Systems Intelligence Vs. Systems Thinking
One often encountered criticism of systems intelligence is its vocabular similarity to systems thinking. Systems intelligence has its foundations on systems thinking, especially in the research conducted by Peter Senge, but while systems thinking is a mental model that one can use as a tool, systems intelligence is an intrinsic type of intelligence in a human being.
Hämäläinen and Saarinen highlight the difference between systems thinking and systems intelligence via a hierarchical five-level model of systems intelligence. The levels for the amount of systems intelligence in a person are
- Seeing oneself in a system, or being aware of the systemic environment with systems thinking.
- Thinking about systems intelligence, or being aware that possibilities for productivity stem from the interaction with oneself and the system.
- Managing systems intelligence, or exercising productive ways of behaviour in the system.
- Sustaining systems intelligence, or exercising productivity in the long run.
- Leadership with systems intelligence, or initiating and leading organizations that are systems intelligent.
The more levels a person is able to handle, the more systems intelligent he or she is. A person equipped only with the mental model of systems thinking is left at level 1, while systems intelligence is needed in every level after that.
Read more about this topic: Systems Intelligence
Famous quotes containing the words systems, intelligence and/or thinking:
“The only people who treasure systems are those whom the whole truth evades, who want to catch it by the tail. A system is just like truth’s tail, but the truth is like a lizard. It will leave the tail in your hand and escape; it knows that it will soon grow another tail.”
—Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)
“All the old supports going, gone, this man reaches out a hand to steady himself on a ledge of rough brick that is warm in the sun: his hand feeds him messages of solidity, but his mind messages of destruction, for this breathing substance, made of earth, will be a dance of atoms, he knows it, his intelligence tells him so: there will soon be war, he is in the middle of war, where he stands will be a waste, mounds of rubble, and this solid earthy substance will be a film of dust on ruins.”
—Doris Lessing (b. 1919)
“From three to six months, most babies have settled down enough to be fun but aren’t mobile enough to be getting into trouble. This is the time to pay some attention to your relationship again. Otherwise, you may spend the entire postpartum year thinking you married the wrong person and overlooking the obvious—that parenthood can create rough spots even in the smoothest marriage.”
—Anne Cassidy (20th century)