Compare And Contrast A Systems Thinking Perspective

Systems thinking perspective is fundamentally different from that of a traditional analysis. Whilst forms of traditional analysis focus on the separation of individual parts on the studied topic. A system thinking perspective focuses on how either the ecological, social, or economic facets being studied interact with other constituents of the ecological, social or economic systems. These numerous facets interact and altogether produce behaviour as well as a system. Henceforth instead of isolating smaller parts of the of the system being studied a systems thinking approach works by expanding the system to consider a larger number of interactions or feedbacks. This may result in different conclusions than those generated by traditional analysis, especially when what is being studied is dynamically complex or has a great deal of feedback from other sources, thus managing sustainability better than

A pesticide often has the unfortunate side effect of killing more insects than just the target insect, including those that may be predators of the of the targeted insect group. After a delay, with fewer predators of the target group the number of target insects will begin to increase. This second process is a reinforcing loop, as its influence tends to get larger in the long run. The result of this cycle is that in the long run the target insects inflict greater crop damage. The time delay between the death of the controlling insects and the subsequent rise of the target insect group can make it extremely difficult to perceive this non-linear link between the two different variables. Without a systems perspective and thus an understanding of this link, farmers are likely to just reapply pesticides to counter this growing insect problem, further causing an unsustainable system. This pattern that shows actions can lead to unintended consequences the makes the problem worse than it was in the beginning, as shown by figure