30The Complete Guide to Systems Thinking and Learning
Some Guiding Principles
of the Systems Age
Now that we have looked at the four basic concepts of the Systems Thinking Approach
SM
, let’s
break them down to some useful and basic principles.
Success or failure in this coming Systems Age will depend, ultimately, on what we adopt as our
primary guiding principles. As Von Bertalanffy said, “In one way or another, we are forced to
deal with complexities, with ‘wholes’ or ‘systems’ in all fields of knowledge.”
7
We must recognize and understand the twelve interrelated general systems characteristics and
the seven levels of living systems. Only then can ...
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