Introduction to Systems Theory: "Looking At The Organizational Eco-System"

 

Although the "Blueprint" metaphor [Structuralist Theories] we examined last time gives us important insights into organizations, it is inadequate by itself to really help us understand and problem-solve in our organizations. The lens, while showing us some of the realities in our organizations, is simply not able to reveal all the pertinent variables. Structuralists tend to overlook the environmental factors and think of organization as in a "closed system", not really influenced by issues beyond the organizational walls. Structuralists also tend to over-concentrate on organizational structure at the expense of really explaining organizational functioning. IN other words, structuralists tend to focus upon "how" we organize production, not "what and why" we produce.

In an effort to broaden the analysis and see other aspects of organizational life missed by the structural theories, another group of theorists, loosely known as "systems theorists", turned attention from the organizational structures to the broader systems into which an organization fits and the sub-systems operating within the organization. Systems theorists think about organizations from the framework of ECO-SYSTEMS. The systems theorists tend to think about organizations in terms of organizational life-cycles, and systemic processes. In other words, this lens (or set of theories) looks at how organizations work over time in contrast to the structuralists who tend to look at point in time to fine tune to machine - like looking at a video versus looking at a snapshot.

In additional to life cycle focus, the systems view examines organizations as if they were living organisms growing and interacting with a broader Eco-system. Rooted in biological open systems theory, this approach is concerned with finding the proper place of organization within its larger system. This approach is also concerned with how the organization interacts with its environments and manages its boundaries and whether current practices will allow the organization to survive over time.

System Theory as a way to understand and predict organizational behavior has its roots in General Systems Theory. The biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy first outlined in 1950 the notion of general systems theory. The core theory assumes that an organism is an integrated system of interdependent structures and functions. An organism is constituted of cells and a cell consists of molecules which must work in harmony. Each cell must know what the other is doing. Taking their lead from the biological framework, Systems Theorists apply the concept to organizational life by substituting organization for organism, group for cell, and person for molecule.

Two core concepts of General Systems Theory in biology are sub-systems and multiple-causation. The concept of "sub-systems" means that everything exists in connection with bigger and smaller systems. The level of analysis depends on perspective - you could be considering a ... sub-system of a system, the system itself, or the super-system into which the system fits. The concept of "multiple-causation" grows from the fact that systems are complex and interrelated (sub-system issues impact the system, which impacts the super-system, and super-system issues doe the same in reveres, etc), causation's of organizational problems are likely complex and interrelated.