The concept of ‘system’ in a whole-of society approach

Abstract

INCOSE has expressed its vision for transdisciplinary approach for systems engineering to address complex societal problems. While the concept of ‘system’ has been dealt with at length, the purpose of this article is to surface assumptions underlying systems engineering, bringing deeper and new theoretical insights to the concept of ‘system’. This is done in the context of previous whole-of-society work and issues of vertical integration. To do this, the article will introduce transdisciplinarity and levels of reality. Heterarchy as alternative to hierarchical control is explored in the context of social systems, leading to identifying participative and representative mode social systems. The definition of systems is presented and the notion of society in the context of whole-of-society is explored. Caution must be applied in universalising any definition of system given the concept of levels of reality.