Organizations as Systems
A system is defined by its boundaries - the limits that identify its components, processes, and interrelationships when it interfaces with another system. The notion of organization as system refers to a systems thinking approach to studying organizations. Organizations and their members can be usefully conceptualized as systems designed to accomplish predefined goals and objectives through people - members - with a common purpose and the other organization resources they employ. Organizations are composed of interrelated (sub)systems (departments, divisions, organization units, etc.) serving specialized functions. Typical functions may include Finance, Marketing and Sales, Human Resources, Operations, etc. Organizations are complexes of people and/or groups that according to commonly agreed rules and procedures strive to realize one or more preset objectives.
The significance of conceptualizing organizations as complex systems is that systems theory and principles allow insight into how organizations work, and how they can be effectively evolved and changed to work better. To ascertain certain subsystems requirements properly and to design appropriate systems such as information systems, strategy execution system, etc., it is of primary importance to understand the system as a whole. all systems are composed of subsystems, therefore when studying an organization you also have to examine how smaller subsystems are involved and how they function.
Aspects of Organizations as Systems
Organizations conceptualized as Open Social Systems are essentially goal-seeking, information feedback systems. There are a number of important aspects common to all organization systems; these include:
Using a systems overlay to understand organizations allows for the acknowledgement of the idea of systems composed of subsystems, their inter-relatedness and interdependence, the existence of boundaries that allow or prevent the interaction between various departments and elements of other subsystems and environments, and the existence of internal environments characterized by degree of openness and closedness, which might differ across departments, units, or even systems projects.
Enacting Organization System Instance
Organizations as social systems exist in the real world through people who are members of the organization and some physical structures (such as offices and facilities). Enacting an organization involves translation from the abstract model of the formal definition to concrete system elements, such as assigning individual actors (people) to positions in the organization structure (for example, organized around functional areas) in specific locations and facilities. The assignment of actors to positions is formally made through the signing of legal contracts (created and regulated through organization policies) with the actors. The signature of this contract represents a conveyance of the goals of the position to the actor(s) who are assuming that position, i.e., the goals of the position are expected to be executed by the actor(s) enacting that position.
A system is defined by its boundaries - the limits that identify its components, processes, and interrelationships when it interfaces with another system. The notion of organization as system refers to a systems thinking approach to studying organizations. Organizations and their members can be usefully conceptualized as systems designed to accomplish predefined goals and objectives through people - members - with a common purpose and the other organization resources they employ. Organizations are composed of interrelated (sub)systems (departments, divisions, organization units, etc.) serving specialized functions. Typical functions may include Finance, Marketing and Sales, Human Resources, Operations, etc. Organizations are complexes of people and/or groups that according to commonly agreed rules and procedures strive to realize one or more preset objectives.
The significance of conceptualizing organizations as complex systems is that systems theory and principles allow insight into how organizations work, and how they can be effectively evolved and changed to work better. To ascertain certain subsystems requirements properly and to design appropriate systems such as information systems, strategy execution system, etc., it is of primary importance to understand the system as a whole. all systems are composed of subsystems, therefore when studying an organization you also have to examine how smaller subsystems are involved and how they function.
Aspects of Organizations as Systems
Organizations conceptualized as Open Social Systems are essentially goal-seeking, information feedback systems. There are a number of important aspects common to all organization systems; these include:
- Inter-relatedness and interdependence - All systems are inter-related and interdependent. This has important implications both for organizations and for those analysts who seek to help them better achieve their goals. When an element of the system is chnged or eliminated the rest of the system's elements and subsystems are also significantly affected.
- Inputs - All systems process inputs from their environments. Processes by definition, change or transform inputs into outputs.
- Organization Boundaries - All systems are contained by boundaries separating them from the environment. Organizational boundaries exist on a continuum ranging from extremely permeable - open - to almost impermeable - closed. For an organization to continue to adapt, survive and grow it must be able to import resources - people, raw materials, and information - through its boundaries (inputs), and then exchange the outputs - finished products, services, and information - with its environment (the outside world).
- Internal Openness and Closedness - Openness and closedness of organizations is related to the concept of external boundary permeability. Openness and closedness exist on a continuum. Openness refers to the free flow of information within the organization. Creative departments are often characterized as open, with free flow of ideas among participants and very few restrictions on who gets what information, and at what time when a creative project is in its infancy. At the opposite end of the continuum might be the defense department unit assigned to work on top secret defense planning affecting national security.
