QUESTION
Whenever you wonder how the world is
working?
Why we have to do thing in a specific way?
How is our society working?
Could you name the common things in the
following example?
Car engine
Human body
University
Software
Manufacturer
MODULE 1:
INTRODUCTION Dr. Tam Nguyen
TO SYSTEM
SYSTEM STRUCTURES
AND BEHAVIORS
A SYSTEM IS A SET
OF THINGS
INTERCONNECTED
IN SUCH A WAY
THAT THEY
PRODUCE THEIR
OWN PATTERN OF
BEHAVIOUR OVER
TIME
IS IT A
SYSTEM? Can you identify
No Not a system
specific elements?
s
Ye
It’s a system
Are the parts
interconnected Not a system
and dependent on No
each other?
s
Ye
Ye
s
Is the effect When the parts
persistent over work together is
Not a system No Y Not a system
time despite the Ye the effect different No
s
environment? s from each part on
its own?
The Blind
Men and
the Matter
of the
“The behaviour of the system cannot be known by
Elephant
just knowing the elements of which the system is
made” - DHM
SYSTEMS – MORE THAN THE
SUM OF ITS PARTS
Behaviours can and may include:
• Adaptive
• Dynamic
• Goal-seeking
• Evolutionary
Systems mostly cause their own
behavior; outside events unleash
that behavior
“EVERY SYSTEM IS
PERFECTLY
DESIGNED TO
ACHIEVE THE
RESULTS IT GETS.”
DR. DON BERWICK
A SYSTEM CONSISTS OF:
• Elements
Syste • Interconnections
• Common Purpose
m
EXAMPLES OF
SYSTEMS
● Digestive system ● Tree
● Sports team ● Forest
● School ● Earth
● City ● Solar system
● Factory ● Galaxy
● Corporation ● IT system
● National Economy
● Animal
Flow of
Information
drives
interconnection
s
Information
holds
systems
INFORMATIO
N
The flow of which often
holds the system
together so when
combined with
knowledge and know-
how they operate as a
collective force.
WHAT CAN DETERMINE A
SYSTEM’S BEHAVIOUR?
• Purpose & Function working in harmony
• Interconnections married to purpose
• Example:
• Teamwork
• Departments in an organization
AND
DISCOURSE
?
Changing relationships
normally changes a systems
behavior. WHY?
“To ask whether elements,
interconnections, or purpose are
the most important in a system
is to ask an unsystemic
question” – DHM
FUNCTION
S AND
PURPOS
E are often
Functions
ascribed to machines
While, purpose is
associated with human
elements.
In truth a system has both
because elements are
often intertwined
A system will behave as the
function or purpose
determine
CHANGING
ELEMENTS
USUALLY HAS THE
LEAST EFFECT;
CHANGING
INTERCONNECTION
S OR PURPOSE IS
USUALLY MORE
DRAMATIC
EXAMPLES
Change all members of a
sports team vs change rules
of the game or the definition
of winning
Change people in the
organization vs change the
way of working or the
definition of organizational
success
EXERCISE 1.1
Choose a system and identify the
following:
Elements
Interconnections
Purpose - system behavior
Could your group also identify its inputs
and outputs?
STOCKS AND
FLOWS
“Changes in stocks set the pace of the dynamics of systems”
A stock can be increased by
“Stocks are pretty much queues”
decreasing its outflow rate as
well as by increasing its inflow Most individual and institutional decisions are designed to
rate regulate the levels in stocks.
STOCK
Elements you can see, feel, count
or measure at any given time
There rate of change tends to be slow – so they act as a The memory and history of the changing
buffer or shock absorbers to a system flows within the system
Tốc độ thay đổi có xu hướng chậm - vì vậy chúng hoạt động
như một bộ đệm hoặc bộ giảm xóc cho một hệ thống
Water in a bathtub
A population
EXAMPLES Books in a
OF
STOCKS bookstore
Wood in a tree
Money in a bank
STOCKS CHANGE
OVER TIME VIA
FLOWS
Workflow
Information flow
Both inflow and
outflow
Inflow
Stock
Outflow
Information flow
FLOWS
Flows are filling and draining,
births and deaths, purchases and
sales, growth and decay, deposits
and withdrawals, successes and
failures.
