Level
Systems are characterized by level based on the similarly between the system and a living organism. Level One: Determined systems are static systems that change in deterministic ways without agency. Level Two: Reactive systems simply react to outside input in predetermined ways. Level Three: Goal-driven systems are driven by adjustable goals. Level Four: Problem-Solving systems are more responsive and use adjustable goals and changes in behavior to solve problems. In Level Five: Self-aware systems, actors are able to changes goals, as well as switch between goals or come up with new goals and projects; these systems are characterized by both problem-solving and monitoring. Finally, in Level Six: Multivocal Systems, actors have multiple selves that are relevant in different contexts that may be constructed as the need for problem-solving or monitoring arises (Poole, 58).
However, Poole also describes system “levels” as “lower levels nested within higher ones…each lower-level component of a higher level system (subsystem) is a system in its own right” (Poole, 51). Systems then are composed of other systems. This description evokes Meadows description of "everything" (animals, humans, organizations, etc) being part of a system.
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