What is analysis and synthesis in economics. Analysis and synthesis as the most important methods for studying changes in production management systems

One of the most common methods of cognition is analysis. In the 19th century, this method was generally identified with science. Obviously, for this reason, and at present, analysis is the dominant method of cognition. And, supplementing analytical procedures with synthesis, they usually do not talk about it or write about it. Most often, in justifying management decisions using the results of analysis, only the term “analysis” is used, although the decision itself is nothing more than a synthesis of the results of the analysis. So what is analysis, and what is synthesis, and why must analysis be supplemented by synthesis?

In general, analysis involves the division of the whole into parts and a detailed study (quantitative and qualitative) of these parts. The analysis itself, without further generalization of its results, has no practical significance. Any analysis of the parts that make up the whole is made to obtain by generalizing new knowledge about the whole on more accurate and detailed information about its constituent parts. Such a generalization of analytical information, its transformation into new knowledge about the whole is called synthesis. About the logical connection between analysis and synthesis in the cognitive process, I.P. Suslov (Digression 3.10).

Digression 3.10. Analysis and synthesis: logical interdependence of application in the process of cognition

If, at the entrance of analysis, research proceeds from the individual, empirically concrete to the universal, then in the process of synthesis it unfolds from the universal to the theoretically known, structurally dissected concrete. As a result of synthesis, a cognizable phenomenon appears as a single whole, explained from its “generating basis”, an internal law... Analysis and synthesis constitute the unity of opposites, two sides of a single cognitive process, therefore their break is unacceptable... In principle, any cognitive act is both analysis and synthesis. For example, deriving the value of money, i.e. the transition from a more abstract category to a less abstract one is not only a synthesis, but also an analysis, since in this case the researcher draws on empirical data on commodity relations, showing the formation of money and the scientific concept of them ... In relation to the study, we can talk about individual stages and periods of analytical and synthetic work. Let's say the study of a major economic problem is carried out piecemeal in separate subdivisions... of an institute... The results of such analytical work are then synthesized. At each stage of the study, either analysis or synthesis can come to the fore. Analysis prepares the “work” for synthesis; synthesis helps analysis penetrate deeper into the essence of phenomena. The whole process of economic research can be conventionally depicted as a chain, where the link of analysis is followed by the link of synthesis, then more complex analysis and synthesis, and so on.

A source: Suslov I.P. Methodology of economic research. M. : Economics, 1983. S. 174-179.

According to I.P. Suslova, in solving any specific research problem, the process of cognition should be not just a form of an integral unidirectional sequence of methods for collecting data and producing new knowledge, but also a kind of mechanism that allows you to return to the application of already applied methods, but on a different basis, richer in content. . Thus, looking ahead, it can be noted that the methodology of each specific study should be built on the principles of a systematic approach, the most important of which is feedback.

Analysis and synthesis must always be used together, and synthesis must complement analysis. In fact, it is. It's just that it's usually not mentioned. We can give a couple of examples not from the economy. So, the patient donates blood for analysis. Then he comes to the doctor, who, focusing on the quantitative indicators of blood components, synthesizes the results of the analysis into a diagnosis (however, no one says that the patient was sent to donate blood for synthesis; everyone says that he went to donate blood for analysis). The same can be said about the work of the country's meteorological services. Numerous weather stations, as well as meteorological satellites, collect a huge amount of data on the state of the atmosphere, cloudiness, wind direction and strength, precipitation, etc., which, as data, flow to the country's Hydrometeorological Center, where they are processed, forming into powerful information arrays in order to be subjected to deep analysis. And all this is done only to ensure that the results of the analysis are synthesized into forecasts for the country as a whole and for its regions. It is in this way that analysis and synthesis are applied in all branches of science. The economy is no exception here. A. Marshall is right: the methods of cognition are the same for all sciences (see Digression 3.3), but their application is determined by the content of each specific branch of knowledge.

As for economics, as in other branches of science (see above examples from medicine, meteorology), discussions about analysis are considered as if separately, not in connection with synthesis. This clearly follows from the content of educational literature and economic practice. So, in higher education from time immemorial, the training course "Analysis of economic activity" has been taught. Published and published a huge number of textbooks and manuals, which are called "Analysis of economic activity" or "Economic analysis of economic activity"; there are textbooks with the title "Market Analysis" or something else, but with the indispensable use of only the word "analysis". There is not a word about synthesis either in the title or in the content of this extensive educational literature. In this regard, the assumption may arise that synthesis as a method of cognition is not studied at all in the higher economic school; only one analysis is studied.

