systems thinking and its links to action research