# Contents Introduction | 7
## Part One Precedents to Systems Theory | 15 1\. A. Angyal (1941) A logic of systems | 17 2\. J. Feibleman and J. W. Friend (1945) The structure and function of organization | 30
## Part Two Properties of Open Systems | 57 3\. W. Koehler (1938) Closed and open systems | 59 4\. L. von Bertalanfly (1950) The theory of open systems in physics and biology | 70 5\. D. Katz and R. L. Kahn (1966) Common characteristics of open systems | 86 6\. W. R. Ashby (1956) Self-regulation and requisite variety | 105 7\. V. I. Kremyanskiy (1958) Certain peculiarities of organisms as a 'system' from the point of view of physics, cybernetics, and biology | 125 8\. G. Sommerhoff (1969) The abstract characteristics of living systems | 147
## Part Three The Environment of a System | 203 9\. M. P. Schiitzenberger (1954) A tentative classification of goal-seeking behaviours | 205 10\. H. A. Simon (1956) Rational choice and the structure of the environment | 214 11\. W. R. Ashby (1960) Adaptation in the multistable system | 230 12\. F. E. Emery and E. L. Trist (1965) The causal texture of organizational environments | 241
## Part Four Human Organizations as Systems | 259 13\. P. Selznick (1948) Foundations of the theory of organizations | 261 14\. F. E. Emery and E. L. Trist (1960) Socio-technical systems | 281 15\. E. Nagel (1956) A formalization of functionalism | 297 16\. R. L. Ackoff (1960) Systems, organizations, and interdisciplinary research | 330
## Part Five Systems Management | 349 17\. A. O. Hirschman and C. E. Lindblom (1962) Economic development, research and development, policy making: some converging views | 351 18\. M. Ways (1967) The road to 1977 | 372 Further Reading | 389 Acknowledgements | 390 Author Index | 391 Subject Index | 395
--- These contents were consistent across reprints, 1971 to 1976, of Systems Thinking 1969.