Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity: A Platform for Designing Business Architecture

by Jamshid Gharajedaghi

Systems Thinking, Third Edition combines systems theory and interactive design to provide an operational methodology for defining problems and designing solutions in an environment increasingly characterized by chaos and complexity. This new edition has been updated to include all new chapters on self-organizing systems as well as holistic, operational, and design thinking.

The book covers recent crises in financial systems and job markets, the housing bubble, and environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking. A companion website is available at interactdesign.com.

This volume is ideal for senior executives as well as for chief information/operating officers and other executives charged with systems management and process improvement. It may also be a helpful resource for IT/MBA students and academics.

Four NEW chapters on self-organizing systems, holistic thinking, operational thinking, and design thinking Covers the recent crises in financial systems and job markets globally, the housing bubble, and the environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking Companion website to accompany the book is available at interactdesign.com

Genres: Business, Management, Nonfiction, Leadership, Design, Philosophy, Reference

376 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 10, 1999

Reviews

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, the rating (we start at 5 stars):
+1 star for some cases included,
-1 star for the cases not being MECE, not anywhere close,
+1 star for quite a lot of ground covered, even if in huge leaps, maybe it's even going to a be a reread,
-1 star for a lot of stuff not detalised into demonstrable detalization,
-1 star for a lot of concepts left unlinked with practicalities,
+1 star for insights included, there were some, even though these were very generally formulated,
-1 star for the abstraction overused - while I love a lot of this stuff, I'm pretty sure somewhere a little management consultant cries bitter tears reading this, since this style overruns is precisely what gets professional consultants' panties in a twist, I think this would have been a plus for me years ago, before my brain got into all the don't-boil-the-ocean, SMART(-not) mode,
Overall, it feels closer to 3 stars. But the grading system says it's 4 stars. Let it be 4.

[Hashem · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتاب تفکر سیستمی آًقای قراجه داغی از اون دسته کتابهایی است که می بایست چندین بار خوانده بشه نه به خاطر اینکه مطلب برای فهم سخته بلکه نکات ریز و درشت این قدر زیاده که مسلما با یک بار خوندن همه رو درک نخواهیم کرد. البته پس از خواندن این کتاب نباید از منابعش گذشت چون اصل مطالب تفکر سیستمی در منابعی است که معرفی شده است و کتاب آقای قراجه داغی شروع بسیار خوبی برای ورود به این دنیاست.
کتاب با این سوال اصلی شروع میشه که چرا موفقیت های ما عموما باشکست روبرو می شوند؟‌مشکل اصلی موفقیت ها چیست و دشمن اصلی شون چیه ؟‌
و سپس ورود می کنه به مبحث نظری تفکر سیستمی و سعی میکنه تفکرهای کل نگر تفکر عملیاتی و تفکر طراحی را توضیح بده و ارتباط مباحث نظریه پیچیدگی و نظریه آشوب را با تفکر سیستمی را اراپه کند.بخوبی سیستم ها رو از ساده ترین حالت تا پیچیده ترین رو توضیح می دهد. این کتاب جز کتابهایی است که فکر می کنم برای درک رخدادها در هر جامعه کوچک و یا بزرگی باید مطالعه و فهمیده شود. این کتاب را به تمام کسانی که تفکر کل نگر و تفکر سیستمی را برای خود لازم می دانند توصیه می کنم.

[Roberto · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unlike the Fifth Discipline, this is a book about systems thinking that is quite difficult to read, for mainly two reasons: the brief discussion that is made by very important principles (the principles that guide a system, for example), without further examples, and the apparent lack of organization on writing it.
Some of the important points:
- A system is influenced by 5 "building blocks": openness (the size of its transactional environmental, or place that we can influence), purposefulness (the interaction among the three most important categories for an individual: reason, emotion, and culture), multidimensionality (the use of matrixes of results, instead of dichotomies, due to interpretation of the context), emergent properties (properties that appear due to the interactions of the components, and cannot appear on the components working by themselves), and counter-intuitiveness (as the relations in a system are circular and not linear, to improve it notably we need to take counter-intuitive measures)

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't necessarily turn to this book if you're looking for a thrilling read - BUT, Gharajedaghi's work on organizational management and systems thinking is along some of the best work in the field (similar to Ackoff). Gharajedaghi manages to convey complex system analysis principles in digestible ways - which if you've ever studied systems, is REALLY helpful.

