System Rules

That is, does the whole entity (a set) perform at least one (or more) function(s) that define it? What is it?

For example, we can consider “cleaning clothing and textiles” as the defining function of a washing machine. Likewise, the primary school, as a system, “delivers secondary school-capable students”, its defining function. Thinking of a collection in terms of its role or defining function changes the way most people think of that collection. Thinking of it this way highlights its system nature. Thinking of its role also reveals the containing system that the collection plays its role within. For example, the washing machine plays its role within the “manage household”-containing system.

In another example, we can understand the software market as a system (rather than a collection of separate and non-interacting revenue buckets). As with the washing machine we need to think of it in terms of its role. What is the software market’s primary role or function? One could answer that the software market exists: “to deliver-automation / enhancement”. It performs this role within the containing system called “enhance-work-processes”. The software market also plays another role: It “rewards-leading-providers”. This role represents its defining function within the “deliver-returns-to-capital-investors” containing system which operates in the finance area. These different roles show that a single system can play different defining roles in different containing systems.

That is, does each part in the set affect the action[1] or attributes[2] of the whole?

For example, the behavior of such parts of a traditional, tall-case clock as the weight, pendulum, pulley, movement, hands and clock face can affect the performance and properties of the whole. On the other hand, the ornamentation, complex moldings, inlays and, and so on of the more decorated clock on the right do not affect the time keeping purpose of the whole. We therefore consider these parts as add-on’s or attachments to it. In the same way we consider the global positioning system (GPS), and cup holders found in a car as appendices rather than parts of the car. They are not essential for performance of its defining function.

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That is, can you identify the subset of parts that perform the defining function of the whole?  In other words, does the system need each of these essential parts for carrying out its defining function or can a single part perform the defining function on its own?

In a system of any type, certain parts play an essential role. Without these essential parts, the system cannot carry out its defining function. For example the time telling system (tall clock) described above needs clock hands, mechanism, weight and pulley to perform its function. It does not need finials and decorative wood inlays. The software market as a system that “delivers-automation / enhancement” within the “enhance-work-processes” system needs: software vendors, platforms (software and hardware infrastructure), customers, training, service, vendors and payment processes. It does not need industry analysts, market share reports, or physical media distribution methods to perform its defining function.

Most systems do include nonessential parts that affect the way the whole system works but not its defining function. A tall clock’s case and construction niceties do not directly affect its time keeping role, but they do affect clock users and usage in other ways, for example, by pleasing passersby with aesthetics while they check the time.

We would consider some parts of a corporate system—finance, purchasing, production, and sales—as essential to its primary function and other parts—public relations and building maintenance—as non essential to its primary function. Note that partners, distributors, hosting service providers, and customers perform essential parts of a corporate system but operate in the corporation’s environment, out of its direct control. Likewise capital funding sources and hardware platforms (computer, storage, network, etc.) fall outside of the software market system but play essential roles for its defining function. Read more on systems and their environments…

We define these systems (those that rely on essential parts beyond their control) as open systems because they require certain environmental conditions in order to perform their defining function. By contrast a closed system does not rely on its environment and can perform its function in every environment. As a closed system, an air-tight, perfectly insulated and indestructible thermos or sealed vacuum bottle can perform its function in most environments in which it might be placed. Those things that a system cannot control, but which can affect the properties and performance of that system, constitute its environment. For example the broader economic conditions around a company occur in its environment. However parts of this environment a system can influence (versus control). As depicted on the left, we refer to these items as transactional. A company can influence potential prospects and negotiate with suppliers. Both fall within a corporation’s transactional environment. We refer to the part of an  environment that a system can neither influence nor control as contextual. A company can neither influence nor control the weather or earthquake occurrence. These occur in a company’s contextual environment. Question four tests for the interconnectedness of these essential parts.

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That is, does the way each essential part of a system affect the system’s behavior or properties depend on (the behavior or properties of) at least one other essential part of the system?

Stating it differently:

• Do the essential parts of a system form a connected set? or
• Can one find a path between any two parts? or
• Can we determine that no essential part of the system exerts an independent effect on the system of which it is a part?

For example, the way a locomotive’s horsepower output affects the speed of the train “system” depends on the number of and weight of and rolling resistance of the attached cars. It also depends on the slope and grade of the track at that point.  A locomotive’s putting out 2,600 horsepower may or may not move the train at 40 miles per hour. The way that a sales force affects a corporation’s revenue and profitability depends on the quality of the firm’s manufacturing processes. The behavior and properties of this manufacturing process in turn depend on the behavior and properties of the product design and manufacturing engineering departments, and so forth.

The essential parts of a system by definition interact directly or indirectly. Therefore, a collection of disparate companies, even if owned by one conglomerate, do not constitute a system because the disparate companies do not interact. On the other hand, the air circulator and chiller of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system (HVAC) do interact as essential parts.

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That is, does the effect of any subset of essential parts on the system as a whole depend on the behavior of at least one other such subset.

As with the individual parts discussed in 4 preceding, so with subsets of parts. No subset of the parts subset of a system can independently affect the system. For example the effect of the roots (parts) subsystem on the tree depends on the behavior of the tree’s leaf crown and its photosynthesis subsystem, the effect of the roots subsystem on this photosynthesis subsystem depends in turn on the behavior of the water and mineral movement subsystem (xylem/sapwood) and so on. If the parts do not interact, they form an aggregation, not a system. A static collection of baseball cards, as we have seen, constitutes an aggregation, not a system. Many markets such as the “Small to Medium Business Market” constitute aggregations of revenue transactions, not systems. The purchasing company’s size range constitutes the only commonality. The parts do not interact.

Interrelationship within?

Inert vs. Integral?