System

A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a
unified whole.[1] A system, surrounded and influenced by its environment, is described by its boundaries,
structure and purpose and expressed in its functioning. Systems are the subjects of study of systems theory
and other systems sciences.

Systems have several common properties and characteristics, including structure, function(s), behavior and
interconnectivity.

Contents
Etymology
History
Concepts
Subsystem
Analysis
Cultural system
Economic system
Applications
Information and computer science
Engineering and physics
Sociology, cognitive science and management research
Pure logic
Strategic thinking
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

Etymology
The term system comes from the Latin word systēma, in turn from Greek σύστημα systēma: "whole
concept made of several parts or members, system", literary "composition".[2]

History
According to Marshall McLuhan,
 "System" means "something to look at". You must have a very high visual gradient to have
systematization. But in philosophy, prior to Descartes, there was no "system". Plato had no
"system". Aristotle had no "system".[3][4]

In the 19th century the French physicist Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, who studied thermodynamics,
pioneered the development of the concept of a system in the natural sciences. In 1824 he studied the system
which he called the working substance (typically a body of water vapor) in steam engines, in regards to the
system's ability to do work when heat is applied to it. The working substance could be put in contact with
either a boiler, a cold reservoir (a stream of cold water), or a piston (on which the working body could do
work by pushing on it). In 1850, the German physicist Rudolf Clausius generalized this picture to include
the concept of the surroundings and began to use the term working body when referring to the system.

The biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy became one of the pioneers of the general systems theory. In 1945
he introduced models, principles, and laws that apply to generalized systems or their subclasses,
irrespective of their particular kind, the nature of their component elements, and the relation or 'forces'
between them.[5]

Norbert Wiener and Ross Ashby, who pioneered the use of mathematics to study systems, carried out
significant development in the concept of a system.[6][7]

In the 1980s John Henry Holland, Murray Gell-Mann and others coined the term complex adaptive system
at the interdisciplinary Santa Fe Institute.

Concepts
Environment and boundaries
Systems theory views the world as a complex system of interconnected parts. One scopes
a system by defining its boundary; this means choosing which entities are inside the
system and which are outside—part of the environment. One can make simplified
representations (models) of the system in order to understand it and to predict or impact its
future behavior. These models may define the structure and behavior of the system.

Natural and human-made systems

There are natural and human-made (designed) systems. Natural systems may not have an
apparent objective but their behavior can be interpreted as purposeful by an observer.
Human-made systems are made with various purposes that are achieved by some action
performed by or with the system. The parts of a system must be related; they must be
"designed to work as a coherent entity" — otherwise they would be two or more distinct
systems.

Theoretical framework
Most systems are open systems, exchanging matter and energy with their respective
surroundings; like a car, a coffeemaker, or Earth. A closed system exchanges energy, but
not matter, with its environment; like a computer or the project Biosphere 2. An isolated
system exchanges neither matter nor energy with its environment. A theoretical example of
such system is the Universe.

Process and transformation process

An open system can also be viewed as a bounded transformation process, that is, a black
box that is a process or collection of processes that transform inputs into outputs. Inputs
are consumed; outputs are produced. The concept of input and output here is very broad.
For example, an output of a passenger ship is the movement of people from departure to
destination.
System model
A system comprises multiple views. Man-made
systems may have such views as concept,
analysis, design, implementation, deployment,
structure, behavior, input data, and output data
views. A system model is required to describe and
represent all these views.

Systems architecture
A systems architecture, using one single
integrated model for the description of multiple
views, is a kind of system model.
Open systems have input and output
flows, representing exchanges of matter,
Subsystem energy or information with their
surroundings.
A subsystem is a set of elements, which is a system itself, and
a component of a larger system. The IBM Mainframe Job
Entry Subsystem family (JES1, JES2, JES3, and their HASP/ASP predecessors) are examples. The main
elements they have in common are the components that handle input, scheduling, spooling and output; they
also have the ability to interact with local and remote operators.

