CRITICAL SYSTEMS THINKING - BEYOND THE FRAGMENTS

This article is concerned with systems thinking as an approach to the management of complex problems. I argue that systems thinking is curre ntly failing to make the most of the significant steps forward taken i n the discipline during the 1970s and 1980s. Systems thinking should b e able to present itself as the discipline capable of offering a holis tic response to a very wide range of management problems. Instead, dif ferent groupings of academics and practitioners lay claim to the syste ms label but share little overall intellectual vision. While the disci pline remains fragmented, the claim to offer a holistic and comprehens ive response to management problems will seem hollow. Critical systems thinking is suggested as a way for the discipline to progress beyond the fragmentation.