ABSTRACT
The concept of systems thinking today plays a dominant role in a wide range of fields, from engineering to different topics of pure science. One thread is the development from power engineering to control engineering, which has led to computers and automation. Self-controlling devices have appeared, from home thermostats to the self-steering missiles of the Second World War and the improved missiles of today. Dynamic thinking involves acquiring the ability to see behaviour patterns rather than focusing on, and seeking to predict, individual events or situations. Structural thinking is one of the most disciplined of the strands of systems thinking. Systems analysis involves the use of rigorous methods to help determine preferred plans and designs for complex, often large-scale, systems. The design of a system represents a decision about how resources should be transformed to achieve some objectives. A proposed physical system may be simulated in the abstract by a mathematical or other conceptual model.
