UNDERSTANDING ORGANISATIONS: THE DOMINANCE OF SYSTEMS THEORY (original) (raw)
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Lost in Transition? Complexity in Organisational Behaviour – the Contributions of Systems Theories
management revu
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1976
The two papers in this document focus on general systems theory. In her paper, Linda Lederman discusses the emergence and evolution of general systems theory, defines its central concepts, and draws some conclusions regarding the nature of the theory and its value as an epistemology. Don Rogers, in his paper, relates some of the important features of general systems theory and of modern organizational theory to organizational communication theory, and he points out that these theories provide a potentially significant analytical model for organizational communication scholars. (JM) * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDPS are the best that can be made from the original.
In Pursuit of Systems Theories for Describing and Analyzing Systems in Organizations
2018
This research essay illustrates how the IS discipline might pursue systems theories with the goal of understanding IS in new ways, generating innovative and useful systems theories, and achieving more impact in the world. It discusses recent articles that compare different perspectives and expectations related to theories and theorizing in the IS discipline. It uses the term domain-specific systems theory (DSST) to accentuate the difference between general systems theory (GST) and specific systems theories. It provides examples illustrating how DSSTs can illuminate important concerns that variance and process perspectives do not address directly. It shows how work system theory (WST) and several of its extensions are DSSTs that provide useful lenses for understanding, analyzing, and theorizing about systems in organizations. It concludes by summarizing ways in which the IS discipline might welcome systems theories more wholeheartedly.
Usual management theories focus on phenomenological aspects of organisations and management. Systems theory offers a different approach, which can be used to analyze social systems, uncover their internal logic and structure, and to understand their interactions with other social systems. This paper shows how to apply the systems approach to management. This analysis reveals that the management is a sub-system of the organisation, which deals with memories of the organisation, and organizes as an information sub-system and possibly as an identity sub-system of the organisation. We discuss how the systems theory interpretation helps in understanding some management related issues: the growth of management, charismatic leadership, and the trade-off between complexity and standardisation.
2016
The aim of this paper is to present some system-theoretical notions ─ such as constraint, closure, integration, coordination, etc. ─ which have recently raised a renovated interest and have undergone a deep development, especially in those branches of philosophy of biology characterized by a systemic approach. The implications of these notions for the analysis and characterization of self-maintaining organizations will be discussed with the aid of examples taken from models of minimal living systems, and some conceptual distinctions will be provided. In the last part of the paper the epistemic implications of these ideas will be presented.
Theoretical approaches to managing complexity in organizations: A comparative analysis
Estudios Gerenciales, 2015
This paper aims to identify the differences and similarities in the way to explain self-organization from the different theories of complex systems used in management, which we have grouped as complex systems theories, complex adaptive systems (CAS) and organizational cybernetics. For this purpose we suggest three parallel and complementary dimensions to delimit the conceptual spaces where these theories can be placed. Using this classification as an analytical lens we summarize the core arguments suggested by each of these complex systems approaches, regarding the ideas of emergence and new order. This analysis helps us to conclude that the three theories coincide in their interest for studying nonlinear complex systems, but diverge in the nature of the complex problems studied. Finally we analyze the consequences that recognizing the similarities and differences between these approaches have, when using them for the study and research of social and business organizations and their...