Problem:
Having trouble understanding Federov and Roelofs article in light of the material that I have read on organizational systems behavior, supplemented if you wish with material from the optional readings and perhaps the supplementary background as well, and even other outside reading you might find by yourself to be useful. Then compare the "military unit" and the "symphony" as examples of different kinds of living systems, noting both similarities and differences and the degree to which applying systems thinking helps you understand both.
Q1. What are the most important system problems faced by the military unit? How does it routinely deal with them?
Q2. What are the most important system problems faced by the orchestra? How does it routinely deal with them?
Q3. How are the military unit and the orchestra similar in terms of how they function as living systems?
Q4. Does a systems approach to these two kinds of organizations highlight any important differences between them (leaving aside the obvious contrast between an M-15 and a viola as tools of the trade)
Q5. Consider for a moment a university such as TUIU. Considering them all as living systems, does the university seem more like a military unit or more like the orchestra? Explain your answer, referring to system properties as needed.
Q6. To what degree do you see the idea of a living system as helpful to someone trying to understand an unfamiliar organization? Why?
Q7. What, if anything, that thinking about an "organization as an organism" adds to what we have learned by thinking about an "organization as a machine".
Response in 700 to 800 words plus two references.