General System Theory

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General System Theory

• 2003.10.6
• Daewon kim

2
Contents

• Introduction
• System everywhere
• What is system?
• System theory
• Type of system
• Summary
• Reference

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Introduction

• Approach
• Focus on system and skip technical property
• Read some parts of the book General system
  theory and some articles from web
• Author ludwig von Bertalanffy(19011972)
• one of the most important theoretical biologists
  
• develop a kinetic theory of stationary open
  systems and general system theory

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Introduction (cont)

• Motivation
• Similar problems and conceptions have evolved in
  widely different fields
• There are general system laws which apply to any
  system

5
System everywhere

• The concept has pervaded all field of science and
  penetrated into popular thinking
• System assembling from components in
  heterogeneous technologies
• Ballistic missiles or space vehicles
• mechanical, electronic, chemical, etc
• Bargain
• financial, economic, social and political
  problem
• Air or automobile traffic
• not just a matter of the number of vehicles

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What is system?

• Definition
• A group of interacting, interrelated, or
  interdependent elements forming a complex whole
  (Dictionary )
• An organized set of interrelated ideas or
  principles (Dictionary)
• Consisting of parts in interaction 1
• Sets of elements standing in interrelation 1
• The root of system
• power engineering (steam, electric machine)
• control engineering (automation)
• self-controlling machines
• missile in World War II

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System theory

• There exist models, principle, and laws that
  apply to
• generalized systems or their subclasses,
  irrespective
• of their particular kind, the nature of their
  component
• elements, and the relations or "forces" between
• them 1
• it seems legitimate to ask for a theory, not of
• systems of a more or less special kind, but of
• universal principles applying to systems in
  general1

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System theory (cont)

• quest for general system theory
• modern science is characterized by specialization
  and necessitated by the enormous amount of data
• thus science is split into innumerable
  disciplines continually generating new
  subdisciplines.
• In consequence, the physicist, the biologist, the
  psychologist and the social scientist are
  encapsulated in their private universes
• Surveying the evolution of modern science, we
  encounter a surprising phenomenon.
• Independently of each other, similar problems and
  conceptions have evolved in widely different
  fields.

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System theory (cont)

• Aim of general system theory
• there is a general tendency towards interaction
  in
• the various science, natural and social
• such integration seems to be centered in a
  general
• theory of systems.
• such theory may be an important means for aiming
• at exact theory in nonphysical field of science.

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System theory (cont)

• System approach 1
• to find ways and means for its realization
  requires the systems specialist to consider
  alternative solutions and to choose those
  promising optimization at maximum efficiency and
  minimal cost in a tremendously complex network of
  interactions.
• Not limited to the industrial complex.
• To press problems such as air and water
  pollution, traffic congestion, city planning etc.

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Type of system

• Closed System 1
• Independent of environmental influences
• Focus on internal components
• ex) conventional physics
• physical chemistry tells us about the reactions,
  their rates, and the chemical equilibria
  eventually established in a closed vessel
• Thermodynamics expressly declares that its law
  apply only to closed systems

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Type of system

• Open System 1
• System of interdependent activities
• Parts of systems join and leave or engage in
  ongoing exchanges with the organization
• A self-maintenance based on a process of
  resources from the environment and interaction
  with the environment
• ex) living system

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Type of system

• Characteristics of open system2
• Wholeness
• The whole is more than the sum of its parts
• Its parts interrelate and cannot be understood
  separately
• Hierarchy
• Every system consists of a number of subsystems
• Systems may exist in a large supersystem
• Self-regulation and control
• Systems are goal-oriented organisms
• System regulates its behavior to achieve goals

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Type of system

• Characteristics of open system
• Interchange with the environment
• Systems take in and let out matter and energy
• The system both affects and is affected by the
  environment
• Self maintenance
• The system must stay in balance
• Change and adaptability
• The system must be adaptable

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Summary

• The whole is more that the sum of its parts
• There are general system laws which apply to any
  system of a particular type
• These considerations lead to the postulate of a
  new scientific discipline which we call general
  system theory
• general theory of systems would be a useful tool
  and providing on models that can be used in
  different fields

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Reference

• 1Ludwig Von Bertalanffy (1968) General System
  theory Foundations, Development, Applications
• 2http//www.bsu.edu/classes/flint/systems.html