| Problem | Solution |
| Insects are destroying farm crops | Create a pesticide to kill the insects |
| The secretary isn’t working out | Fire her |
| Business is slow, less profit this quarter | Raise prices |
| Child diagnosed with ADHD | Give Ritalin |
The problem with these solutions is they don't look at the entire system or the big picture. The pesticide works in that it kills off the troublesome insect, but what wasn't considered were the other factors to the environment such as the pesticide absorbing into food, the pesticide creating an imbalance in the ecosystem because the pest killed kept a fungus under control, the pesticide contaminating nearby water supplies, etc. Although the pesticide solved the insect problem, it created a host of other problems that were worse. If systems thinking had been used, another solution might have been found that was more ecosystem, water, soil and food friendly.
Firing the secretary may be the correct solution, or the fact that she's not working out may indicate other problems within the company. Perhaps there is not a good system in place for training employees or maybe the secretary would work fine in a different department in the company. It might not be the secretary at all, it could be another co-worker surreptitiously causing trouble or even the boss setting up lose/lose situations for the people he supervises.
When business is slow, one of the first things many companies do is raise their prices. If business is slow because of bad economic times, that means customers stopped coming because they couldn't afford the product. How does raising prices help? This is truly an example of not using systems thinking. There may be other reasons besides the economy why business is slow. Now is the time to look at the entire organization and find what and where the weak points are. Business could be slow because of bad customer service, or poor salesmanship and ineffective marketing. Maybe business hasn't slowed at all, instead unpaid invoices are piling up in accounts receivable. When business is slow either because of hard economic times and/or other factors, systems thinking could be the difference whether the company will still be in business three to five years down the road.
Systems thinking isn't just for business and industry, it works in regard to personal and family matters as well. Giving a child diagnosed with ADHD a drug like Ritalin may calm the child down, but does it solve the problem? The teacher is happy no longer having to deal with a disruptive child in the class, the principle is happy no longer having to discipline the child every day and call the parents. The parents are probably happy too that they're not getting called by the school everyday. Looking at the entire system however, one of the first questions should be: what are the potential long-term side effects of drugging a child? Another question is whether or not want to teach our children that drugs are an answer to behavior problems. Traditional thinking does not look at the root causes of the problem because they are hard to determine. Maybe the child isn't getting enough sleep, or exercise, or ingesting too much sugar and drinking too much caffeine. Perhaps the child is bored in school because the child is a kinetic learner and the school doesn't address that need. Maybe the teacher is boring or plays favorites. In spite of what tests indicate, perhaps the student is quite bright and needs to be challenged more in class. Systems thinking would address these issues and very possibly come up with another solution.
Unlike the traditional approach, systems thinking is not linear. Systems thinking encompasses the big picture and can help predict and deflect unintended consequences. Although more challenging because it requires more thought, systems thinking can be an effective tool for providing positive, long-term solutions for almost any problem.
