Behavioral Systems Engineering: A Textbook for Leaders, Educators, and Change Agents

By David Allway

Why do good people in well-intentioned systems produce outcomes they would never choose?

You've seen it happen. In hospitals. In schools. In corporations. In communities. People with strong values, working hard, with adequate resources-yet consistently producing results that conflict with their own intentions. The problem isn't them. It's the system they're inside.

BEHAVIORAL SYSTEMS ENGINEERING is a complete framework for seeing systems, understanding the people within them, and designing organizations and communities that work.

What You'll Learn

Drawing from organizational behavior, systems dynamics, social psychology, neuroscience, leadership development, and cutting-edge research on human-AI collaboration, this textbook guides you through five essential movements:

See the System - Recognize the feedback loops, signal patterns, and structural features that produce behavior reliablyUnderstand the People - Move beyond individual psychology to see how systems shape human responseDiagnose the Shadow - Identify where systems carry harm despite good intentionsNavigate the Machine - Understand how artificial intelligence is changing the system landscapeDesign What Works - Create systems worth building that can sustain themselves across timeEight Units. Forty Chapters. Practical and Grounded.

This is not abstract theory. Each unit includes documented public cases, historical examples, real-world scenarios, and frameworks you can apply immediately. Whether you lead an organization, teach in schools, drive social change, or work in healthcare, government, nonprofits, or business-this textbook gives you the mental models and tools to understand what's really happening and what to do about it.

For Leaders, Educators, and Change Agents

If you've asked "why does this keep happening?" and suspected the answer had more to do with how things are structured than who's involved, this book is for you. If you're responsible for outcomes in complex environments where good intentions consistently fall short, you need this framework.

Stop treating symptoms. Start changing systems.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0H6Y9NDK6
• ISBN13: 9798198092983
• Release Date: July 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 1.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.5" x 11.0"