Kevin Winklaar

What is systems thinking?

Systems thinking is a scientific approach that strives to maintain an overview of the whole, rather than concentrating on individual parts without considering the role these parts play in the greater whole. You do not regard the behavior of a system (for example an ecosystem) as a simple chain of cause-effect relationships, but as the interplay of interacting sub-systems, in which feedback plays an important role.

Systems thinking requires a holistic view of the system to be studied. This means that we not only look at the separate sub-systems, but especially also at the way in which they interact and at their place in the whole.