Systemic Thinking

達沙, 科管碩二

1. Each individual is involved in multiple systems, both micro (an individual himself, i.e. a person is a type of system that entails biological, psychological and social systems), and macro ones, which consist of families, groups, organizations and communities.

2. Individual micro systems are seriously affected by the macro systems with which they interact within the social environment. We are the “social creatures” and that’s why we can not lead a normal way of life if we break ties with macro systems we are involved in. We might be dissatisfied with a system, but it is extremely difficult to live outside of it. The case of an employee who drinks every evening after work clearly illustrates that. Trying to get rid of the pressure put on him by organizational system with the help of alcohol, he loses his work, loses friends, he is not able to make a family, the more he is depresses the more he drinks and, as a result, that leads him to total degradation and self-destruction.

3. There is interconnectivity between the elements of a system as well as between different systems. The changes in one element inevitably affect the others, like the biological changes in the organism of a drinking person influence his psychological health, which, in turn, makes impact on his social activity. We can also say that the changes in one system result to the changes in another one. It is shown in “TOEFL as a pre-required exam in graduate school” case: the changes in educational system influence labor market system – English proficiency is not supposed to be a competitive advantage, more people decide to start learning second foreign language (like German, French, etc.), the demand on teaching these languages increases, and more non-English native speakers can find teaching jobs in Taiwan.