However, it is not. Synthesis, both in management practice and in the educational process, is given no less attention than analysis, only without the use of the word "synthesis". In economic practice - as well as in medicine and meteorology, where synthesis is used, but they are talking about a diagnosis, weather forecast - synthesis based on the results of an analysis of economic activity or market analysis is used in the development of proposals for the development of enterprises, regions, countries in the form of goals , strategies, plans, programs and other management decisions. In the educational process, synthesis procedures are presented in extensive literature on the development and justification of management decisions, plans, projects, programs, goals, strategies, etc. In these educational publications, a reservation is always made that any such solution is based on analysis, but it is never said that such a method of cognition as synthesis is also involved here. Although this was not always the case. For example, when defining the concept of "Scientific Organization of Labor" (SOT), formulated in the early 1920s, the term "analysis" is used in conjunction with the term "synthesis" (Digression 3.11).

Digression 3.11. Analysis and synthesis: two sides of a single cognitive process

The scientific organization of labor should be understood as an organization based on a thorough study of the production process with all the conditions and factors that accompany it. The main method in this case is the measurement from nature of the costs of time, materials and mechanical work, the analysis of all the data obtained and the synthesis, which gives a harmonious, most profitable production plan.

Analysis is the mental division of an object or phenomenon into its constituent parts, i.e., the allocation of individual parts, features and properties in them.

Synthesis is a mental combination of individual elements, parts and features into a single whole. Analysis and synthesis are inextricably linked, are in unity with each other in the process of cognition.

Analysis and synthesis only in their unity provide a complete and comprehensive knowledge of reality. Analysis provides knowledge of individual elements, and synthesis, based on the results of the analysis, combining these elements, provides knowledge of the object as a whole. The methodology of a systematic approach to the design of organizational management systems makes it possible to put a specific goal of activity and a set of system tasks at the forefront.

The methodology of analysis and synthesis includes the following steps:

· The tasks set by the manager are clarified, and the goal of the system functioning is determined.

· A subsystem of tasks that must be completed in order to ensure the most successful achievement of the goal is determined.

· The subsystems of measures that ensure the implementation of each of the tasks are determined.

· The technology of implementation of measures that ensure the solution of each of the tasks is determined.

· The factors of the external and internal environment that affect the functioning of the system, the implementation of activities and tasks are determined.

· Required types of resources are determined.

· Quantity and quality of available resources is determined.

· The procedure for carrying out activities is determined, taking into account technological and resource limitations.

· Developed and optimized a model of activities to achieve the goal.

· The minimum amount of resources required to complete the work on time, or the nature of the change in the mode of resource use, is determined.

· Report to the manager of the simulation results and approve one of the options for action.

Making a decision (development of a plan) and approval by its leader.

· Preparation of executors, obtaining the missing funds, implementation of the decision (plan).

The essence of the law of analysis and synthesis

The study of organizations as socio-economic objects provides for the mandatory use of analysis and synthesis operations. Analysis and synthesis in the study of the functioning of the organization are so intertwined that they cannot exist without each other. Therefore, speaking about the law of the unity of analysis and synthesis, one should mean their inseparability and constant interaction, carried out within the framework of the dialectical principle of unity and struggle of opposites. Analysis and synthesis in their unity form the basis of a systematic approach to the study of the organization's activities. All forms of human activity - industrial, scientific, artistic, no matter how complex and peculiar they are, always represent two aspects of cognition - analytical and synthetic, in their mutual change and interweaving. The very concepts of "system", "complex" imply their decomposition into elements, parts that form a whole.

Analysis is a research method, consisting in the fact that the object of study, considered as a system, is mentally or practically divided into constituent elements (features, properties, relationships, etc.) in order to study each of them separately and identify their role and place in system.

Synthesis is a research method that aims to combine the individual parts of the system under study, its elements into a single system.

In organization theory, analysis includes 2 main procedures:

1) division of the whole into parts;

2) improving the functioning of each of these parts.

