General systems theory or GST proposes that complex systems share several basic organizing principles. They share these principles irrespective of their purposes. According to GST, it is possible to model these principles mathematically.
Put simply; GST focuses on the structure of systems rather than what they do.
Rather than reducing an *entity to the property of its elements or parts, general systems theory focuses on the whole entity. In other words, it focuses on the relationships between and arrangement of the parts which connect them into a whole.
* An entity is anything that is formed and administered. For example, a person is an entity, and so is a company. Even the government is an entity.
This organization of something determines a system. It is independent of the concrete substance of the elements.
General systems theory, therefore, proposes that the same concepts and principles of organizations underlie different disciplines. By disciplines, we mean biology, chemistry, physics, sociology, management, psychotherapy, etc. The theory provides a basis for their unification.
GST concepts include process, output, input, system-environment boundary, and goal-directedness. The concepts also include information as well as hierarchy.
Put simply; GST proposes that the structure of any system is often as important in determining its behavior as its individual components.
GST – Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy
Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972), an Austrian biologist, was one of the early founders of general systems theory.
GST came to relate to finding a general theory to explain all systems in all scientific fields.
The field of GST emerged as a corollary of biological studies. The theorists first analyzed ecological systems in nature. They subsequently applied the basic logic of systems to non-ecological phenomenon.
Many proponents of GST have tried to develop a general theory that could explain the function of any system. This approach would explicate systems as diverse as a government or an ant colony according to the same principles.
Their hypothesis, therefore, suggests that there is a basic logic within every system.