Systems Thinking brings together classic and contemporary writings that cross the entire breadth of the systems field. The four-volume set includes the most influential theoretical papers, as well as applications in domains as diverse as global environmental modelling, business strategy, public sector planning, family therapy and the management of organizations. Key critiques of the leading writers allow the researcher to understand how and why paradigm breaks took place, and to grasp the extraordinary diversification of systems theory and practice we see today. Systems Thinking will be an essential reference for all libraries of business, management and organization studies. International Advisory Board Peter Allen, Cranfield University, UK Bela H Banathy, Saybrook Institute, USA & International Systems Institute, USA Kenneth Bausch, Institute for 21st Century Agoras, USA Richard Bawden, Michigan State University, USA Søren Brier, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark David Campbell, Tavistock Clinic, UK Fritjof Capra, Center for Ecoliteracy, USA Peter Checkland, Lancaster University, UK José Córdoba, University of Hull, UK Peter Corning, Institute for the Study of Complex Systems, USA Donald de Raadt, Luleå University, Sweden Eric Dent, University of Maryland, University College, USA Peter Dudley, Integra Management Systems Ltd., UK Robert Flood, Maastricht University, The Netherlands Joyce Fortune, Open University, UK Wojciech Gasparski, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland Wendy Gregory, University of Hull, UK Jifa Gu, JAIST, Japan & Institute of Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Enrique Herrscher, IDEA, Argentina Kristo Ivanov, Umea University, Sweden Mike Jackson, University of Hull, UK James Kay, University of Waterloo, Canada Lisl Klein, Bayswater Institute, UK George Klir, Binghampton University, USA Ervin Laszlo, Club of Budapest, Hungary Harold Linstone, Portland State University, USA Sid Luckett, University of Natal, South Africa Gianfranco Minati, Italian Systems Society, Italy John Mingers, Warwick University, UK Heiner M ller Merbach, Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany P N Murthy, Tata Consultancy Services, India Yoshiteru Nakamori, Japan Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (JAIST), Japan Harold Nelson, Advance Design Institute, Seattle, USA Roger Packham, University of Western Sydney, Australia Yong Pil Rhee, Seoul National University, South Korea Kurt Richardson, Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence, USA Fenton Robb, Independent Author, UK Ricardo Rodríguez-Ulloa, Instituto Andino de Sistemas, Peru Simanta Roy-Chowdhury, Barnet, Enfield and Harringay NHS Trust & University of East London, UK John Sterman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Sytse Strijbos, Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Stuart Umpleby, George Washington University, USA John Van Gigch, California State University, USA John Warfield, George Mason University, USA Jennifer Wilby, The University of York, UK Eric Wolstenholme, Cognitus Ltd., UK Maurice Yolles, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Table of Contents:
VOLUME ONE: GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY, CYBERNETICS AND COMPLEXITY The Historical Necessity and Scientific Feasibility of Tektology - A A Bogdanov General System Theory - L Von Bertalanffy General Systems Theory - K Boulding The Skeleton of Science Definition of a System - A D Hall and R E Fagen On the Concept of a System - J H Marchal General Systems and Holism - M Bunge Systems Philosophy - E Laszlo A Perspective on Systems Science and Systems Philosophy - P K M′Pherson Explaining Emergence - C Emmeche, S Køppe and F Stjernfelt Towards an Ontology of Levels Living Systems - J G Miller Basic Concepts The Future of General Systems Research - L R Troncale Obstacles, Potentials and Case Studies Cybernetics - N Weiner A Mathematical Theory of Communication - C E Shannon Requisite, Variety and Its Implications for the Control of Complex Systems - W R Ashby Form, Substance and Difference - G Bateson Science and Complexity - W Weaver The Architecture of Complexity - H A Simon Exploring Complexity - I Prigogine Complex Adaptive Systems - M Gell-Mann VOLUME TWO: SYSTEMS THEORIES AND MODELLING Evolutionary Universals in Society - T Parsons Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia - G Bateson et al Emergent Attractors and the Law of Maximum Entropy