Gonçalves, Duarte PD2021-11-162021-11-162021-09Gonçalves, D.P. 2021. The concept of ‘system’ in a whole-of society approach. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12145 .http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12145INCOSE has expressed its vision for transdisciplinary approach for systems engineering to address complex societal problems. While the concept of ‘system’ has been dealt with at length, the purpose of this article is to surface assumptions underlying systems engineering, bringing deeper and new theoretical insights to the concept of ‘system’. This is done in the context of previous whole-of-society work and issues of vertical integration. To do this, the article will introduce transdisciplinarity and levels of reality. Heterarchy as alternative to hierarchical control is explored in the context of social systems, leading to identifying participative and representative mode social systems. The definition of systems is presented and the notion of society in the context of whole-of-society is explored. Caution must be applied in universalising any definition of system given the concept of levels of reality.FulltextenHeterarchySystemTransdisciplinarityWhole-of-societyConference PresentationGonçalves, D. P. (2021). The concept of ‘system’ in a whole-of society approach. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12145Gonçalves, Duarte PD. "The concept of ‘system’ in a whole-of society approach." <i>Proceedings of the 15th SA INCOSE Conference, 15-16 September 2021</i> (2021): http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12145Gonçalves DP, The concept of ‘system’ in a whole-of society approach; 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12145 .TY - Conference Presentation AU - Gonçalves, Duarte PD AB - INCOSE has expressed its vision for transdisciplinary approach for systems engineering to address complex societal problems. While the concept of ‘system’ has been dealt with at length, the purpose of this article is to surface assumptions underlying systems engineering, bringing deeper and new theoretical insights to the concept of ‘system’. This is done in the context of previous whole-of-society work and issues of vertical integration. To do this, the article will introduce transdisciplinarity and levels of reality. Heterarchy as alternative to hierarchical control is explored in the context of social systems, leading to identifying participative and representative mode social systems. The definition of systems is presented and the notion of society in the context of whole-of-society is explored. Caution must be applied in universalising any definition of system given the concept of levels of reality. DA - 2021-09 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR J1 - Proceedings of the 15th SA INCOSE Conference, 15-16 September 2021 KW - Heterarchy KW - System KW - Transdisciplinarity KW - Whole-of-society LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2021 T1 - The concept of ‘system’ in a whole-of society approach TI - The concept of ‘system’ in a whole-of society approach UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/12145 ER -25073