Synthesis also consists of two procedures:

1) coordination of the characteristics of the selected parts;

2) combining them into a single whole.

And thus, the target organization of companies is ensured by a constant cyclical process of analysis and synthesis: the elements studied in the process of analysis are subjected to synthesis, which makes it possible to continue and deepen the study of the system at a new level of knowledge. Synthesis transfers knowledge from one level to another, higher one. An analysis of the behavior of various parts of the system (analysis of relationships with suppliers, consumers, analysis of demand and supply, sales analysis, analysis of the level of technology, etc.) is carried out in order to evaluate the system (organization) as a whole, to identify the causes of deviation from the main goal. The big problem of economic science is excessive specialization, sometimes absolutely unreasonable differentiation of economic knowledge, pulling apart knowledge about a single whole into parts. These parts break up, break up into narrow disciplines and, in the end, turn into a huge collection of obscure currents that are understandable only to a narrow circle of so-called "theoreticians". The law itself reads as follows: "Each system (biological or social) seeks to tune in to the most economical mode of operation by constantly changing its structure or functions." So, if a complex system is decomposed into its component parts, then the initial elements for the formation of new systems can be obtained; every newly formed system is a combination of elements that were or are included in other systems. To implement this law, the leader must adhere to such principles as:

a) draw up and implement programs for continuous improvement of the company, its elements and divisions;

b) attracting the best specialists or consultants to this work;

c) conduct market research in key areas of activity;

d) reduction of production costs;

f) use management information technologies.

The law of unity of analysis and synthesis has its own essential features, which are that the law:

Does not express the specifics of historically defined relations, characterizes general connections and relations in the social environment;

Acts as a catalyst for social progress;

Plays an increasing role in the development of society.

Differentiation of knowledge must be accompanied by their integration, analysis - by synthesis, otherwise there will be a monopolization of departments, elements, loss of a sense of a single system, loss of a single goal of the system. On the other hand, rigid integration can stifle freedom, the creativity of the elements of the system, and their ability for internal self-development.

In a complex self-organizing system, with the help of an endless cyclic process of analysis and synthesis, the structural optimization of the system takes place; the system refuses obsolete inefficient elements, replacing them with more progressive ones. In a word, the continuity and interaction of analysis and synthesis ensure the system's striving for optimal self-realization.

Based on the methods of analysis-synthesis, when modeling economic systems, decomposition and compositional approaches to solving optimization problems are widely used. The decomposition approach is applied to the construction of a system of models, in which the goals of the lower levels of the hierarchical structure are derived from the goals of the upper level. In the synthetic, compositional approach, on the contrary, the goals of the upper level of the hierarchy are derived by coordinating the goals of the lower levels of the hierarchy with the help of some economic mechanisms.

The law of the unity of analysis and synthesis closely interacts with the laws of development, awareness - orderliness, self-preservation and synergy. The law plays the most important role when the system strives to achieve proportionality, proportionality of elements among themselves and in relation to the whole, with its help the principles of composition, proportionality and harmony are realized.

methods of scientific knowledge. Analysis is the mental or physical division of the object under study into its component parts and the study of them separately. Synthesis is the formation of an integral image of an object based on the mental connection of its individual parts. A. and S. are interconnected with each other: synthesis is impossible without analysis, and analysis is largely meaningless without synthesis.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

