POSIWID - The Purpose of a System is what it Does
Ranked #8,998 in How-To, #91,083 overall | Donates to Oxfam America
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: (as of 07/13/2009) 
Have Fun at Work
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
Friends in High Places
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
New Plague
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
Recent books that use POSIWID thinking
Trust and Mistrust: Radical Risk Strategies in Business Relationships
Amazon Price: $85.00 (as of 07/13/2009)
Systems Biology: Philosophical Foundations
Amazon Price: $130.00 (as of 07/13/2009)
Intelligent Organizations: Powerful Models for Systemic Management
Amazon Price: $129.00 (as of 07/13/2009)
The Ownership Solution: Toward A Shared Capitalism For The Twenty-first Century
Amazon Price: (as of 07/13/2009)
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
-
Functionalism (design style)
-
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.
-
What are friends for?
-
People sometimes say "what are friends for?" in response to thanks - as if to say "don't mention it". So the question "what are friends for" is a familiar one. But if we take it seriously, it is also an uncomfortable one. It carries the sug...
-
Baroque (design style)
-
"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....
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
Reader Feedback
Chris Bird wrote
The "Purpose" in POSIWID is an unfortunate use of the term. Purpose implies a look forward a view into the future. However in POSIWID the idea is to look backwards. Just because someone uses a screwdriver to stir paint doesn't make paint stirring a purpose of a screwdriver. It does make it a use and it is interesting to explore why it is used that way, but that isn't a purpose.
Some reasons why people might choose a screwdriver to stir the paint include:
They didn't have anything else
The screwdriver was going to be harmed less than the pen
They were too lazy/inform to pick up the stirrer that was on the ground - the screwdriver was easier
They wanted to annoy the screwdriver's owner
Because the stirrer was dirty and the screwdriver clean
When wanting to understand the reasons why it is very valuable to go from effect to cause (think root-cause analysis appraaches), and don't expect to find only one.
Posted March 30, 2009
Blog Posts from Google
this week's search term: "Unintended Consequences"
- Sentencing Law and Policy: House hearing on "Mandatory Minimums ...
- Specifically, as detailed here, on Tuesday morning the House Judiciary's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will hold a hearing on "Mandatory Minimums and Unintended Consequences." Though no official witness list ...
- Street Speculator » Unintended Consequences: How Social Networking ...
- Unintended Consequences: How Social Networking created a New Economy. The Business World constantly wonders if, how, and when ?Social Media? networks will become ?Profitably Monetized?. Facebook and Twitter are the two main culprits of ...
- Unintended Consequences | Neptunus Lex
- The UK has some: A multi-million pound initiative to reduce teenage pregnancies more than doubled the number of girls conceiving. The Government-backed.
- Why school drug testing is a bad idea
- Unintended Consequences. You may find out that a student has smoked marijuana within the last month in a random test.? What else does it tell? There are certainly a number of things that it doesn't say about a student - ...
POSIWID on Twitter
-
- richardveryard
- Purpose of Labour Pains: In my post on Back Pain, in response to Scott Adam's complaint that back-pain .. http://bit.ly/NXGcw #posiwid
-
- richardveryard
- Female Pleasure 3: A controversial study claims that a woman finds lovemaking more fulfilling if her pa.. http://bit.ly/m4iSg #posiwid
-
- richardveryard
- @KatriK That's exactly how factories are managed as well. Schools were designed to train people to work in factories. #posiwid
-
- richardveryard
- Purpose of a Nation: James Liu posted a question to the Linked-In Systems Thinking Group.What is the pu.. http://ub0.cc/57/6T #posiwid
-
- richardveryard
- First Family: Like several of his predecessors (Johnson, Nixon, George W Bush), President Obama has two.. http://bit.ly/19Wm18 #posiwid
-
- richardveryard
- The Wrong Side of History: In his inaugural speech yesterday, President Barack Obama spoke the followin.. http://bit.ly/YeBcO #posiwid
-
- richardveryard
- Relationships built on self-interest: A number of bloggers have reproduced a photograph of Barack Obama.. http://bit.ly/kIkN9 #posiwid