[Denis Romanovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really great to me. Such a deep look at the sociocultural systems, connections between design, operations and holistic thinking helped to improve my understanding of organizations. Very good explanation on concepts of chaos, complexity and interdependency in systems that lead to emergent development. What I really did not like was business architecture - reasoning on concepts, diagrams and case studies seemed a bit shallow, outdated. Design thinking was also somehow kind of outdated. Anyway, after this book I definitely want to read more about complexity, chaos and systems thinking...

[Denis Vasilev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Системное мышление это сложно

[Chris Waddle]

Nice book about the critical need to architect companies in a way that attends to the individuals that make up the company as purposeful actors who act in the system as voluntary actors who have a need for personal agency. Organisation who do well need to constitute themselves using systems thinking like presented in this book.

[Saeid SaadatTalab · Rating 5 out of 5]

این کتاب اندیشه‌هایم را منظم کرد متد سیستمی فکر کردن را به من آموخت. به هر کسی که کار فکر انجام می‌دهد توصیه می‌کنم خود را از مطالعه‌ی این کتاب محروم نکند.

[Moran Danieli-Cohen]

'Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity - A Platform for Designing Business Architecture' is a comprehensive guide to understanding and applying systems thinking in business. The author, Jamshid Gharajedaghi, provides a clear and detailed explanation of the key concepts and tools necessary for managing complexity and chaos in organizations.

One of the key concepts in the book is the idea of 'holism' - the belief that everything is interconnected and that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Gharajedaghi uses examples from various industries, such as healthcare and manufacturing, to illustrate how systems thinking can be used to create a holistic view of an organization and its environment.

Another important concept discussed in the book is the idea of 'feedback loops.' The author explains how feedback loops can be used to understand the dynamics of an organization and how changes in one part of the system can impact other parts. He also provides examples of how feedback loops can be used to create positive change in organizations.

Overall, 'Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity - A Platform for Designing Business Architecture' is a valuable resource for anyone interested in understanding and applying systems thinking in business. The author's clear explanations and practical examples make it easy to understand and apply the concepts discussed in the book. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to improve their understanding of systems thinking and its application in business.

[Oks Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

To me its a great book of proper historical data analysis of behaviours and evidence of events. I am still reading it, it has become a table book on the work desk. I am using it as a basis for my strategy development in various organizations regardless of its nature or culture. It's a great book for those who want to understand the "nature of things and events" in organizations, and in life. While I find it fascinating, I also understand that It is also not for everyone. As it is "deep" and intersected in a lot of dimensions. It explains also why old systematical analysis is no longer applicable in the organisation success. It gives a break down what "systems thinking" does to everything it is applied for.
I find this writer brilliant, and his writing very applicable!

[Oleksandr · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's definitely a 5 for wholeness, depth, systematicity, structuring, language, and the content itself, which provides many things to think and reason about. It really captures and provides an explanation of the sociocultural processes we encounter every day in organizations. I'm glad this book exists.

But, oftentimes it's a way too abstract, lacking concrete examples, with gaps in explanation or the context of the terminology used. Moreover, almost all diagrams have own convention with cryptic meaning of styles of components, displacement of elements, relations, direction of traversal, and entry/exit points if any. Can be a real headacke to comprehend.

[Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

outstanding book. Something I will keep on my desk and take with me into planning groups. The book is broken up into four parts, each with multiple chapters and sub headings. Part 1: System Philosophy, Part 2: Systems Theory, Part 3: Systems Methodology, and Part 4: Systems Practice. Part 3 is really the meat of the book and very interesting and has utility in my line of work. Part 4 is case studies in business systems design.

