BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

APPRECIATIVE SYSTEM 3)

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"The interconnected set of largely tacit standards of judgement by which we both order and value our experience" (G. VICKERS, 1973, p.122).

According to VICKERS: " … the components of human systems – active individuals attributing meaning to their situation – make it impossible to study such systems using the methodology of natural sciences. The only way to understand decision making in human systems is to understand the different appreciative systems that the decision makers bring to bear on a problem" (M.C. JACKSON, 1992, p.135)

And… "It follows, according to VICKERS, that if human systems are to achieve stability and effectiveness, then the appreciative systems of their participants need to be sufficiently shared to allow mutual expectations to be met. Human systems depend upon shared understandings and shared cultures" (Ibid)

In each culture, specific values and norms, transmitted through successive generations by imprinting, learning, teaching and training produce the equivalent of organizational closure in biological systems.

This is reflected in the so-called "Culture of the entreprise", the French "Esprit de corps", the Spanish "Espiritu de la colmena", the German "Gleichschaltung" and many other similar expressions related to cultural or ideological unifying (and dividing) appreciative mental and psychological frameworks.

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Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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