Process-based systems thinking—Challenging the boundaries of structure

The call for theories, models, and frameworks which promote a general theory of systems and the application of these theories in practical fields remains an ongoing appeal. We suggest that a process-based systems perspective might encourage some new responses to this call, and we outline some important process-based systems principles. These principles are that life is essentially of a process nature, that nature is approximate rather than definite, that organization in nature is dynamic, that systems function according to principles of autonomy and integration, that creation is a process of emergence and that teleos is a character of living systems. We suggest that these general principles for process-based systems practice can be used to explore the development and application of systems approaches beyond traditional structure-based systems thinking.