DEFINING SYSTEMS BOUNDARIES IN PRACTICE: SOME PROPOSALS AND GUIDELINES.

The paper proposes three simple guidelines for setting systems boundaries which ensure a certain internal coherence to the system description. These apply to a particular way of describing systems, namely that of specifying elements and relationships between them. These guidelines require the analyst to make explicit certain assumptions about the purpose of the study, the client's power to take action, and the network of relationships between elements. Specifically, the guidelines require: 1. that all 'behavior of interest' be specified, and that elements displaying this behavior be deemed with the systems; 2. that all elements under the direct influence of the client be specified, and included within the system; 3. that all paths of relationship connecting elements under direct influence to the elements displaying the behavior of interest, be included within the system. Everything else is to be considered external to the system.