Problem: Essay on how organizations function much like an open system. It describes the 9 characteristics of an open system and take a detailed looked at the 3 most import characteristics.
“Organization Systems”
Organizations are much like human bodies: they are complex systems that must work together in order for the organization (or body) to survive. Within these complex social systems inputs are required and transferred through the use of energy into resulting outputs. All social systems, including organizations, consist of patterned activities of a number of individuals. More, these patterned activities are complementary or interdependent with respect to some common output or outcome; they are repeated , relatively enduring, and bound in space and time. If the activity patterns happen only once or at unpredictable times it would not be considered an organization. The article discusses nine characteristics of open systems which can be used in describing social organizations. 1) social organizations import energy and are dependent upon it for stimulation. Social organizations must draw renewed supplies of energy from other institutions, or people, or the material environment. No social structure is self-sufficient or self-contained. 2) the through put or processing of inputs. The organization creates a new product, or processes materials, or trains people, or provides a service. 3) the out put is the finished product it could be anything from an invention of an inquiring mind or a bridge constructed by an engineering firm. 4) Systems of Cycles of Events meaning there must be a cycle of inputs and outputs other wise the system would not exist. 5) Negative Entropy occurs when social organizations have greater expenditures than intake and the organization begins to decay. 6) Information Input, Negative Feedback and the Coding Process all deal with stimuli an organization interacts with. 7) The Steady State and Dynamic Homeostasis describes how an organization seeks the simplest state to preserve a constant and accepted norm. 8) Differentiation within social organizations describes how they move towards multiplication and elaboration of roles with greater specialization of function. Finally 9) Equifinality describes how a organization can get to the same final state from multiple paths.
Of these characteristics there three that need to be examined deeper. The first is Negative Entropy. Simply put this is a dying process that must be controlled by the organization. In business terms it could be described as watching a corporation start to lay off individuals as it tries to stop hemorrhaging from losses. The organization must stretch its resources to carefully conserve energy otherwise it will cease to be able to continue existing.
The second concept is Negative Feedback is the simplest form of feedback and found in all social systems. Negative feedback is actually a good thing for an organization as it corrects or stops behavior that might be detrimental to the organization. If there is no corrective behavior to get the system back on course it will expend to much energy or vice versa take in more energy than it can process and it will no longer be able to function as a system.
The final important characteristic is Homeostasis where an organization system has balance and is in a steady state. In complex organizations an equilibrium is often sought so that a move in one direction is often countered in a move in the opposite direction and both movements are approximate rather than precise in the compensatory nature. The organization will tend not to have an exact amount of balance but rather a small amount more of imports to have a safety margin in the event of an emergency. Further as an organization grows it will not be the same as it once was and new norms will form as well as new baseline levels to measure the equilibrium against.
While traditional theory tends to think of the human organization as a closed system when it’s examined based on the nine characteristics listed above it is more like an open system. The system relies on continuous inputs, transformations and outputs. The systems require stimuli and the ability to self correct before any major imbalances occur that could compromise the organizations ability to survive in its environment.
References: Organizations and the System Concept, Katz & Kahn, 1966