Authors
Topics
Lists
Pictures
Resources
More about C. West Churchman
C. West Churchman -
System
Quotes
19 Sourced Quotes
View all C. West Churchman Quotes
Source
Report...
However a
systems
problem is solved—by a planner, scientist, politician, antiplanner, or whomever—the solution is wrong, even dangerously wrong. There is bound to be deception in any approach to the
system
.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
We are always obliged to think about the larger
system
. If we fail to do this, then our thinking becomes fallacious.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
The problem of
systems
improvement is the problem of the 'ethics of the whole
system
'.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
When one is considering
systems
it's always wise to raise questions about the most obvious and simple assumptions.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
Operations research '(OR) is the securing of improvement in social
systems
by means of scientific method
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
The management of a
system
has to deal with the generation of the plans for the
system
, i. e., consideration of all of the things we have discussed, the overall goals, the environment, the utilization of resources and the components. The management sets the component goals, allocates the resources, and controls the
system
performance.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
The
systems
approach goes on to discovering that every world-view is terribly restricted.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
It is sheer nonsense to expect that any human being has yet been able to attain such insight into the problems of society that he can really identify the central problems and determine how they should be solved. The
systems
in which we live are far too complicated as yet for our intellectual powers and technology to understand.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
The comprehensiveness of OR's aim is an example of a '
systems
' approach, since '
system
' implies an interconnected complex of functionally related components.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
The ultimate meaning of the
systems
approach, therefore, lies in the creation of a theory of deception and in a fuller understanding of the ways in which the human being can be deceived about his world and in an interaction between these different viewpoints.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
It would be a good thing, if the
systems
planner's germination was moral outrage and not just a mild felt need. In other words, I do not think we should view the major problems of the world today with calm objectivity. We shouldn't first ask ourselves for a precise and operational definition of malnutrition. We should begin with 'kids are starving in great numbers, damn it all!
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
A
system
may actually exist as a natural aggregation of component parts found in Nature, or it may be a man-contrived aggregation – a way of looking at a problem which results from a deliberate decision to assume that a set of elements are related and constitute such a thing called 'a
system
.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
How can we design improvement in large
systems
without understanding the whole
system
, and if the answer is that we cannot, how is it possible to understand the whole
system
?
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
It's not as though we can expect that next year or a decade from now someone will find the correct
systems
approach and all deception will disappear. This, in my opinion, is not in the nature of
systems
. What is in the nature of
systems
is a continuing perception and deception, a continuing re-viewing of the world, of the whole
system
, and of its components. The essence of the
systems
approach, therefore, is confusion as well as enlightenment. The two are inseparable aspects of human living.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
In general, we can say that the larger the
system
becomes, the more the parts interact, the more difficult it is to understand environmental constraints, the more obscure becomes the problem of what resources should be made available, and deepest of all, the more difficult becomes the problem of the legitimate values of the
system
.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
A
systems
approach begins when first you see the world through the eyes of another.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
The idea of a '
system
approach' is both quite popular and quite unpopular. It's popular because it sounds good to say that the whole
system
is being considered, but it's quite unpopular because it sounds either like a lot of nonsense or else downright dangerous – so much evil can be created under the guise of serving the whole.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
The scientist has to have a way of thinking about the environment of a
system
that is richer and more subtle than a mere looking at for boundaries. He does this by noting that, when we say that something lies 'outside' the
system
, we mean that
system
can do relatively little about its characteristics or its behavior. Environment, in effect, makes up the things and people that are 'fixed' or 'given', from the
system
's point of view.
C. West Churchman
Source
Report...
The concern of OR with finding an optimum decision, policy, or design is one of its essential characteristics. It does not seek merely to define a better solution to a problem than the one in use; it seeks the best solution... [It] can be characterized as the application of scientific methods, techniques, and tools to problems involving the operations of
systems
so as to provide those in control of the operations with optimum solutions to the problems.
C. West Churchman
Quote of the day
There are periods in history when change is necessary, and other periods when it is better to keep everything for the time as it is. The art of life is to be in the rhythm of your age.
Oswald Mosley
C. West Churchman
Born:
August 29, 1913
Died:
March 21, 2004
(aged 90)
More about C. West Churchman...
Featured Authors
Lists
Predictions that didn't happen
If it's on the Internet it must be true
Remarkable Last Words (or Near-Last Words)
Picture Quotes
Eleanor Roosevelt
Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Confucius
Philip James Bailey
Eleanor Roosevelt
Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Confucius
Philip James Bailey
Popular Topics
life
love
nature
time
god
power
human
mind
work
art
heart
thought
men
day
×
Lib Quotes