What is systems

What is a System?

Ackoff defined system as “A System is a set of two or more elements that satisfies the following conditions;

Ø  The behavior of each element has an effect on the behavior of the whole.

Ø  The behavior of the elements and their effect on the whole are interdependent

Ø  However subgroups of elements are formed, each has an effect on the behavior of the whole and none has an independent effect on it”

So a system is a collection of interacting and interdependent component parts form a complex/ intricate whole. These systems are can be considered as a set of rules that governs structure and/or behavior also. There have several elements of a system,

1-      Boundary – A boundary separates a system from its environment. This means it separate the elements as which should be inside and outside.

2-      Environment – Environment means part of the world with which the system can interact. So always systems and environment are interrelated.

3-      Observable Interactions – This means how the system interacts with its environment.

4-      Subsystems- A system can be decomposing into small parts and each of these parts also a system. These small parts are called as subsystems. These subsystems are totally interdependent.

5-      Control Mechanism- Control mechanism means how the behavior of the system is regulated to allow it to endure. Often there have a natural mechanism of control.

6-      Emergent Properties – There may have two types of properties, (1) Properties that holds of a system, but not of the parts, and (2) Properties that cannot be predicted from studying the parts.

In the practical situation there have several types of systems and the examples for these situations can be identified as follows,

Type of the system	Examples
Natural systems	Ecosystem, Weather, Water cycle, The human body
Abstract systems	Set of mathematical equations, Computer programs
Symbol systems	Languages, Street signs
Designed systems	Cars, Planes, Buildings, Telephones
Human activity systems	Business, Organization, Markets
Information Systems	Banking system, Database
Control systems	Autopilots