19. “There is a problem in discussing
systems only with words. Words and
sentences must, by necessity, come only
one at a time in linear, logical order.
Systems happen all at once. They are
connected not just in one direction, but
in many directions simultaneously.”
20. Food Scarcity
(overpopluation)
T T
T T
Inflow
(birth rate)
Outflow
(death rate)
Stock
(population)
Disease
(canine parvovirus)
Immigration
(via ice bridge)
Parasites
(moose tick)
Weather
(mild winter)
Inflow
(birth rate)
Outflow
(death rate)
Stock
(population)
21. The design and management
of information systems.
Understanding the nature
of information in systems.
36. Artifacts
Espoused
Values
Underlying
Assumptions
Visible organizational
structures and processes
(hard to decipher)
Strategies, goals,
philosophies, justifications
Unconscious, taken for
granted beliefs, perceptions,
thoughts, feelings
(source of values, action)
Three Levels of Culture
40. “There’s a secret about MRIs and
back pain: the most common
problems physicians see on MRI and
attribute to back pain – herniated,
ruptured, and bulging discs – are
seen almost as commonly on MRIs of
healthy people without back pain.”
41. “If you want to accelerate
someone’s death, give him a
personal doctor. I don’t mean
provide him with a bad doctor.
Just pay for him to choose his
own. Any doctor will do.”
45. “It is now my suggestion that many
people may not want information, and
that they will avoid using a system
precisely because it gives them
information…If you have information,
you must first read it. You must then try
to understand it. Understanding the
information may show that your work
was wrong, or may show that your work
was needless. Thus not having and not
using information can lead to less trouble
and pain than having and using it.”
Calvin Mooers (1959)
The limits of information