analysis and synthesis

ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS.- Analysis (from the Greek. analysis - decomposition, dismemberment) - real or mental decomposition of an object into components; synthesis (from the Greek. sythesis - connection, combination) - the real or mental union of these components into an integral object. The division of all processes of the world into analytical and synthetic is a logical consequence of the division of all objects of the world into matter and form (see: form and matter) or, which does not change the essence of the matter, into elements and structure. In this context, four varieties of A. and C are distinguished: 1. Natural analysis - the decomposition of objects into parts, and natural synthesis - the unification of these parts into new objects, in accordance with natural possibilities. 2. Practical analysis - the division of objects into components, and practical synthesis - their integration into wholes, also in accordance with the possibilities of practice, which would never be realized in nature. 3. Mental analysis separates from objects that which is inseparable neither in nature nor in practice, for example, the smile of the Cheshire cat from the cat itself, and mental synthesis connects what, according to the laws of nature, cannot be connected, for example, the head of a bull with a human body. 4. From A. and s. objectively existing objects are distinguished by meta-analysis and metasynthesis, i.e. A. and s. knowledge about the world. Distinguish between instantial (from English instance - example) and propositional (from English proposition - sentence) interpretation of A. and s. as cognitive procedures. In the first case, analysis is understood as a mental decomposition of the object under study into components, and synthesis is understood as a mental unification of them into a whole; in the second case A. and s. called the transformation of sentences serving the instances understood by A. and S. This is the classical, or, as they say, "etymological" understanding of A. and s. Its supporters often understand analysis as a mental decomposition of the object under study into any components: parts, properties, and relationships. However, in accordance with the analysis thus understood, the synthesis remains without work: there is no such side of the subject, the knowledge of which would not be included in the task of analysis. "Analysis" and "study" become synonyms, separated by a comma. This is how, for example, mathematical analysis is understood: it includes not only differential but also integral calculus. Having defined analysis as a mental decomposition of an object into any components, synthesis is usually defined as “connection of various elements, sides of an object, into a system”. But to combine elements into a system means to reflect the relations that form it from its own elements. And they are already included in the subject of analysis. This widely held view of A. and p. it is natural to call it eclectic. To overcome it, it is enough to exclude from the task of analysis the reflection of those relations that form the object from its elements, and to make their reflection the only task of synthesis. In classical theory, meaningful A. and S. distinguished from formal A. and s. A meaningful analysis reveals previously unknown parts in the object under study, for example, the elementary particles that make up the atom. A meaningful synthesis reveals previously unknown relations that form this object from its parts. It was the meaningful synthesis that E. Rutherford carried out when, in his planetary model of the atom, he showed what relations between electrons, protons and neutrons form an atom. When a modern teacher talks about the elementary particles that make up an atom, he makes a formal analysis; when he shows by what relations among themselves these particles form an atom, he performs a formal synthesis. Informative A. and s. They are also called expanding, formal - clarifying. Their classical interpretation is opposed by the Kantian theory analytical and synthetic judgments, according to which all analytic judgments are clarifying, and all synthetic ones are expanding. Closely connected with classical theory is the theory of geometrical asymmetry and s, or, as it is also called, the theory of a. and s. in the sense of Pappus (Greek mathematician of the 3rd century AD). In geometry, A. and S. so understood. even before Plato they were used as when searching hypotheses designed to solve the problem, as well as to prove it. Today, only A. and s. have been developed in detail. how methods evidence already found hypothesis. In the course of analysis, the proposition to be proved1 is conditionally taken as true; a sentence is derived from it, also as only conditionally true; and so on until a sentence is received, the falsity or truth of which has either already been proven or is recognized as obvious. After this, the reverse movement begins: from the falsity of the sentence, one concludes that the sentence is false; from the truth of the sentence (provided that the conclusion is reversible) - about the truth of the sentence. On this basis, the analysis is called the movement from the end to the beginning, or "working backward" (working backward), and the synthesis - the movement from the beginning to the end. As I. Lakatos showed in detail (“Proofs and Refutations”, M., 1967), from the institutional point of view, geometric analysis is a procedure for dividing the object under study into parts (for example, a polyhedron into triangles), and synthesis is the process of combining them into whole. This allows you to use the theory of geometric a. and s. to concretize their classical theory. G.D. Levin

Only decomposing the object of study, considering it as a special system, into elements, highlighting the qualities, properties, relationships inherent in each element and studying them, you can know the subject, identify and determine the patterns of its development. In the process of analysis, the researcher goes from the concrete (concrete-sensory) to the abstract, from the complex and single to the simple and diverse.

Investigating, for example, the process of long-term planning of labor productivity, this process is divided into stages of the past, present, future with the identification of how, in what direction, in what volume and content this process was and is being carried out; mentally identify factors directly and indirectly affecting the level of labor productivity (technical, organizational, social, regional, etc.). Only in this way can one approach the knowledge of truth. But analysis is just the beginning of the learning process.

Synthesis as a method of cognition consists in the fact that the constituent parts of the subject under study, phenomena, properties and relations, dissected in the course of analysis, are mentally combined into a single whole (a system or class of systems). Synthesis is a process that reveals the place and role of each element in the system, unity, mutual connection and mutual conditionality, interaction of the elements of an integral system.

