Seeing patterns in the whole system can often be too messy to make sense of. What is going on and what is being affected? There needs to be agreement on where to draw the boundary to focus on a smaller system. Where you set the boundary determines the scope of your assessment and the insights available.
For example, it could be the whole organisation or be focused on a department or team. It might cut across function boundaries or include multiple departments. This makes it easier to see the interactions and links with other support systems. They can be “nested” within that system’s boundary or outside it.
SIMPLE EXAMPLE OF A SPECIAL NEEDS TRANSPORT SERVICE FOR CHILDREN THAT INCLUDES ALL KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN A GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
The transport service can be seen as a living system. As an open system it sustains itself by interacting with a wider environment. These systems exchange energy, matter, and information to maintain equilibrium, adapt to change, and evolve over time. Unlike closed systems, which eventually deteriorate due to entropy (disorder), living systems survive by reducing local entropy through organization and adaptation.
When the system is “open” it can be impacted by unforeseen events and influences, such as a change in policy or travel conditions. Such changes have an impact by causing it to “break” if information does not flow within the system.
A “closed” system does not import or export energy, information or material, so its capacity and potential for adaptability and growth will be limited. This is a dilemma facing the United Kingdom’s government and businesses at the moment.
A boundary can be porous, allowing information, energy and material from “outside” when it doesn’t threaten the system. But for any living system to remain viable, it must be aware of the changing nature of its environment, such as growth opportunities, constraints on action, competitor behaviour, energy sources, etc. For example, the UK created a “Brexit boundary” with the EU, believing it could present threats to its flexibility to deal with a VUCA World in the future.
