Analyzing cause and effects in systems
A key concept in systems thinking is that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts that participate within a system. This statement is true for both system capabilities and complexities. It's the interrelationships between the parts that create complexity within a system. But the interrelationships also are what allow systems to do both useful and useless things. If we don't understand the cause and effects of the underlying interactions across the system, we can't begin to understand how to control the interactions in useful ways.
Participant relationships and interactions can be accidental or intentional within the system. For example, we can evaluate a manufacturing ecosystem as representing a single system with any number of participating elements that interact, causing both desired (intentional) and undesired (unintentional) impacts. Some of the elements intentionally work to support the manufacturer's operations...