A stock can be
increased by
decreasing its
outflow rate as well
as by increasing its
inflow rate
TYPE - REINFORCING FEEDBACK LOOPS
• Ability to reproduce itself
• Self-enhancing – exponential leanings
• Non linear
Feedback
loops
A feedback loop is a closed chain of causal connections from a stock, through a
set of decisions or rules or physical laws or actions that are dependent on the
level of the stock, and back again through a flow to
change the stock.
Attributes TYPE – BALANCING FEEDBACK LOOPS
• Closed chain of causal connections • Stabilizing – stock equilibrium maintained
• Runs from a stock and is impacted by a set of rules • Goal relevant
• Often dependent upon stock levels • Sources of resistance to change
• Circular and iterative
EXAMPLE OF BALANCING
FEEDBACK LOOPS
Thermostat
Guided missile
Iterative, incremental software
development
REINFORCING
FEEDBACK LOOPS
Market collapse: uncertainty -> remove money -> more uncertainty
Compound interest
Death march: Too much to do -> work harder -> more bugs -> work even
harder
IF A CAUSES B,
IS IT POSSIBLE
THAT B ALSO
CAUSES A?
DELAYS
Causality and delay
The delays in information mean
that feedback can only effect
future behaviour.
Even non-physical feedback is not
fast enough to correct behaviour it
can only impact the future
behavior
CHANGING NEED TIME
HEAT TO
Heat from furnace
OUTSIDE
Room temperature
Discrepancy between Discrepancy between
desired and actual room outside and inside
temperature temperatures
A heating system is a
stock maintaining
balancing feedback loop
with natural heat loss or
gain. To establish
equilibrium the goal
must be set high or low
of target to avoid over or
undershoot. Flow does
not respond to flow – it
responds to a change in
the level off the stock
HOW FEEDBACK
FAILS
Late, lost, unclear,
incomplete, hard to
interpret information
Weak, delayed,
resource-constrained,
ineffective response
STOCK
CONTROL &
DELAY
• Perception delay – is the change
in demand for real?
• Response delay – is there a need
to make partial adjustments?
• Deliver delay – If demand is rising
what delays are wholesalers
experiencing of their own?
SYSTEMS FOR POPULATION
AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
Systems with
similar feedback
structures
produce similar
dynamic
behaviour
DELAYS – A
SYSTEM WOULD
NEVER BE
WITHOUT THEM
• They are pervasive
• They have repercussions
• Systems can modify their
behaviours on the back off them
• They lead to oscillations
LIMITS
• In any exponentially growing system with physical aspects
there must be a reinforcing feedback loop driving growth and
a balancing loop acting against this.
• No physical system can grow forever
SHIFTING
DOMINANCE
• Dominance – when one
feedback loop (reinforcing or
balancing) has hold of a system.
This relationship can be dynamic
and has a profound impact
upon system behaviour.
•When neither feedback loop
dominates the system is said to
be in ‘dynamic equilibrium’ –
cân bằng động
•Example:
• Mindset
• Politics
• Body reaction
REMIND - Elements
SYSTEMS
CONSIST Interconnections
S OF
THREE Function (non-human
THINGS system) or Purpose
(human system)
SYSTEM
INTERACTIONS
OPERATE
THROUGH
INFORMATION
FLOW
ADDRESS
INCONGRUENT
PURPOSES
System
purposes do not
necessarily
match the
intention of the
designers or
actors within it
HOW MIGHT
YOU
INTERVENE IN
YOUR
SITUATION TO
IMPROVE THE
SYSTEM?
Use the system in the previous
EXERCISE exercise and identify its stocks,
flow.
1.2 How would you change the
system and why?
ANY
QUESTIONS?