A subsystem description is a system object that contains information defining the characteristics of an
operating environment controlled by the system.[8] The Data tests are performed to verify the correctness of
the individual subsystem configuration data (e.g. MA Length, Static Speed Profile, …) and they are related
to a single subsystem in order to test its Specific Application (SA).[9]

Analysis
There are many kinds of systems that can be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. For example, in
an analysis of urban systems dynamics, A .W. Steiss[10] defined five intersecting systems, including the
physical subsystem and behavioral system. For sociological models influenced by systems theory, Kenneth
D. Bailey[11] defined systems in terms of conceptual, concrete, and abstract systems, either isolated, closed,
or open. Walter F. Buckley[12] defined systems in sociology in terms of mechanical, organic, and process
models. Bela H. Banathy[13] cautioned that for any inquiry into a system understanding its kind is crucial,
and defined "natural" and "designed", i. e. artificial, systems.

It is important not to confuse these abstract definitions. For example, natural systems include subatomic
systems, living systems, the Solar System, galaxies, and the Universe, while artificial systems include man-
made physical structures, hybrids of natural and artificial systems, and conceptual knowledge. The human
elements of organization and functions are emphasized with their relevant abstract systems and
representations.

Artificial systems inherently have a major defect: they must be premised on one or more fundamental
assumptions upon which additional knowledge is built. This is in strict alignment to the Gödel's
incompleteness theorems. The Artificial system can be defined as a "consistent formalized system which
contains elementary arithmetic".[14] These fundamental assumptions are not inherently deleterious, but they
must by definition be assumed as true, and if they are actually false then the system is not as structurally
integral as is assumed (i.e. it is evident that if the initial expession is false, then the Artificial system is not a
"consistent formalized system"). For example, in geometry this is very evident in the postulation of
theorems and extrapolation of proofs from them.
George J. Klir[15] maintained that no "classification is complete and perfect for all purposes", and defined
systems as abstract, real, and conceptual physical systems, bounded and unbounded systems, discrete to
continuous, pulse to hybrid systems, etc. The interactions between systems and their environments are
categorized as relatively closed and open systems. It seems most unlikely that an absolutely closed system
can exist or, if it did, that it could be known by man. Important distinctions have also been made[16]
between hard systems – technical in nature and amenable to methods such as systems engineering,
operations research, and quantitative systems analysis – and soft systems that involve people and
organisations, commonly associated with concepts developed by Peter Checkland and Brian Wilson
through Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) involving methods such as action research and emphasis of
participatory designs. Where hard systems might be identified as more "scientific", the distinction between
them is often elusive.

Cultural system

A cultural system may be defined as the interaction of different elements of culture. While a cultural system
is quite different from a social system, sometimes both together are referred to as a "sociocultural system".
A major concern of the social sciences is the problem of order.

Economic system

An economic system is a mechanism (social institution) which deals with the production, distribution and
consumption of goods and services in a particular society. The economic system is composed of people,
institutions and their relationships to resources, such as the convention of property. It addresses the
problems of economics, like the allocation and scarcity of resources.

The international sphere of interacting states is described and analysed in systems terms by several
international relations scholars, most notably in the neorealist school. This systems mode of international
analysis has however been challenged by other schools of international relations thought, most notably the
constructivist school, which argues that an over-large focus on systems and structures can obscure the role
of individual agency in social interactions. Systems-based models of international relations also underlies
the vision of the international sphere held by the liberal institutionalist school of thought, which places more
emphasis on systems generated by rules and interaction governance, particularly economic governance.

Applications
Systems modeling is generally a basic principle in engineering and in social sciences. The system is the
representation of the entities under concern. Hence inclusion to or exclusion from system context is
dependent on the intention of the modeler.

No model of a system will include all features of the real system of concern, and no model of a system must
include all entities belonging to a real system of concern.

