Shared Meaning through Living Systems

Understanding the thing as a system is basically a social activity involving:

• A Person as a System.

• within a Social system.

These are two types of living systems. Both will be explored.

Person as a System

A person is an open system with respect to energy, information and matter and a closed system operationally. This means that person creates their own understanding of the world. The following picture identifies the areas where a person creates their own mental images (Antonio Damasio) or mental models,(Peter Senge) The following picture highlights the areas where each person creates sets of mental images:

 

Each person creates their own understanding and mental images of the following:

• System Knowledge

• Thing Knowledge

• Thing conscious experience (perception)

• Thing as a system through a System Description

These mental images are unique to the person based upon their interaction with the shared information.

A person encodes their understanding using symbol systems and communicates their knowledge based upon their mental images.

Creation of shared meaning through Social Interaction

A social system consists of social structure (shared knowledge) and a social network (members interacting through communication). The each member of a social network within a social system has their own understanding of any specific item. The following picture shows two members each with their own mental images and the shared items in the social structure.

Through dialogue and conversation (the arrows between the members), create triggers that cause structural changes that may create three outcomes:

• Align the mental images with the shared documents

• Ignore the information being shared

• Respond with feedback to counter the information.

If these shared mental images converge, there will become a shared understanding of the meaning within the various sources. If they diverge, friction and tension may arise until the differences are resolved; or they may not be shared.

As the stakeholders in a system-of-interest are people, the quality of the communication and coherence of understanding makes a significant impact on the value of a shared System Description

Without this understanding, system descriptions will be one person's view of a system.

The underpinning success of this part of the alignment of the system description is dependent upon the leadership in the social system, the shared values and beliefs and the value placed upon open and honest conversation and listening.

Sources for this Model

• General Systems Theory, Chapter 10

• The Fifth Discipline

• Thinking in Systems

• The Embodied Mind

• The Systems View of Life

• On Dialogue

Other Sources related to the Person as a System.

• The feeling of what happens, Antonio Damasio

• Frames of Mind, Howard Gardner