β Scribed by R.W. House; J.N. Warfield
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
System planning seeks to embody a vision of the future into proposals and design concepts. It also seeks to articulate objectives lbr the system being planned.
"Today we increasingly believe that there is a conscious discipline--already learnable though perhaps not yet teachable--for the imaginative leap into the unknown. We are developing rigorous methods for creative perception. Unlike the science of yesterday, it is not based on organizing our knowledge. It is based on organizing our ignorance." PETER DRUCKER Summary--System planning is done by people who have faith in the future and a vision of the future adequate to form the basis for planning. System planning has two major outputs which embody its contributions. These are proposals and design concepts. The proposal is addressed to the decision-maker. One of its main ingredients consists of a statement of the objectives of the system. The objectives may be set by the system planner, or they may be articulated by him as an expression of his understanding of the concensus of other responsible persons. Design concepts evolving from system planning are based on the visualized system, and are addressed primarily to the system engineer.
There are many problems and pitfalls associated with system planning which should be kept in mind in system planning. Consideration of these helps to make the plans more realistic, more likely to be accepted, and less likely to bog down in the implementation stages.
The development of an adequate science of planning should carry high priority among systems people, as such a science will help to provide effective analytical and communicative tools for system planning. *+ Def. 1. A system is a collection of interacting diverse functional units such as biological, human, machine, information, and natural elements, integrated with an environment to achieve a common desired objective by manipulation and control of materials, information, energy, and life.
Def. 2. System engineering is the art of application of systems sciences to a specified purpose.
π SIMILAR VOLUMES
This editorial introduction to the special issue on planning suggests that much of the early optimism about educational planning has evaporated as a result of the burgeoning costs of higher education and the increasing difficulties graduates are having in finding suitable jobs. It is suggested that