Affiliations: Analytic Services, Inc. (Applied Systems Thinking
Institute), Arlington, VA, USA | School of Systems and Enterprises, Stevens Institute
of Technology, Castle Point on Hudson, NY, USA. E-mail:
{john.boardman,brian.sauser}@stevens.edu
Note: [] Corresponding author: 4147 27{th} Street North, Arlington, VA
22207-5211, USA. Tel.: +1 703 276 2747; Fax: +1 703 276 7971 (with advance
notice); E-mail: larry.john@anser.org
Abstract: Based on preliminary research of the experience of groups like the
policy community, we believe that engineers, especially those developing
systems of systems, may benefit from an appreciation of paradox. For example,
the policy community embraces and leverages paradox to address problems that
might otherwise prove intractable. We believe that policy makers will also
benefit from systems thinking. We briefly review the definition of paradox,
introduce its potential to generate "breakthrough" thinking for innovative
solutions, and illustrate some contemporary engineering problems that contain
paradoxes. We then recount several historical examples of successfully applied
paradoxical thinking, illustrate the paradoxes inherent in two fundamental
systems thinking constructs, and postulate a three-step approach to leveraging
paradox in problem solving situations. We close by posing some key follow-on
questions and a research program designed to support the development of
paradox-related training in both systems engineering and policy
development.
Keywords: Paradox, innovation, systems thinking, boundary paradox, control paradox, wisdom
