This systems perspective may seem quite basic. Yet, decades of management training and practices in the workplace have not followed from this perspective. Only recently, with tremendous changes facing organizations and how they operate, have educators and managers come to face this new way of looking at things. Systems have input, processes, outputs and outcomes, with ongoing feedback among these various parts. If one part of the system is removed, the nature of the system is changed.
Systems range from very simple to very complex.
There are numerous types of systems. Complex systems, such as social systems, are comprised of numerous subsystems, as well. These subsystems are arranged in hierarchies, and integrated to accomplish the overall goal of the overall system. Each subsystem has its own boundaries of sorts, and includes various inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes geared to accomplish an overall goal for the subsystem. A pile of sand is not a system.