Posts Tagged with "system-archetype"

Reference #369: Thinking in Systems

Several system archetypes that produce common patterns of behaviour have been identified. These archetypes arise from system structure, not necessarily the specifics of a system, and so are observed in many different settings. The archetypes are as follows:Read more →

Reference #370: Thinking in Systems

Policy resistance (or "fixes that fail") is a system archetype where multiple actors pull the system's stock towards various, competing goals.Read more →

Reference #371: Thinking in Systems

The tragedy of the commons is a system archetype where, by their own bounded rationality, the users of a shared resource — the commons — harvest that resource until it is over-harvested then destroyed. Examples of commons are a shared pasture, a national park, or the global environment.Read more →

Reference #372: Thinking in Systems

There are three approaches to avoiding the tragedy of the commons:Read more →

Reference #373: Thinking in Systems

Reference #374: Thinking in Systems

Escalation is a system archetype wherein the desired state of one stock is continually set above the perceived state of another stock, and vice versa.Read more →

Reference #375: Thinking in Systems

The system archetype of "success to the successful" is where one party can use their wealth, privilege, or information to create more wealth, privilege, or information.Read more →

Reference #376: Thinking in Systems

The game of Monopoly is a classic example of success to the successful. Once a player builds hotels to extract rent from other players, they are able to use that rent money to build more hotels and hence collect more rent.Read more →

Reference #377: Thinking in Systems

Success to the successful in known in the field of ecology as the "competitive exclusive principle". It states that two species cannot live in the same ecological niche competing for the same resources.Read more →

Reference #379: Thinking in Systems

Within the "success to the successful" archetype, not only do the rich get richer but the poor get poorer. For example, often the poorest children receive the worst education in the worst schools. This leads them to develop few marketable skills, allowing them to quality for only low-paying jobs.Read more →

Reference #380: Thinking in Systems

There are several ways to break out of the "success to the successful" trap: diversification, creating balancing feedback loops to keep competitors from taking over entirely, or periodically levelling the playing field.Read more →

Reference #381: Thinking in Systems

The system archetype of shifting the burden to the intervenor arises when a solution to a systemic problem reduces or disguises the symptoms but does nothing to solve the underlying issue. This is also known as dependence or addiction.Read more →

Reference #382: Thinking in Systems

In a "shifting the burden to the intervenor" system, the stock can be physical such as a crop of corn, or meta-physical such a sense of wellbeing or self-worth. The intervention does not need to close the gap your desired state and actual state; instead, it can alter the perceived state.Read more →

Reference #383: Thinking in Systems

A well-meaning intervenor can cause a system to become dependant on them.Read more →

Reference #384: Thinking in Systems

Dependence or addiction makes long-term systemic solutions more difficult.Read more →

Reference #385: Thinking in Systems

To avoid the trip of shifting the burden to the intervenor, be vigilant for policies or practices that relive symptoms, or inhibit signals, without addressing the underlying problem. Focus not on short-term relief but on what long-term changes would improve the system.Read more →

Reference #386: Thinking in Systems

Rule beating (a system archetype) means taking evasive actions to abide by the letter or the law but not its spirit. You circumvent the intent of a system's rules. This can lead to unnatural and harmful behaviours that make no sense if the rules were absent.Read more →

Reference #387: Thinking in Systems

To avoid harmful rule beating, a system's law must be designed with the full, evolving system in mind. As the system is self-organising, you must design, redesign, explain, or remove the rules to focus creativity not on beating those rules but on achieving their purpose.Read more →

Reference #388: Thinking in Systems

Systems often produce exactly — and only — what you ask them to produce. Its balancing loops work towards the goal or purpose of the system. When a system is designed towards the wrong goal, outcomes are often achieved that don't improve the welfare of the system.Read more →

Reference #389: Thinking in Systems

Seeking the wrong goal is almost opposite to rule beating. With the former, the system works towards the goal and produces a result that people may not actually want. In rule beating, the system seeks to evade an unpopular rule.Read more →