Production - R Swenson Foundations to a Theory of General Evolution Self-Organization, Transformity and Information - H T Odum Gaia - J E Lovelock Counterintuitive Behavior of Social Systems - J W Forrester Rationality in the Analysis of Behavioral Simulation Models - J D W Morecroft Beyond the Limits - D H Meadows, D L Meadows and J Randers An Executive Summary General Systems Theory - F E Kast and J E Rosenzweig Applications for Organization and Management The Systems Approach - G M Jenkins Three-Dimensional Morphology of Systems Engineering - A D Hall The Context, Nature and Use of Systems Analysis - E S Quade and H J Miser The Viable System Model - S Beer Its Provenance, Development, Methodology and Pathology Characteristics of Socio-Technical Systems - F Emery The Formal System Paradigm for Studying Failures - J Fortune and G Peters Engineers as Analysts of Social Systems - I R Hoos A Critical Enquiry Systems Theory as an Ideology - R Lilienfeld Cybernetics and Organization Theory - G Morgan Epistemology or Technique? Dynamic Models of Evolving Systems - P M Allen VOLUME THREE: SECOND ORDER CYBERNETICS, SYSTEMIC THERAPY AND SOFT SYSTEMS THINKING The Cybernetics of Cybernetics - H Von Foerster Reconstructing the Concept of Knowledge - E Von Glasersfeld Reality - H Maturana The Search for Objectivity or the Quest for a Compelling Argument The Autopoiesis of Social Systems - N Luhmann The Roots of Reductionism - R Fuenmayor A Counter-Ontoepistemology for a Systems Approach The Self-Referential Structure of an Everyday-Living Situation - R Fuenmayor A Phenomenological Ontology for Interpretive Systemology Paradoxes, Double Binds and Reflexive Loops - V E Cronen K M Johnson and J W Lannamann An Alternative Theoretical Perspective Hypothesizing - Circularity - Neutrality - M Palazzoli et al Three Guidelines for the Conductor of the Session A Constructivist Position for Family Therapy - L Hoffman Human Systems as Linguistic Systems - H Anderson and H A Goolishian Preliminary and Evolving Ideas about the Implications for Clinical Theory Human Systems are Different - G Vickers Operations Research as a Profession - C W Churchman Assumptional Analysis - I I Mitroff J R Emshoff and R H Kilmann A Methodology for Strategic Problem Solving Structural Thinking - J N Warfield and S M Staley Organizing Complexity through Disciplined Activity Resurrecting the Future of Operational Research - R L Ackoff From Optimizing to Learning - P Checkland A Development of Systems Thinking for the 1990s The Leader′s New Work - P M Senge Building Learning Organizations Learning in and about Complex Systems - J D Sterman Group Model Building - J A M Vennix Tackling Messy Problems The VSM - R Espejo and R J Harnden An Ongoing Conversation VOLUME FOUR: CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING AND SYSTEMIC PERSPECTIVES ON ETHICS, POWER AND PLURALISM Towards an Appropriate Social Theory for Applied Systems Thinking - J Mingers Critical Theory and Soft Systems Methodology Critical Heuristics of Social Systems Design - W Ulrich The Theory and Practice of Boundary Critique - G Midgley I Munlo and M Brown Developing Housing Services for Older People A Methodological Comparison of the Science, Systems and Metasystems Paradigms - J P Van Gigch Towards a System of Systems Methodologies - M C Jackson and P Keys The Origins and Nature of Critical Systems Thinking - M C Jackson Total Systems Intervention - R L Flood, and M C Jackson A Practical Face to Critical Systems Thinking What is this Thing called CST? - G Midgley Discordant Pluralism - W J Gregory A New Strategy for Critical Systems Thinking Inquiry and Intervention in Systems Planning - N Romm Probing Methodological Rationalities The Habermas\Luhmann Debate and Subsequent Habermasian Perspectives on Systems Theory - K C Bausch Valuing the Epistemic in the Search for Betterment - R Bawden The Nature and Role of Critical Learning Systems Multi-Modal Systems Design - J D R De Raadt A Concern for the Issues that Matter Towards Synergy in Multiperspective Management - H A Linstone and Z Zhu An American-Chinese Case Multimethodology - J Mingers and J Brocklesby Towards a Framework for Mixing Methodologies Interventive Interviewing - K Tomm Intending to Ask Lineal, Circular, Strategic, or Reflexive Questions? Theorizing about Power - C Flaskas and C Humphreys Intersecting the Ideas of Foucault with the `Problem′ of Power in Family Therapy Love and Violence - V Goldner et al Gender Paradoxes in Volatile Attachments