POSIWID (the purpose of the system is what it does) is a way of thinking about complex systems, giving us a different perspective on a range of social and political issues.
When we understand the complex loops that maintain the status quo, we are better equipped to make positive changes in organizations and society.
The origins of POSIWID thinking
Diagnosing the System for Organizations
Amazon Price: $103.50 (as of 07/26/2008)
Have Fun at Work
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Friends in High Places
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New Plague
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Recent books that use POSIWID thinking
Trust and Mistrust: Radical Risk Strategies in Business Relationships
Amazon Price: $85.00 (as of 07/26/2008)
Systems Biology: Philosophical Foundations
Amazon Price: $96.00 (as of 07/26/2008)
Intelligent Organizations: Powerful Models for Systemic Management
Amazon Price: $118.00 (as of 07/26/2008)
The Ownership Solution: Toward A Shared Capitalism For The Twenty-first Century
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Articles and blogs exploring POSIWID
- Memetix
- "Although it is dangerous to use the POSIWID principle to infer intent on the part of individual actors in a system, it is useful for analyzing the emergent behavior of a system. It certainly cuts through a lot of crap about unintended consequences."
- The One Percenters
- "Learn to separate beguiling economic theory from real world facts by applying an acronym from systems theory: POSIWID. Taking America as a starting point, how has the consensus treated its wealthiest one percent? What has it done?"
- Life Support Systems
- Interventions in Complex Socio-Technical Systems,
by Michael Jacobs and Aidan Ward
Internet Resources
blogs and wikis
- POSIWID blog
- Topical applications of POSIWID thinking by John Smith, Richard Veryard and Aidan Ward
- POSIWID wiki
- Notes towards a POSIWID book by Amicus Rex
- POSIWID links
- various items tagged "POSIWID"
Approach
If a complex system produces a given outcome, or if a given outcome emerges from a complex system, then we may assume some purpose linked to this outcome.
This is a useful guide for investigation and interpretation. Ignore the official purpose of the system, ignore what the designers and custodians of a system say, and concentrate on its actual behaviour.
Conversely, if there is some unexplained pattern of behaviour, look for a system whose purpose this pattern reveals. (We often can't see the system directly, but we infer its hidden presence because this helps to make sense of some observed pattern of behaviour.)
Critique
Many users of the POSIWID principle seem to assume that system scope and behaviour is unproblematic - that outcomes can be unambiguously attributed to some system or other.
A complex system apparently produces a diverse set of outcomes. According to the POSIWID principle, all these outcomes may be identified as purposes. A complex system typically contains many conflicting or contradictory purposes.
Many of the purposes of a system cannot be observed in its normal behaviour because they are contingent purposes - the behaviours may only appear in extreme circumstances.
Furthermore, some behaviours are generated by the interference between many systems. It is of course possible to frame the interference within a larger system, whose purpose is presumably to generate this interference and its effects, but this framing is not generally a useful one.
Related Lenses
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Baroque (design style)
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"All manner of thing shall be well/ When the tongues of flame are in-folded/ Into the crowned knot of fire/ And the fire and the rose are one." -- T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding The Baroque Style has been popular at certain times in history....
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What are friends for?
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The question "what are friends for" is a familiar yet uncomfortable one. It carries the suggestion that friendship has some ulterior motive, some utility. This is the question we are going to explore on this lens.
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Functionalism (design style)
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There are two sets of functionalist attitudes and working methods, some relating to how we understand the world (analysis), and some relating to how we change it (design). These are to some extent independent.
Logical Foundations of POSIWID
What makes backwards reasoning valid?
POSIWID represents a kind of backwards reasoning - - from effects to cause. Various philosophers and logicians have discussed whether this kind of reasoning can ever be justified. Vote here for your favourite backwardian.
Final Cause
Aristotle0 points
Engineering
Stafford Beer0 points
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Blog Posts from Google
this week's search term: "Unintended Consequences"
- Unintended Consequences
- Hal Kimball, over at Blue Man in a Red District, has a great post on 1st Congressional District Republican candidate Brian Davis getting sideswiped by Norm Coleman as the GOP senator's re-election campaign amps up its attacks against ...
- The Law of Unintended Consequences
- I need to give a shout out to some of the folks over at Delaware Liberal. Some of the content contributors over there (some, but not all) decided they wanted to engage in a name calling match. Typical behavior from people who are ...
- Unintended Consequences
- You pretty-much need legal or military might (government) or a monopoly (Microsoft or Google) to get away with forcing change, and even then it usually ends up creating unexpected consequences (just look at Iraq).
- More on Richard Simmons and Unintended Consequences
- Richard Simmons doesn't realize that there could easily be unintended consequences for his ?fitness bill.? This bill will generate more federal interference in public schools. Is there stable funding for the bill lasting many years into ...
