Communication and Theatre 310 Organizational Communication

Systems Theory

In Life, the issue is not control, but dynamic connectedness. Jantsch (p. 92)

System = all the parts work together to create a functional whole.

• Inorganic system

• Organic system

Applied to organizations: effectiveness depends on coordination of efforts.

Not time and space but spacetime . . .

Or, where you stand in time determines what you will see.

Characteristics of living systems

• Open = affected by and Open = affected by and affects environment.affects environment.

• Flexibility/ability to adapt.

• Interdependence

How are organizational goals problematic?

• Deviation counteractions

Feedback?

• Deviation amplification

There is no one best way to organize . . .

But some ways of organizing are more effective than others.

Wheatley’s chaotic organizational systems theory.

• No “things” = organizations are networks of interactions

• Information is the creative energy of the universe

• Organizations can creatively use their environments.

Without disorder there would be no order . . . Value both.

strange attractor = keeps organizational process within an arena (core values).

Ever worked in an organization with a learning disability?

Senge: learning organization

• Learning system

• Personal mastery (mindfulness)

• Flexible mental models

• Shared vision

• Team learning

Karl Weick: sense-making systems

• Members want to reduce uncertainty

• Enacted environment = perform

• Scanning = for threats/opportunities

• Loosely coupled = realities unaligned

End of Systems Session