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

CHANGE AGENTS 1)4)

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Changes do not occur without causal agents, which can be of very different types.

It is important to try to recognize such agents when they are still potential or in incipient activity, because this is the only way not to be caught by surprise, experiencing negative effects or missing opportunities.

Apart from their nature, their ways of acting may give us inklings about their possible timing and effects. Such a knowledge is practically the only way to acquire at least a modicum of predictive capacity.

It may also lend us some possibilities to adapt to future changes or even to make a creative use of them when they surface.

J.H. MILSUM observed the importance of change in the stimuli as: "… in (their) absence most of the relevant receptors generally cease to be stimulated" (1968, p.44). He also notes that, in the long run, the lack of change in stimuli may lead to the partial or total impairment of specific perceptions.

J.A. JOHANNESSEN and A. HAUAN introduce the notion of a change agent as a specific person in an organization, who normally introduce changes, whether technical, organizational or conceptual (1992, p.174).

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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