[Vicktor Kemechedzhiev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Довольно интересная и в целом неплохая книга для тех, кто интересуется системным мышлением. Автор приводит собственные размышления и идеи, которые он считает уместными в контексте применения системного мышления в организации бизнес-процессов.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was very philosophical. It had some good quotes and graphics, but overall, I was hoping for something more practical, discussing how we can use systems in our organization to help structure them better.

[Jeroen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to read, concepts not applicable for all types of organisations

[Justin Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not recommend this as a first book on systems thinking. I was new to the topic and I thought the book was difficult to read due to the language structure and complexity. The book in no way piqued my interest for the topic and was such a slog that (unusually for me) I would put it down for weeks before looking at it again.

[Peter House · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity - A Platform for Designing Business Architecture" is a powerful whirlwind tour through a number of essential topics in systems thinking, such as holist thinking, design thinking, and operational thinking. Jamshid Gharajedaghi starts the book off with a bang, taking the reader through dealing with concepts such as complexity and emergent system properties. As the book progresses, the focus shifts from explaination to teaching the reader modes of thought and action to build organization designs that will optimized to operate in a complex environment.

The last few chapters of the book focus on case studies such as the Marriot hotel franchise chain and the Oneida Nation. These presciptions show what a successful design for an organization might look like to the reader. The only complaint I might have regarding the book is that it goes out with a meow in contrast to the way it entered. With a mighty roar. Despite the tapering off at the end of the book, I would recommend it for any reader with an interest in why organizations, in general, are unsuccessful in remaining viable in a world where black swan events (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_sw...) seem to occur with greater frequency than before.

[Ian Fleischmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

My only issue with Gharajedaghi's book is his tendency to subdivide systems and processes, describe them in detail as slight variations on each other, and then fail to integrate those subdivisions as an integral part of some greater level of understanding. To me, it seemed like splitting hairs for page counts. Like most books on complexity and systems theory, it's difficult to critique because the subject matter is generally the same but its presentation is unique (different vocabulary, ordering, etc.). Having already read or studied some of the background material helped; not sure I would have wanted to tackle this as my introduction to the literature.
The second half of the book is application, and is interesting, but my learning curve (and interest) tapered off pretty drastically after chapter 7.

[Gernot · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part about systems and systems thinking describes some kind of method how to analyse systems.

1 - formulate the "mess" - that is he name for the current situation
2 - create target struktures in interations.


The second part with the examples were somehow "dry" but nevertheless valuable examples.

I will come back tp the examples and will read the book a second time, so i can recommend it!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievably insightful book on how we do, can, and should think when it comes to ANYTHING organizational (work, friendships, family, software that interacts with other software, ANYTHING!).

Not a super-simple read, but SO worth it! I have already used various insights and examples from the first four chapters in my consulting.

So good. I just finished buying it online!

[TK Keanini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written in ~1999 and is a good read if you are interested in the business applications of systems thinking. Complex logistics and supply chain come to mind if I had to pick an applicaiton.

[Sajid]

good

[Rena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have to read this for my class. . . and I love it. It is an amazing way of thinking. It is slow reading for me but I want everyone to read it now that I know about it.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a masterpiece in developing a new outlook to the world. Understanding complexities through chaos.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

theory heavy, but powerful ideas put into application. systems thinking is a powerful framework for transforming culture in human systems.

[Steen Sørensen]

Nice easy going introduction to systens thinking.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible, inspiring, and ridiculously useful for the first 75%, but loses it a bit towards the end.

[Bernd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply influential to my personal as well as business insights. Balances scientific insight with practical application and business vs philosophical considerations.

[Pavleras · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me two months due to its complexity to read until the 4th part. This book is awesome to give you the roots of social systems.

[Slade Beard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Jamshid's work. He has taken the mantle of Simons and those who came before him and further developed the thinking around complexity and systems thinking. This is one of my regular references.