It is possible to oppose and separate analysis and synthesis only logically, in order to reveal in detail the essence and content of both sides of this contradiction. In reality, they are a unity, usually they are intertwined (as well as cause and effect).

System analysis and synthesis- the most important method of implementing a systematic approach in the study.

As a research method, system analysis and synthesis includes the following elements: research goal, goal achievement alternatives, research resources, research modeling, criteria.

The starting point of system analysis and synthesis is the goal. The goal is a mental, ideal image, anticipating the results of the activity, the final result of the work.

For the typology of goals in the form of the so-called. goal trees use such characteristics as their significance (main goal and subgoals), deployability (vertical and horizontal), subordination (lower-level goals are a means to achieve higher-level goals).

The multivariance of achieving goals is indicated in system analysis and synthesis as a variety of alternatives .

Based on these rules, they build a conclusion - from the falsity (non-optimality) of all alternatives, except for one, to the truth (optimality) of this alternative. The choice of alternatives presupposes, as a mandatory, indispensable condition, the use of the basic laws of thinking of traditional and dialectical logic.

Historical-logical method of cognition has its basis in

that each process, object, phenomenon has its own history and logic (objective logic). The history of an object is its concrete development in all its diversity, the successive change of various states. In the history of the subject, the whole variety of aspects, theories, and relations is represented.

Objective logic is the principles, the essential laws of development, it excludes particulars, turns, zigzags of development, backward movement. The study of an object can be either historical or logical. Both approaches ultimately express the essence and content of the subject, the process of development, only in unity.

inductive method scientific thinking or guidance method. It allows predicting and predicting possible changes in these processes under certain conditions; identify the quantitative boundaries of the measure, it allows you to search and predict quantitative and other dependencies.

Induction as a research method most fully implemented by the system statistical methods. Statistics as a social science studies the regularities of quantitative relations in their continuous connection with their qualitative content.

There are methods of statistical observation (reporting, censuses, sample surveys, family budgets, etc.) and methods of data processing and analysis (grouping, balances, calculation of averages, calculation of indices, graphs, etc.). Groupings cover issues of classification, nomenclature, construction of group and combination tables).

For data processing (in terms of measuring the sampling error, analyzing the relationship between factors, evaluating the reliability of the result), methods of mathematical statistics and probability theory (correlation calculations, analysis of variance, etc.) are used.

deductive method- a method of deducing according to the laws and rules of logic of all proposals, consequences, laws, hypotheses, theories.

From a certain finite number of original true premises, a set of logically necessary consequences is obtained, which creates coherence, consistency, and rigor of knowledge. The deductive method is used by various sciences.

Main deductive operations:

a) Derivation from these theoretical propositions of various

consequences (calculations in mathematics).

b) Finding the initial theoretical positions, from

which the data of the investigation can be logically deduced (proof of the truth of any position,
hypotheses, theories).

The deductive method is the only one for constructing theories in the logico-mathematical sciences.

Mathematical Methods knowledge is one of the applications of the deductive method. The modern development of science is associated with the ever-increasing role of mathematical methods.

Among the mathematical methods are:

a) formalization method and b) axiomatic method.

Thoughts different in specific content can be expressed in the same logical form of inferences. Replacing symbols with concepts, we obtain new inferences in terms of content.

axiomatic method. Its essence lies in the fact that all the provisions of any theory are derived deductively from provisions that are called postulates or axioms.

(allows you to streamline the reasoning, find out the logical connections between concepts and judgments, make the presentation more harmonious). In non-mathematical sciences, this method is used to a limited extent.

Traduction or Analogy as a research method, it uses the objective unity of phenomena of different quality, the commonality of laws, structure, functioning and development of a number of phenomena and processes. As a method of cognition, analogy includes:

a) the accumulation of knowledge about certain aspects of the object under study;

b) systematization of this knowledge on the basis of observation, experiment, measurement, description;

c) assimilation of the system under study on the basis of comparing its properties with the properties of other more fully studied systems (analogues);

d) establishing the necessary and essential connection between the features of the system to be likened and analogues.

Analogy as a research method is the basis for modeling.