- Systems Controls - Feedback is a form of systems control. As systems, organizations use planning and control to manage their resources effectively. System's outputs are used as feedback that compares performance with goals. This comparison in turn helps managers formulate more specific goals as inputs. Feedback is received from within the organization and from the outside environments around it.
- Environments - Anything external to an organization's boundaries is considered to be an environment. The environment may consist of a milieu of different environments including: community with factors such as demographics, physical location, etc., economic environment with factors such as competition, markets, etc., political environment, legal environment, etc. Changes in environmental status can be planned for but cannot be controlled.
Using a systems overlay to understand organizations allows for the acknowledgement of the idea of systems composed of subsystems, their inter-relatedness and interdependence, the existence of boundaries that allow or prevent the interaction between various departments and elements of other subsystems and environments, and the existence of internal environments characterized by degree of openness and closedness, which might differ across departments, units, or even systems projects.
Enacting Organization System Instance
Organizations as social systems exist in the real world through people who are members of the organization and some physical structures (such as offices and facilities). Enacting an organization involves translation from the abstract model of the formal definition to concrete system elements, such as assigning individual actors (people) to positions in the organization structure (for example, organized around functional areas) in specific locations and facilities. The assignment of actors to positions is formally made through the signing of legal contracts (created and regulated through organization policies) with the actors. The signature of this contract represents a conveyance of the goals of the position to the actor(s) who are assuming that position, i.e., the goals of the position are expected to be executed by the actor(s) enacting that position.
Business Organizations as Systems
Business organizations are dynamic social systems in that each has a purpose, and is greater than the sum of its parts. The dynamics of social systems are expressed in terms of the intentional properties of the actors that comprise the system, and the interaction relationships between these actors. Interactions between actors can occur to satisfy goals that are either common to actors or global goals which pertain to the society (organization) as a whole and lay outside the scope of any one individual actor. Considering sub-organizations as a kind of structured logical actor, interactions among the sub-organization units can be viewed as a way of realizing society goals.
Organization Purpose
Organizations have “purpose” (as in purposeful endeavor) which may be expressed as a goal to be achieved. Goals, although specific and measurable, can be a simple statement of a company's culture or attitude, i.e., to be number one in customer satisfaction in a particular industry. Members in that organization (social system actors) have to subscribe to that goal; which gives coherence to their motivations, decisions, actions, and behavior. Obviously, their beliefs, motivations, etc., can also be influenced by culture (organizational, and environmental), as well as “self-awareness” (as it shapes learning and impacts decisions). In this formulation, “self-awareness” is an “internal” critical factor that can be expressed as a "health" metric.
Organization Structure
The structure of an organization's social system can be represented logically by logical actors such as organizational units and positions as systems, and their relationships. In creating social network models of real world situations, we adopt as a premise that the social world is unknowable and uncontrollable with respect to the behavior of "actors" (human agents, individual or groups of individuals). Structures develop due to the need to organize behavior in a meaningful way and provide orientation for organizational members to set actions that comply with organizational strategy, organizational culture, and, as a result, accepted patterns of behavior. The behavior of an organization is usually guided by its strategic and tactical goals.
Organization Behavior
The behavior of an organization as a whole is defined by the patterns of interactions among its functional organization units and the the behavior of social actors (people, individuals and groups of individuals) that are members of these units, and between the functional units with processes that interact with the environment such as customer service, marketing, regulatory compliance, etc. The behavior of actors is manifested in each actor's decisions, actions, and priorities. The behavior of actors is impacted by their beliefs, values, and "mental model", and influenced/guided by organization's purpose, policies, and cultures (institutional arrangements). To be good standing members of an organization, actors have to subscribe to the purpose and values of the that organization and policies which give coherence to the actor's behavior. Actors' behavior can be analyzed and described at the following levels:
The behavior is influenced by the design of the organization structure and its institutional arrangements. A well designed organization ensures appropriate levels of energy is generated and maintained in the system. System organization secures, expends, and conserves energy to maintain the system and further the achievement of its mission/purpose.
