The Role of Feedback in Different Systems Methodologies

Systems Thinking (ST) evolved through the work and contributions of differentthought leaders such as Ludwig von Bertolonffy, Jay Forrester, Stafford Beer,Peter Checkland, С West Churchman, and Russell L Ackoff. As ST evolved, thedominant view of systems (ond organizations) also shifted from mechanistic,to biological, and then to social perspective. Work of key systems thinkers, asreflected in various ST methodologies1, also reflected this journey. Though theseS TMs view organizations from different perspectives, the term feedback conbe seen widely used in different ST methodologies. A common terminologymay imply a common underlying meaning but, to the contrary, a thorough understandingof these ST methodologies suggests that the context ond use ofthe term feedback is often different in different methodologies. This paper willexamine both of these aspects; how different ST methodologies view systems,and how the concept of feedback is different in each methodology.

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