ABSTRACT
The first chapter provides an understanding of the origin and the conceptual framework of systemic thinking. The book as a whole applies these ideas in many different ways, and ultimately they form the basis for a new approach to consultancy. However, because the field has expanded considerably in the last few years, borrowing and co-opting ideas from fields such as linguistics and philosophy, systems thinking has become a large umbrella under which many ideas have come to reside. This chapter aims to distinguish those ideas which are central to our understanding and application of systems theory, and to define the concepts clearly enough so that the reader will feel well-armed with the conceptual tools necessary to proceed through the rest of the book.