Organization Interactions and Relationships
Interaction refers to the manner in which each component functions with other components of the system. Interactions between actors can occur to satisfy goal intentions common to the actors, or global goals which pertain to the organization (or society) as a whole and lay outside the scope of any one individual actor.
Organization Culture
Organizational culture is the collective behavior of humans who are part of an organization, and the meanings they attach to their actions. Culture includes the organizational values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits. It is important to note that culture is not overt behavior or visible artifacts that one might observe if one were to visit a company. It is not even the philosophy or value system which the organization articulates or has written down in various "charters". It is the assumptions which lie behind the values and which determine the behavior patterns and viable artifacts such as dress code, office layout, etc.
Culture manifests itself in the particular way things are done in an organization including how decisions are made. It affects who gets hired, how they get trained (formally or informally), what behaviors get rewarded, who gets promoted, and virtually all organizational procedures and administrative protocols. Organizational culture can be supportive of the following: Learning and Development (Growth), Participatory Decision-Making, Power Sharing, Support and Collaboration, Tolerance for risk and conflicts.
Organization climate is the manifestation of organizational culture; and is the day-to-day experience that people have when working in an organization. Like an atmosphere that permeates the work place, Organizational Climate is characterized by factors such as level and type of employee morale; confidence in management; openness to change; conflict and pressure; a spirit of creativity and innovation; fair process; and a no-blame philosophy.
Organizational Policy and Procedure
Organizations depend on norms and rules - policies to guide behavior. Policies are recognized descriptions which act as enforcement mechanisms to restrain individual behavior and regulate all sorts of organizational interactions such as delegation, dependency relationships with internal/external organizational entities as well as defining concepts within the organizational setting. Policies and procedures enable how organizations operate to help them cope with their environments. The purpose of these rules is to allow the organization to make decisions using "standard operating procedures" as a guideline and hence make decisions more consistent.
Institutional Arrangements
Institutional arrangements refer to the policies, procedures and processes that allow systems to function and interact effectively and efficiently in an organized setting. Such arrangements/relationships can be rules which may be binding, e.g., legislation or contractual arrangements, or non-binding, e.g., codes of conduct, norms, and values that are unwritten but are widely accepted. Within the enabling environment, institutional arrangements are policy and legal frameworks; at the organizational level, they include strategy, processes, and technology that enable operations, as well as internal accountability mechanisms.
Enabling Environment Factors
The concept of organization enabling external environment factors can denote concepts such as competitors, market forces, customers, technology, etc.
Business organizations are dynamic social systems in that each has a purpose, and is greater than the sum of its parts. The dynamics of social systems are expressed in terms of the intentional properties of the actors that comprise the system, and the interaction relationships between these actors. Interactions between actors can occur to satisfy goals that are either common to actors or global goals which pertain to the society (organization) as a whole and lay outside the scope of any one individual actor. Considering sub-organizations as a kind of structured logical actor, interactions among the sub-organization units can be viewed as a way of realizing society goals.
Organization Purpose
Organizations have “purpose” (as in purposeful endeavor) which may be expressed as a goal to be achieved. Goals, although specific and measurable, can be a simple statement of a company's culture or attitude, i.e., to be number one in customer satisfaction in a particular industry. Members in that organization (social system actors) have to subscribe to that goal; which gives coherence to their motivations, decisions, actions, and behavior. Obviously, their beliefs, motivations, etc., can also be influenced by culture (organizational, and environmental), as well as “self-awareness” (as it shapes learning and impacts decisions). In this formulation, “self-awareness” is an “internal” critical factor that can be expressed as a "health" metric.
Organization Structure
The structure of an organization's social system can be represented logically by logical actors such as organizational units and positions as systems, and their relationships. In creating social network models of real world situations, we adopt as a premise that the social world is unknowable and uncontrollable with respect to the behavior of "actors" (human agents, individual or groups of individuals). Structures develop due to the need to organize behavior in a meaningful way and provide orientation for organizational members to set actions that comply with organizational strategy, organizational culture, and, as a result, accepted patterns of behavior. The behavior of an organization is usually guided by its strategic and tactical goals.
