While studying the course authored by Eduard Maltsev, deputy dean of kmbs and head of the Presidents' MBA, participants will explore different approaches to understanding and interpreting systems. And in the end, they will acquire the ability to determine areas of further personal development from the point of view of a systemic approach.

Eduard began the introduction to the course with perhaps the most complex philosophical topic — the problem of reality. Having considered several options for solving the question of the existence of objective reality, the teacher focused in detail on Karl Popper's concept of "three worlds," presented in work "Objective knowledge. Evolutionary approach" (1972). Popper proposed that there is a physical reality, the reality of subjective states of consciousness, and the reality of the objective content of thinking (concepts, theories, hypotheses).

The division of reality into three levels of different quality allows you to distinguish models of existence due to simplification and abstraction and work productively with such models.

Using the Socratic method of questioning, Eduard gradually led the participants to the idea that we cannot deal with reality directly; we can only perceive it in models. So, the manager works with models. Training in the MBA program is designed to expand the model toolkit so that you can then choose the suitable model for each task.

Attention to using and updating one's reality models is significant, as is an interest in other people's new and existing reality models. After all, integrating new elements into the system is in development. Therefore, it is necessary to let new things into yourself, but at the same time not to lose yourself. How to do it? To be aware.

After building such a foundation, Eduard moved on to conceptual modeling. Through basic concepts such as paradigm, system, system boundaries, integrity, synergy, the participants learned to develop their conceptual speed — the ability to move between concrete and abstract, choose the level of abstraction needed to solve the task, and hold on to it.

Systems are a manager's universal toolkit. Therefore it is essential to develop the skills of system thinking and master such aspects of the system approach as system modeling, system dynamics, and system design. In particular, it is worth paying attention to emergencies, properties that arise in the system as a whole and are not inherent to its components. Creating emergent properties of a company or community is an essential and creative task for a manager.