Systems Thinking:Difficulties and messes

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5.1 Introduction

Reductionist approaches to problem solving take wholes apart and examine the parts to see how they work to gain an understanding of the whole. This approach can work with certain types of problem where it is possible to isolate them to a part of the whole and to then fix it. For example, I might well be able to identify a hard disk failure on my personal computer as the cause of it not working. Fixing the hard disk may well fix the problem and get me a fully functioning computer once again. Unfortunately, not all problems are amenable to this treatment and in many situations it is better to think of the situation as a 'mess' to be explored than a problem to be solved.

In this chapter we will consider the principal ideas behind systems thinking and contrast them with the reductionist approaches of traditional analysis. The aim of this chapter is to build an understanding of systems theory and systems thinking to provide a foundation for the soft systems methodology (SSM) introduced in chapter 6.

5.2 Difficulties and messes

Mental models affect how we see the world. How we view the world is an important factor in what action we take. If we view the situation non-problematically as a difficulty to be resolved then the situation is perceived as being bounded (figure 5.1).Developing Web Information Systems-0025

problem is and agreement is difficult to reach.

With a mess, the 'problem' cannot be disentangled from its context and the priorities are unclear and need to be questioned. With a difficulty the situation is bounded and the boundaries are taken as given. With a mess the situation is unbounded and the boundaries of the problem need to be explored and defined jointly with the process of defining what the problem is.

Real-world situations are not in themselves either difficulties or messes. The degree of difficultness or messiness is an attribute of the relationship between the observer and the situation. What is a local difficulty for one can be a mess with wide implications for another. It is more appropriate to think of problem situations as being perceived by a would-be problem-solver as lying on a spectrum delimited by a difficulty at one end and a mess at the other. The tendency of the system thinker will be to see messes and interconnectedness as well as difficulties and localizable problems. The art of judgment is in knowing where to position a particular intervention on the spectrum of difficulties and messes.

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