Organization Behavior
The behavior of an organization as a whole is defined by the patterns of interactions among its functional organization units and the the behavior of social actors (people, individuals and groups of individuals) that are members of these units, and between the functional units with processes that interact with the environment such as customer service, marketing, regulatory compliance, etc. The behavior of actors is manifested in each actor's decisions, actions, and priorities. The behavior of actors is impacted by their beliefs, values, and "mental model", and influenced/guided by organization's purpose, policies, and cultures (institutional arrangements). To be good standing members of an organization, actors have to subscribe to the purpose and values of the that organization and policies which give coherence to the actor's behavior. Actors' behavior can be analyzed and described at the following levels:
- Individual Level - At this level, the individual actor's behavior is influenced by factors such as: learning, perception, creativity, motivation, turnover, task performance, etc.
- Group Level - At this level, behavior is influenced by factors such as: group dynamics, intra- and inter-group conflicts and cohesion, leadership, power, norms, networks, communication, and roles.
- Organization Level - At this level, behavior is influenced by factors such as: organizational culture, organization structure, inter-organizational conflict and cooperation, change, technology, and external environment forces.
The behavior is influenced by the design of the organization structure and its institutional arrangements. A well designed organization ensures appropriate levels of energy is generated and maintained in the system. System organization secures, expends, and conserves energy to maintain the system and further the achievement of its mission/purpose.
Organization Interactions and Relationships
Interaction refers to the manner in which each component functions with other components of the system. Interactions between actors can occur to satisfy goal intentions common to the actors, or global goals which pertain to the organization (or society) as a whole and lay outside the scope of any one individual actor.
Organization Culture
Organizational culture is the collective behavior of humans who are part of an organization, and the meanings they attach to their actions. Culture includes the organizational values, visions, norms, working language, systems, symbols, beliefs and habits. It is important to note that culture is not overt behavior or visible artifacts that one might observe if one were to visit a company. It is not even the philosophy or value system which the organization articulates or has written down in various "charters". It is the assumptions which lie behind the values and which determine the behavior patterns and viable artifacts such as dress code, office layout, etc.
Culture manifests itself in the particular way things are done in an organization including how decisions are made. It affects who gets hired, how they get trained (formally or informally), what behaviors get rewarded, who gets promoted, and virtually all organizational procedures and administrative protocols. Organizational culture can be supportive of the following: Learning and Development (Growth), Participatory Decision-Making, Power Sharing, Support and Collaboration, Tolerance for risk and conflicts.
Organization climate is the manifestation of organizational culture; and is the day-to-day experience that people have when working in an organization. Like an atmosphere that permeates the work place, Organizational Climate is characterized by factors such as level and type of employee morale; confidence in management; openness to change; conflict and pressure; a spirit of creativity and innovation; fair process; and a no-blame philosophy.
Organizational Policy and Procedure
Organizations depend on norms and rules - policies to guide behavior. Policies are recognized descriptions which act as enforcement mechanisms to restrain individual behavior and regulate all sorts of organizational interactions such as delegation, dependency relationships with internal/external organizational entities as well as defining concepts within the organizational setting. Policies and procedures enable how organizations operate to help them cope with their environments. The purpose of these rules is to allow the organization to make decisions using "standard operating procedures" as a guideline and hence make decisions more consistent.
Institutional Arrangements
Institutional arrangements refer to the policies, procedures and processes that allow systems to function and interact effectively and efficiently in an organized setting. Such arrangements/relationships can be rules which may be binding, e.g., legislation or contractual arrangements, or non-binding, e.g., codes of conduct, norms, and values that are unwritten but are widely accepted. Within the enabling environment, institutional arrangements are policy and legal frameworks; at the organizational level, they include strategy, processes, and technology that enable operations, as well as internal accountability mechanisms.
Enabling Environment Factors
The concept of organization enabling external environment factors can denote concepts such as competitors, market forces, customers, technology, etc.
Organization Open Systems
Open system theory (Ludwig von Bertanlanffy,, 1956), defines the concept of a system, where "all systems are characterized by an assemblage or combination of parts whose relations make them interdependent" (Scott p. 77). Open systems have open, or porous, boundaries that allow feedback exchanges from inside and outside the business. Open systems tend to devise more than one way to accomplish goals or reach similar results with different conditions and operations--what von Bertanlanffy called “equifinality.” This is in direct contrast to closed systems that function under the assumption that there is only one way to achieve a result: a direct relationship between cause and effect. The key elements of Open Systems include:
Openness refers to the free flow of information within the system.
