Systems Thinking: On Self-Regulation (Quotes)

 "The concept of teleological mechanisms however it be expressed in many terms, may be viewed as an attempt to escape from these older mechanistic formulations that now appear inadequate, and to provide new and more fruitful conceptions and more effective methodologies for studying self-regulating processes, self-orienting systems and organisms, and self-directing personalities. Thus, the terms feedback, servomechanisms, circular systems, and circular processes may be viewed as different but equivalent expressions of much the same basic conception." (Lawrence K Frank, 1948)

"Biological communities are systems of interacting components and thus display characteristic properties of systems, such as mutual interdependence, self-regulation, adaptation to disturbances, approach to states of equilibrium, etc." (Ludwig von Bertalanffy, "Problems of Life", 1952)

"Feedback […] is the fundamental principle that underlies all self-regulating systems, not only machines but also the processes of life and the tides of human affairs." (Arnold Tustin, 1952)

"Today our main problem is that of organized complexity. Concepts like those of organization, wholeness, directiveness, teleology, control, self-regulation, differentiation and the like are alien to conventional physics. However, they pop up everywhere in the biological, behavioural and social sciences, and are, in fact, indispensable for dealing with living organisms or social groups. Thus, a basic problem posed to modern science is a general theory of organization." (Ludwig von Bertalanff, "General System Theory, 1956)

"The famous balance of nature is the most extraordinary of all cybernetic systems. Left to itself, it is always self-regulated." (Joseph W Krutch, Saturday Review, 1963)

"Basically, self-regulation requires a functional distinction between perception, decision-making, and action. This is normally achieved by a structural distinction between perceptor elements, control elements and effector elements in the system. Behaviorally, a system may be defined as a “black box” characterized by a given set or range of inputs and outputs. Adequate knowledge of any system requires both structural-functional analysis and behavioral analysis." (Charles R Decher, "The Development of Cybernetics" [in "The Social Impact of Cybernetics", 1967)

"A structure is a system of transformations. Inasmuch as it is a system and not a mere collection of elements and their properties, these transformations involve laws: the structure is preserved or enriched by the interplay of its transformation laws, which never yield results external to the system nor employ elements that are external to it. In short, the notion of structure is composed of three key ideas: the idea of wholeness, the idea of transformation, and the idea of self-regulation." (Jean Piaget, "Structuralism", 1968)

"A company is a multidimensional system capable of growth, expansion, and self-regulation. It is, therefore, not a thing but a set of interacting forces. Any theory of organization must be capable of reflecting a company's many facets, its dynamism, and its basic orderliness. When company organization is reviewed, or when reorganizing a company, it must be looked upon as a whole, as a total system." (Albert Low, "Zen and Creative Management", 1976)