Information and computer science

In computer science and information science, system is a hardware system, software system, or
combination, which has components as its structure and observable inter-process communications as its
behavior. Again, an example will illustrate: There are systems of counting, as with Roman numerals, and
various systems for filing papers, or catalogues, and various library systems, of which the Dewey Decimal
Classification is an example. This still fits with the definition of components which are connected together
(in this case to facilitate the flow of information).

System can also refer to a framework, aka platform, be it software or hardware, designed to allow software
programs to run. A flaw in a component or system can cause the component itself or an entire system to fail
to perform its required function, e.g., an incorrect statement or data definition[17]

Engineering and physics

In engineering and physics, a physical system is the portion of the universe that is being studied (of which a
thermodynamic system is one major example). Engineering also has the concept of a system referring to all
of the parts and interactions between parts of a complex project. Systems engineering is the branch of
engineering that studies how this type of system should be planned, designed, implemented, built, and
maintained. Expected result is the behavior predicted by the specification, or another source, of the
component or system under specified conditions.[17]

Sociology, cognitive science and management research

Social and cognitive sciences recognize systems in human person models and in human societies. They
include human brain functions and mental processes as well as normative ethics systems and social/cultural
behavioral patterns.

In management science, operations research and organizational development (OD), human organizations
are viewed as systems (conceptual systems) of interacting components such as subsystems or system
aggregates, which are carriers of numerous complex business processes (organizational behaviors) and
organizational structures. Organizational development theorist Peter Senge developed the notion of
organizations as systems in his book The Fifth Discipline.

Organizational theorists such as Margaret Wheatley have also described the workings of organizational
systems in new metaphoric contexts, such as quantum physics, chaos theory, and the self-organization of
systems.

Pure logic

There is also such a thing as a logical system. The most obvious example is the calculus developed
simultaneously by Leibniz and Isaac Newton. Another example is George Boole's Boolean operators.
Other examples have related specifically to philosophy, biology, or cognitive science. Maslow's hierarchy
of needs applies psychology to biology by using pure logic. Numerous psychologists, including Carl Jung
and Sigmund Freud have developed systems which logically organize psychological domains, such as
personalities, motivations, or intellect and desire. Often these domains consist of general categories
following a corollary such as a theorem. Logic has been applied to categories such as taxonomy, ontology,
assessment, and hierarchies.

Strategic thinking

In 1988, military strategist, John A. Warden III introduced the Five Ring System model in his book, The Air
Campaign, contending that any complex system could be broken down into five concentric rings. Each
ring—Leadership, Processes, Infrastructure, Population and Action Units—could be used to isolate key
elements of any system that needed change. The model was used effectively by Air Force planners in the
First Gulf War.[18][19][20] In the late 1990s, Warden applied his model to business strategy.

See also
Examples of systems Information system Related topics
Social system
Physical system Meta-system Glossary of systems theory
Conceptual system Software system Complexity
Control system Solar System Complexity theory and organizations
Complex system Systems in human anatomy Black box
Formal system Market System of systems
Thermodynamic systems System of systems engineering
Systems art

