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Definitions and Development of Systems Thinking

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Systems Thinking for School Leaders

Abstract

This chapter presents some introductory material on systems thinking and how it came to be applied in real-world situations. We first review various definitions of systems thinking, extracting its two central meanings—seeing the whole beyond the parts and seeing the parts in the context of the whole. Then systems thinking is contrasted with reductionism: Whereas reductionists believe that the system’s defining characteristics exist in its parts, systems thinking claims that the whole has its own characteristics, which emerge from interactions among the parts. Thereafter, we depict how applied systems thinking was developed decades ago in some significant disciplines. The chapter ends by providing examples of current practical uses of applied systems thinking as implemented in a wide range of areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hemdat Hadarom College of Education, Netivot, Israel

    Haim Shaked

  2. Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Chen Schechter

Authors
  1. Haim Shaked
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  2. Chen Schechter
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Correspondence to Haim Shaked .

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Shaked, H., Schechter, C. (2017). Definitions and Development of Systems Thinking. In: Systems Thinking for School Leaders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53571-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53571-5_2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-53570-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-53571-5

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