1. Unit 1 Tools for Systems Thinking
What is a System?
Unit 1
Tools for Systems Thinking

2. What is a system? A system is a group of:
interacting,
interrelated and
interdependent components that
form a complex and unified whole.

3. Examples of systems you know:
Your body is a system
The marketing department of a company is a system
The economy is a system

4. Defining characteristics of a system #1
A system’s parts must all be present for the system to carry out its purpose optimally.
Example: Your body, minus your head, will not function optimally.

5. Defining characteristics of a system #2
A system’s parts must be arranged in a specific way for the system to carry out its purpose.
Example: Your body, with your spine relocated to the outside of the back, will work differently.

6. Defining characteristics of a system #3
Systems have specific purposes within larger systems.
Your nervous, digestive and circulatory systems are a part of the system of your body, which is a part of the system of your family, which is a part of the system of your community. . . and so on.

7. Defining characteristics of a system #4
Systems maintain their stability through fluctuations and adjustments.
Example: Your body constantly regulates itself through a series of adjustments that control temperature.

8. Defining characteristics of a system #5
Systems have feedback.
Example: Your body changes temperature because it sends information to do so (feedback), from several sources, to the brain.
When your body adjusts, it also knows when to stop adjusting through feedback. That is, the body ‘talks to itself.’

9. Which of these is NOT a system—and why?
A garden
A society
A bowl of fruit
A pile of laundry

10. The last 2 are not systems
A bowl of fruit and a pile of laundry are not systems because:
They do not generate feedback to themselves
They do not adjust through fluctuations
They will function more or less the same in any order