We all tend to think in a simple linear fashion. That “x#@*!!” taxi driver passed me on the left hand side, cut right in front of me and caused me to swerve to avoid him, resulting in my crashing into the side barrier while he disappeared into the traffic. Now in a cause-effect way that may describe what happened. But it doesn’t get us anywhere in understanding (and ultimately rectifying) the problem of accidents caused by the bad driving of many taxi drivers. To crack that nut we need to think systemically, in circles rather than in straight lines.
While systems thinking dates back to the early Greeks, in modern times we should probably start with biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy who published his book on General Systems Theory in 1968. Since then it permeates the thinking of virtually every discipline and provides essential insights necessary for successful living. As you will see, some of these insights are pretty counter-intuitive!
Major insight: everything is dependent on, and influences everything else. Fritjof Capra, a physicist who lectures in the philosophy of science has written some marvellous books on this theme: The Web of Life, and Hidden Connections. His thesis is that we are all linked in myriads of ways, some obvious, others obscure, others hidden. And our biggest delusion as a species is that we are independent individuals able to act without reference to our considerable interconnections.
The problem for us, despite what these great thinkers say, is that we find their complexity theories, well…too damn complex. Some of them, however, offer us a great way out: the method of thinking in systems circles as a way of understanding and then solving complex problems. Take the infuriating taxi drivers.
Event A: Taxi owners pay drivers commission per passenger carried and per trip made. So, the more trips they make, the more passengers they carry, the more they earn.
Event B: Drivers are encouraged to speed and break the traffic rules to get the extra trips and passengers because this earns them more money!
Event C: Inadequate traffic policing, results in very few negative consequences to bad, illegal, discourteous driving.
Event D: My imaginary accident, in which the driver gets away without any negative consequences to himself. In fact, he is rewarded by the taxi owner for his extra passengers and extra trips. And the taxi owner is better off by perpetuating the commission system. It’s a vicious circle!
So, to break this negative, vicious circle what can we do? Well, the only thing that makes long-term sense is to campaign for tackling the source of the problem: the commission system used to remunerate drivers. Anything short of this will only result in isolated redress to particular accident sufferers without any real impact on the rogue system that is causing so much stress.
Let me finish with a positive circle.
Event A: A group of “white” residents in a smallish rural town offer to teach English to classes of Afrikaans speaking, “coloured” children at the local Primary School. The children begin to respond positively to the weekly language classes and to the English speaking teachers.
Event B: The teachers and the children begin to react warmly and positively to one another when they meet outside the classroom in the town shopping area.
Event C: The Headmaster and staff begin to accept the English speaking teachers as part-time volunteer colleagues, and the relationship between the “coloured” school and the mainly white towns people improves with the town seeing these kids and this school as “ours”.
Event D: who knows?
Event E: who knows?
It has been a systemic intervention that has created a positive circle. It may be one that eventually draws people from the economically divided communities together. However, we don’t know because while social change can be led, the complexity of social systems will ultimately determine what emerges or evolves.
Positive circles as well as negative ones can be changed, but our interventions need careful consideration. We need to think systemically, in circles before we decide what to do to bolster positive systems or break negative ones. And change takes time: there are often delays, which if we are not expecting them can make us despondent. However, this is a further benefit of thinking in circles: it provides us with an accurate perception of reality rather than the impatient, uncomprehending distortion that demands change immediately.
No comments:
Post a Comment