System
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The Nature of a System
On the Mismatch Between Systems and Their Models by Russell Ackoff defines a system:
- A system is a whole that is defined by its function(s) in one or more containing systems.
- Every system contains at least two essential parts and these must satisfy three conditions.
- Every essential part of a system can affect its behavior or properties.
- The way an essential part affects the properties or behavior of the whole depends on the state or activity of at least one other part of the system.
- Groups of essential parts, subsystems, also can affect the behavior and properties of the whole system and none has an independent effect on it.
Some important properties of a system derive from its definition.
- When a system is taken apart it loses its essential properties.
- No part of a system can carry out the function that defines the system.
- When a system is taken apart its essential parts lose their ability to carry out the function they have in the whole.
Finally:
- When the performance of any essential part of a system, taken separately, is improved, the performance of the whole may not be.