Modeling- this is a method of studying objectively existing objects, processes, phenomena, based on the use of models.

Model- a system that, with varying degrees of similarity, reproduces the original - the system under study and therefore allows obtaining information about the reflected system (original).

Two main classes of models:

a) material - means and object of the model

experiment;

b) mental - mental, ideal constructions, over
by which thought experiments are carried out.

The mental model of the object of knowledge is built primarily on the basis of the abstraction of simplification and the abstraction of idealization.

Simplification abstraction there is a distraction from the real complexity, the diversity of internal and external connections and relations and the preservation of only the main, essential connections.

Idealization abstraction goes further. It consists in the fact that the properties of simplified abstraction are brought to the limit. In the form of a mental model, the product of idealization is introduced into science. Modeling is an obligatory and indispensable condition for the possibility of developing forecasts, programs, and plans.

foresight- a method of theoretical thinking based on explanation, since laws are revealed to them. Its essence is defined as a prediction based on theories, laws of what will appear in the future. Foresight is not an image of the future, but designing, imagining it.

Any foresight is characterized by three points: novelty what is predicted; justification by law; future proof.

Forecast, program, plan have a single basis - these are forms of foreseeing the state of a controlled object at some period (moment) of the future.

Forecast- this is the initial stage of foresight, the starting point for studying the ways of future development (the forecast is always locally limited in time; the forecast is feasible (“if trends persist”, “if there are no extreme situations”, etc.).

Draft program in contrast to the forecast: a) always a draft management decision; b) it is a single complex for solving a local problem, which has a target orientation and

relies on a system of balanced, linked activities in terms of resources, deadlines and performers; c) programs always include explicit or implicit forecasts, since they are associated with the development of the leading link in the economy, social relations, and scientific and technological progress.

Draft plan- always a project management decision. This is a targeted system of measures based on draft programs related to solving the key issues of this period, and a system of forecasts.

Explanation- as a research method, it is the realization of the logical component of the historical-logical method.

This is the final stage of research in the form of a scientific article, scientific report, dissertation, monograph. The explanation synthesizes the laws of science, hypotheses, theoretical ideas, theories.

Both analysis and synthesis belong to the category of general scientific methods, which are studied, among other things, by the methodology of economic theory. Actually, through analysis, as a process of logical division of an object into its constituent parts for their study, and synthesis, as a study of an object as a whole, a systematic approach to understanding the phenomenon under study is provided. At the same time, during the analysis, there is a movement from the concrete to the abstract, because the object is divided into abstract components, which helps to understand their specific distinguishing characteristics. During synthesis, there is a mental reverse movement from the abstract to the concrete, which allows you to explore the object as a whole in the process of interaction. This helps to understand and explain the contradictions that are inherent in an object or phenomenon.

Analysis and synthesis in economics

An example of conducting an economic analysis is the process of studying the cost of goods in terms of components, i.e. the cost of raw materials, the cost of marketing and administration processes, the price of energy resources spent on production, etc. An example of synthesis is the cost of the same product as the sum of all costs as a whole. The division of general economic theory into micro- and macroeconomics is logically connected with the use of methods of analysis and synthesis.

Analysis and synthesis of commodity relations

An example of the use of analysis and synthesis can also be the process of studying the turnover in society, namely, the study of the question of why, in general, there is a turnover, what drives this process and what are its patterns. At the same time, each individual product is studied as a separate object and its inherent properties are determined by the method of analysis. It is analytically easy to establish that any product satisfies a certain human need, in other words, it is an abstract utility for the consumer, therefore it has a certain consumer value. Moreover, it is obvious that exchange value is also inherent in commodities, i.e. the ability to exchange proportions among themselves. Thus, based on the application of the analysis, two categories are identified - and exchange value. Next, in order to understand what is the relationship between these categories, synthesis is applied. Synthetic understanding leads to the conclusion that such a relationship is determined by social value and market value. Those. social value determines utility to society, and market value determines the value in monetary terms or relative to other goods and services on the market.

It should be noted that the study and justification of economic phenomena by methods of analysis and synthesis may be accompanied by errors. In particular, such common ones as errors of false argument (or sophism), errors of division and errors of composition. In this regard, the application of the mentioned methods requires certain qualifications and experience of those specialists who will apply them in their work.