A Systems Approach to Social and Organizational Planning

Book excerpt: "A Systems Approach to Social And Organizational Planning is about systems thinking and its application in health care. Health care systems all over the world are on the verge of breakdown and neither patients nor governments and businesses can afford health care delivery as we know it any longer. The problem is that planners still conceptualize enormously complex biological and social systems in a simplistic manner. An analysis of the problem indicates that the solution lies in using a holistic apporoach, such as the systems approach, to re-conceptualize our thinking about the problem situation. The result is a systems view of health, which has profound implications for planning and change management in health care. It is a fresh and different approach to an intractable problem and therefore deserves the attention of both systems thinkers and health care planners. The purpose of the text is to introduce readers to the systems approach and to contribute towards the current debate about health care planning. The target audience is therefore students new to systems thinking and specifically health care planners."--Publisher.