more about ‘systems’
We use it as a generic term to point to any collection/collective/number of particles in relation to each other.
We believe everything exists in relation to each other (in lesser and greater degrees) and thereforeanything could be seen as a system at a specific moment in time. We especially highlight embeddedness and interconnectedness as ways systems impact each other and co-exist as part of a greater whole.
We could see the embeddedness of local systems in ever expanding global systems (much like Matryoshka doll). This embeddedness has been physically deepened through globalization and technology. However energetically this has always been so, as explained by physics.
As such, we can refer to the collective of human beings, including their relationships, the overt and covert rules, values, and the culture in an organisation - as a ‘system’. Circling out we can also see for example, the town/area the organization is based in as a system. We can keep circling out and see its embeddedness in ever greater systems: countries, nations states, regions, continents, global (and soforth) can all be acknowledged as systems.
Furthermore global/local supply chains and their impact on the local and global environments, the beneficiaries, the stakeholders, the consumer, marketing and media channels, local and global economies, the political climate driving policy and governance (and the list goes on) are all systems interconnected and influencing each other in greater or lesser degrees.
Imagine this complex web of different systems, some linked, some embedded, some interdependent, some only remotely connected - deeply complex and synergistic. From this meta-view one can simplify and zoom back form the global to the local lens: So too do we name the collection of human beings in a dialogue – as temporary system.
Why pretend it is an isolated system when we know it is embedded and interconnected to other systems?
We view all systems as embedded in other systems, and/or connected to other systems. As such there can be no such thing as a system in absolute isolation, even if it may look so. In fact, the apparent ‘isolation’ of some systems rely on an implicit contract (connection) with other systems – for equilibrium in their greater system-complex. Once the agreement/contract is challenged or broken, the greater system then needs to recalibrate and find a new equilibrium.
However when we work with a system – we first address the system from the inside out. We first engage with the system in its apparent ‘isolation’, constructing artificial boundaries through the nniDialogue methodology, in order to learn more about the nature/culture and the underlying voices of the specific system. Through embeddedness and interconnectedness we know that the greater systems are also represented* (to some degree) within the system in question. The more the systems reveals of itself, the more it becomes to able and resourceful to adapt and recalibrate/recontract within itself as well as with the system it is relationships with.
We will never be able to see the ‘whole’ system, but we endeavour to make greater parts of it known to itself so that it can adapt, recalibrate for the greater good of the whole. We call this systemic wisdom. This phenomenon is not only supported empirically by hundreds of nniDialogues – but is also underpinned by the principle of entropy* in classical physics.
We also derive the term ‘system’ from different schools of thought, that helps explain how we work with the energy within any system. The most important to mention here are: Quantum mechanics, psychology and biology
-Quantum mechanics:
System is used as a metaphor to explain the perceived ‘reality’: a boundary is placed around the current state/phenomenon, in order to view its nature in a more ‘pure’ form, void from external noise/friction. Similarly we place a temporary/artificial boundary (specific group of people in a specific time period) and limit external noise/friction (limit noise of social constructs by the adoption of dialogue guidelines in the specific facilitated process)
-Psychology, Gestalt:
Gestalt theory emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts. That is, the attributes of the whole are not deducible from analysis of the parts in isolation. The word Gestalt is used in modern German to mean the way a thing has been “placed,” or “put together(Britannica).
-Systems Biology:
Systems biology, the study of the interactions and behaviour of the components of biological entities, including molecules, cells, organs, and organisms (Britannica).