Linkage Propositions between Fifty Principal Systems Concepts

Billingham

Calvo‐Amodio

2018

Abstract:The field of systemology does not yet have a standardised terminology; there are multiple glossaries and diverse perspectives even about the meanings of fundamental terms. This situation undermines researchers' and practitioners' ability to communicate clearly both within and outside their own specialist communities. Our perspective is that different vocabularies can in principle be reconciled by seeking more generalised definitions that reduce, in specialised contexts, to the nuanced meaning intended in those contexts. To this end, this paper lays the groundwork for a community effort to develop an 'Ontology of Systemology'. In particular we argue that the standard methods for ontology development can be enhanced by drawing on systems thinking principles, and show via four examples how these can be applied for both domain-specific and upper ontologies. We then use this insight to derive a systemic and systematic framework for selecting and organising the terminology of systemology. The outcome of this paper is therefore twofold: We show the value in applying a systems perspective to ontology development in any discipline, and we provide a starting outline for an Ontology of Systemology. We suggest that both outcomes could help to make systems concepts more accessible to other lines of inquiry.

Section: Isomorphic Systems Patternsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systemic Semantics: A Systems Approach to Building Ontologies and Concept Maps

Billingham

Calvo‐Amodio

2018

“…Other examples include Fibonacci sequences and Zipf's Law regularities in natural phenomena [51][52][53]. Speaking metaphorically, these patterns represent solutions to design problems that systems must solve in order to create enduring complex structures.…”

Section: The Nature and Scope Of Systems Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two recent papers respectively presented three such principles [40] and eight strategies for discovery projects [54]. 6 Len Troncale and colleagues have over 40 years made an important contribution to the development of such a database of systemic isomorphisms, and extended this by also analysing the linkages between isomorphisms [51][52][53]55,56].…”

Section: The Nature and Scope Of Systems Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

On the Architecture of Systemology and the Typology of Its Principles

2018

Systems engineering is increasingly challenged by the rising complexity of projects undertaken, resulting in increases in costs, failure rates, and negative unintended consequences. This has resulted in calls for more scientific principles to underpin the methods of systems engineering. In this paper, it is argued that our ability to improve systems Engineering's methods depends on making the principles of systemology, of which systems engineering is a part, more diverse and more scientific. An architecture for systemology is introduced, which shows how the principles of systemology arise from interdependent processes spanning multiple disciplinary fields, and on this basis a typology is introduced, which can be used to classify systems principles and systems methods. This framework, consisting of an architecture and a typology, can be used to survey and classify the principles and methods currently in use in systemology, map vocabularies referring to them, identify key gaps, and expose opportunities for further development. It may, thus, serve as a tool for coordinating collaborative work towards advancing the scope and depth of systemology.

“…[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], [16] (pp. [33][34][35][36][37][38], [17] (pp. 60-71), [18] (pp.…”

Section: The Scope and Maturity Of Systems Research's Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much scientific work has been done to investigate the isomorphic systems patterns that were thought to signify the existence of systems principles [20,[37][38][39], but little scientific progress has been made towards discovering these principles. In 2015 INCOSE identified "expanding the theoretical foundation for systems engineering" as one of its six imperatives for SE in the decade ahead [29], and in its Systems Engineering Vision 2025 INCOSE echoed Bertalanffy's call to action from the 1950s, saying, "It is therefore important to develop a scientific foundation that helps us to understand the whole rather than just the parts, that focuses on the relationships among the parts and the emergent properties of the whole.…”

Section: The Challenge Of Finding Scientific Systems Principlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systems Research and the Quest for Scientific Systems Principles

2017

Systems Research formally originated in the 1950s, but a scientific understanding of systemness is still nascent. This shortcoming produces significant risks for complex systems engineering and practice. Current "systems principles" are qualitative heuristics, and systems science is scientific more in attitude than because of any grounding in systems principles employing clear and quantifiable concepts. In this paper, I propose that a model of how principles and laws are understood across the specialized sciences can, when applied to systems science, open up new ways to discover systems principles. This approach has led to the identification of six new avenues for discovering systems principles. In this paper I explain one of these research avenues (which leverages the maturation profile of the specialized sciences) in detail, and reference active projects to pursue others. The research approach advocated in this paper has the potential to lead to a new perspective on the nature of and relationship between systems science and systems engineering.