system type

One way of classifying systems is based on the purposefulness of the parts and the whole. Based on those two dimensions, the four type are --

• Deterministic - the parts are not independently purposeful; the system as a whole is not purposeful. The purpose for the system exists outside the system.
• Animated/Biological - the parts are not independently purposeful; the system as a whole is purposeful. People are this type of system.
• Social - the parts are purposeful; the system as a whole is purposeful. Business organizations are this type of system, where people each have their own independent purposes as well as the organization. A more precise descriptive phrase for a business organization is a complex multi-minded purposive social system, or simply social system.
• Ecological - the parts are purposeful; but the whole is not purposeful. The business ecosystem fits this system type.

Other classification schemes --
There are several other schemes for classifying systems. Two of them are --

Ackoff's (1999, pp 59-61; 1972, pp 241) --

• State-maintaining
• Goal-seeking
• Multi-goal-seeking
• Purposive
• Purposeful
• Ideal-seeking system
• Learning

Kenneth Boulding's from The Meaning of the 20th Century, New York, Prentice-Hall, 1964 --

• cells
• organs
• organism
• group
• organization
• society
• supranational