General systems performance theory and its application to understanding complex system performance

Issue title: Complex Socio-Technical Systems – Understanding and Influencing Causality of Change

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kondraske, George V.

Note: [] Corresponding author. %Departments of Electrical %and Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA. E-mail: kondraske@uta.edu

Abstract: General Systems Performance Theory (GSPT) is relatively new and was motivated by attempts to obtain a quantitative understanding of the interface of human systems to tasks. However, the general nature of this work is emphasized in that it is applicable to any system (human or artificial) at any hierarchical level. Most experimental investigations of GSPT have involved the human system, which is argued to be representative of a circumstance that includes great complexity in itself. The need for GSPT, key constructs of it, and experimental work are summarized. GSPT concepts are used retrospectively with focus on several other systems to explain common errors made in design and other circumstances that often lead to unforeseen consequences. Relatively simple approaches to demonstrate how GSPT methods could minimize or prevent such errors are delineated. To emphasize the broad applicability of GSPT, several speculative new, contemporary problem contexts are discussed with preliminary guidance regarding recommended measurements and assessment processes. Thus, to realize predictable change in a complex system, it is asserted that one must first have a reasonable understanding of the relationship between key components that form a system at any instant in time. It is ultimately argued in this chapter that: 1) performance is an omnipresent and ultimate concern, 2) performance variables are special and a quantitative understanding of the threshold-based (and not correlation-based), resource economic relationship between performance attributes across hierarchical levels is essential, and 3) assessment of the notion of ``change'' (i.e., in the evolution of complex systems and our understanding of this process) depends, in many situations, first upon valid characterization and understanding of systems from a performance perspective.

DOI: 10.3233/IKS-2012-0195

Journal: Information Knowledge Systems Management, vol. 10, no. 1-4, pp. 235-259, 2011