References
1. "Definition of system" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/system). Merriam-
Webster. Springfield, MA, USA. Retrieved 2019-01-16.
2. "σύστημα" (https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.00
57%3Aentry%3Dsu%2Fsthma), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek–English
Lexicon, on Perseus Digits Library.
3. Marshall McLuhan in: McLuhan: Hot & Cool. Ed. by Gerald Emanuel Stearn. A Signet Book
published by The New American Library, New York, 1967, p. 288.
4. McLuhan, Marshall (2014). "4: The Hot and Cool Interview" (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=hZR_AgAAQBAJ). In Moos, Michel (ed.). Media Research: Technology, Art and
Communication: Critical Voices in Art, Theory and Culture. Critical Voices in Art, Theory and
Culture. Routledge. p. 74. ISBN 9781134393145. Retrieved 2015-05-06. "'System' means
'something to look at'. You must have a very high visual gradient to have systematization. In
philosophy, before Descartes, there was no 'system.' Plato had no 'system.' Aristotle had no
'system.'"
5. 1945, Zu einer allgemeinen Systemlehre, Blätter für deutsche Philosophie, 3/4. (Extract in:
Biologia Generalis, 19 (1949), 139–164.
6. 1948, Cybernetics: Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine. Paris,
France: Librairie Hermann & Cie, and Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press.
7. 1956. An Introduction to Cybernetics (http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ASHBBOOK.html),
Chapman & Hall.
8. IBM's definition @
http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/ssw_i5_54/rzaks/rzakssbsd.htm
9. European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) - EN 50128.
Brussels, Belgium: CENELEC. 2011. pp. Table A.11 – Data Préparation Techniques (8.4).
10. Steiss, 1967, pp. 8–18.
11. Bailey, 1994.
12. Buckley, 1967.
13. Banathy, 1997.
14. K.Gödel, 1931
15. Klir, 1969, pp. 69–72
16. Checkland, 1997; Flood, 1999.
17. "ISTQB Standard glossary of terms used in Software Testing" (http://glossar.german-testing-
board.info/). Retrieved 15 March 2019.
18. Warden, John A. III (1988). The Air Campaign: Planning for Combat. Washington, D.C.:
National Defense University Press. ISBN 978-1-58348-100-4.
19. Warden, John A. III (September 1995). "Chapter 4: Air theory for the 21st century" (https://we
b.archive.org/web/20110704071119/http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/battle/
chp4.html). Battlefield of the Future: 21st Century Warfare Issues. United States Air Force.
Archived from the original (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/battle/chp4.html)
(in Air and Space Power Journal) on July 4, 2011. Retrieved December 26, 2008.
20. Warden, John A. III (1995). "Enemy as a System" (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchro
nicles/apj/apj95/spr95_files/warden.htm). Airpower Journal. Spring (9): 40–55. Retrieved
2009-03-25.

Bibliography
Alexander Backlund (2000). "The definition of system (https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/a
bs/10.1108/03684920010322055)". In: Kybernetes Vol. 29 nr. 4, pp. 444–451.
Kenneth D. Bailey (1994). Sociology and the New Systems Theory: Toward a Theoretical
Synthesis. New York: State of New York Press.
Bela H. Banathy (1997). "A Taste of Systemics" (http://www.newciv.org/ISSS_Primer/asem0
4bb.html), ISSS The Primer Project.
Walter F. Buckley (1967). Sociology and Modern Systems Theory, New Jersey: Englewood
Cliffs.
Peter Checkland (1997). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Chichester: John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd.
Michel Crozier, Erhard Friedberg (1981). Actors and Systems, Chicago University Press.
Robert L. Flood (1999). Rethinking the Fifth Discipline: Learning within the unknowable (htt
p://www.msbkwt.com/joomla/images/FILES2018-19/Library/E-Books/Rethinking-The-Fifth-D
iscipline.pdf). London: Routledge.
George J. Klir (1969). Approach to General Systems Theory, 1969.
Brian Wilson (1980). Systems: Concepts, methodologies and Applications, John Wiley
Brian Wilson (2001). Soft Systems Methodology—Conceptual model building and its
contribution, J.H.Wiley.
Beynon-Davies P. (2009). Business Information + Systems. Palgrave, Basingstoke.
ISBN 978-0-230-20368-6

External links
Definitions of Systems and Models (http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/4b.htm
l) by Michael Pidwirny, 1999–2007.
Publications with the title "System" (1600–2008) (http://www.muellerscience.com/SPEZIALI
TAETEN/System/Lit.System%281556-2001%29.htm) by Roland Müller.
Definitionen von "System" (1572–2002) (http://www.muellerscience.com/SPEZIALITAETEN/
System/System_Definitionen.htm) by Roland Müller, (most in German).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=System&oldid=1126377563"

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