THE SYSTEMS APPROACH: A FRENCH EXPERIENCE.

AERONAUTICS education; SYSTEMS theory; ENGINEERING education; OPERATIONS research

PARIS (France); FRANCE

The article describes the use of a systems approach in teaching engineering at the Ecole Nationale Superieure de l'Aeronautique, an aeronautics school in Paris, France. The Systems Approach has become an increasingly familiar way of attacking various problems in engineering, management and, possibly, other areas. As a new viewpoint it can be detected today in three ways: in its applications, in the disciplines associated with its development and, in the various sources, some outside engineering and management, which can be ascribed to it. Several modern disciplines also evidence a concern with the concepts of systems and systems approach. This is evidenced in their terminology, research preoccupations and general goals. Most notable in this respect are (control) system theory, computer science, management theory and operations research in the more analytical sense. Lastly, if one looks for the sources of the systems approach it can be found that some of these lie outside the fields of engineering and management. This threefold variety of applications, of disciplines and origins poses the problem of the nature and usefulness of such a systems approach.