The Routledge Handbook of Systems Thinking

This Handbook presents Systems Thinking applied to management and policy. It shows both the diversity of the field and also patterns that unify this diversity. It offers a rich resource of approaches, theories, methodologies and methods to tackle complex ecological, social and organizational problems.

It is widely held that Systems Thinking has undergone three somewhat distinct ＂waves＂ (or paradigms) of development. The first wave, from the 1950s to the 1970s, focused primarily on using expert, quantitative systems modelling to produce ’bigger picture’ analyses that could inform management and policy decision making. The second wave, in the 1970s and 1980s, argued for qualitative modelling in the context of participative practice. Then the third wave, from the 1980s to the 2000s, emphasised the need to take power relationships into account, consider the ethics of systems practice, and produce bespoke, mixed-method designs to maximize flexibility and responsiveness. These three waves gave rise to a rich diversity of approaches. Each chapter introduces state-of-the-art knowledge of a given approach, and also details one or more applications to management or policy. Then the book concludes with discussions of the first swellings of a fourth wave of systems thinking. This is about the universal patterns underpinning the rich diversity of systems approaches--or the ’simple rules’ of systems thinking that, when combined together, make the variety of different approaches possible. This further adds to the enrichment of practice, and provides exciting new opportunities for developing the field.

This handbook will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in the fields of business and management, especially those focusing on systems thinking and its development and application to management and policy.

Derek Cabrera is Faculty at the Brooks School for Public Policy at Cornell University, the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA), SC Johnson College of Business, Executive Education, and Senior Scientist at Cabrera Research Lab.

Laura Cabrera is Faculty at the Brooks School for Public Policy at Cornell University, the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (CIPA), SC Johnson College of Business, Executive Education, and Senior Scientist at Cabrera Research Lab.

Gerald Midgley is Professor at the Centre for Systems Studies, Faculty of Business, Law and Politics at the University of Hull. He is Faculty of Technology at the Department of Informatics at Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden.