Editing Systems theory (section)

===Properties of general systems===
General systems may be split into a [[hierarchy]] of systems, where there is less interactions between the different systems than there is the components in the system. The alternative is [[heterarchy]] where all components within the system interact with one another.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=65}} Sometimes an entire system will be represented inside another system as a part, sometimes referred to as a holon.<ref name=":6" /> These hierarchies of system are studied in [[hierarchy theory]].<ref name=":7" /> The amount of interaction between parts of systems higher in the hierarchy and parts of the system lower in the hierarchy is reduced. If all the parts of a system are tightly [[Coupling|coupled]] (interact with one another a lot) then the system cannot be decomposed into different systems. The amount of coupling between parts of a system may differ temporally, with some parts interacting more often than other, or for different processes in a system.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-94-007-7470-4_24 |chapter=Hierarchy Theory: An Overview |title=Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World |date=2013 |last1=Wu |first1=Jianguo |pages=281–301 |isbn=978-94-007-7469-8 }}</ref>{{Rp|page=293}} [[Herbert A. Simon]] distinguished between decomposable, nearly decomposable and nondecomposable systems.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=72}}

[[Russell L. Ackoff]] distinguished general systems by how their goals and subgoals could change over time. He distinguished between goal-maintaining, [[Goal seeking|goal-seekin'''g''']], multi-goal and reflective (or goal-changing) systems.<ref name=":6" />{{Rp|page=73}}