In his popular books on total quality management, Out of the Crisis and The New Economics, W. Edwards Deming tells us to focus our efforts on optimizing the system. Peter Senge stresses that "systems thinking" is the Fifth Discipline, and key to continuous improvement. And Stephen Covey’s discussions of interdependency, win/win contingencies, and synergy in his best seller, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, are founded on systems thinking.
So what is systems thinking anyway, and how can this concept be applied to industrial safety and health? Let’s address this question from the perspective of behaviors, attitudes, and commitment to safety improvement.