Different Types of Systems

Different kinds of system may be understood as

Abstract and physical systems

An abstract or conceptual system is an orderly arrangement of interdependent ideas or constructs, which may or may not have any counterpart in the real world.

On the other hand, physical systems are generally concrete operational systems made up of people, materials, machines, energy and other physical things; Physical systems are more than conceptual constructs.

Deterministic and Probabilistic Systems

A deterministic system is one in which the occurrence of all events is known with certainty. A probabilistic system is one in which the occurrence of events cannot be perfectly predicted. Though the behavior of such a system can be described in terms of probability, a certain degree of error is always attached to the prediction of the behavior of the system.

Open and Closed Systems

An open system is one that interacts with its environment and thus exchanges information, material, or energy with the environment, including random and undefined inputs. Open systems are adaptive in nature, as they tend to react with the environment in such a way, so as to favor their continued existence. Such systems are ‘self organizing’, in the sense that they change their organisation in response to changing conditions.

A closed system is one, which does not interact with its environment. Such systems in business world, are rare, but relatively closed systems are common. Thus, the systems that are relatively isolated from the environment but not completely closed, are termed closed system.

User Machine Systems

Most of the physical systems are user-machine (or human –machines) systems It is difficult to think of a system composed only of people who do not utilize equipment of some kind to achieve their goals. In user-machine systems, both, i.e. human as well as machine perform some activities in the accomplishment of a goal (e.g. decision-making). The machine elements (may be computer hardware and software) are relatively closed and deterministic, whereas the human elements of the system are open and probabilistic.