[TBD]
The measure of effectiveness of an organization is its capacity to fulfill the system's goals, and the goals of its components. Often, normative structures are only loosely connected to actual behavior, at both the individual and group level. Pfeffer and Salancik note that "The organization is a coalition of groups and interests, each attempting to obtain something from the collective by interacting with others, and each with its own preferences and objectives." (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978 p. 36). This loose coupling can be useful in itself (Weick, 1976) by improving adaptability.
[TBD]
Organization Open Systems
Organization Open Systems continuously interact with their environments through acquisition of input, production of output, and exchange of information; they survive and grow by continuously adapting to their environment through learning. When a business regularly interacts with its environment, and exchanges and processes feedback, it is an open system organization.
Outputs and Inputs
The outputs of a system define the value produced by the system from its inputs for the benefit of the system's users. Determining the output is a critical step in specifying the nature, amount, and regularity of the inputs needed to operate the system.
Processors
Processors are elements of a system that actually transforms inputs into outputs. Transformation involve processors which are the elements of a system that actually transforms inputs into outputs. Processors may include resources such as people/human resources, equipment, etc., which can be organized according to how work gets done, i.e., processes for creating and delivering value, and how they are managed i.e., organization functions, divisions, etc.
Organization Unit
The Organization Unit is an abstraction of the logical structured actors that represent business entities such as business units, business functions, departments, bureaus, teams, groups, divisions, etc. An organization unit policies define the criteria for a group of people that are members of the organization. The criteria for the grouping may be based on function (people with similar skills), product develop, division, etc. An organization unit is an ordered grouping of interdependent positions linked together according to a plan (reporting relationships) to achieve specific objectives. Organizational Units can be categorized according to certain characteristics such as responsibilities and obligations of a set of employees. They group organizational controls, people, processes, culture, assets such as applications, and knowledge, and information to reflect the realization of the organization's effective strategy. When the Organizational Unit reaches its lowest level of decomposition it is represented by a Position.
Positions - Skills, Knowledge, and Capabilities
Positions as Logical Actors are social concepts employed by organizations for abstracting from specific human actors in the organization. Positions represent the part of the organizational design which specifies the competencies and services necessary to achieve the society (business enterprise) objectives. Positions define how the organization aims at implementing its design through the specification of the behavior of particular individuals or group of individuals.
Organization capability defines “what” a business does at its core, and can be denoted by the level-1 functions of the organization. It expresses the capacity to deploy resources or efficiently and effectively assign organization activities in creating and delivering value to customers. Organization capability is defined operationally, in terms of the dynamic relationships between organizational culture, the outcomes of operational processes, institutional arrangements, structure, and the organization’s resources. It expresses the potential capacity to deploy resources, or efficiently and effectively assign organization activities to the right “actors” (socio-technical systems) in creating and delivering value to customers.
Feedback
Feedback is a return of information about a result or the return portion of a process. Feedback measures output against a standard in some form of cybernetic procedure that includes communication and control. Feedback can be positive or negative; routine or informational. Negative feedback generally provides the controller with information for action. Positive feedback reinforces the performance of the system, and is routine in nature.
Business Results - Tactical Feedback
Business results are measures of the product and operational tactical performance of a business. Results demonstrate the quality and value of products and services that lead to customer satisfaction and engagement.
Strategic Context - Strategic Feedback
The strategic context helps explain, at a high level, the reason for the entity's existence, what it exists to achieve, and the powers and functions it may exercise to help achieve its goals.
Strategy organizes the internal and external context of an organization, using concepts like SWOTs and Porter’s Five Forces, to help us make sense or meaning of the environment we operate in. Strategy helps us make meaning of our context, and therefore helps us create a path forward. It provides others in the organization with a mental model to understand the organization, its’ environment and the path that it has chosen. A strategy is an approach or hypothesis of the intended means to accomplish certain defined goals and objectives that contribute to a certain defined vision/"end". A strategy is defined by an orderly grouping of interdependent goals linked together according to a plan (strategic plan) to achieve a strategic objectives that in turn contribute to achieving the mission. Strategy is achieved through the constant interplay between doing, planning, and evaluation. The strategic view defines the overall direction, goals and objectives of an organization given its purpose in the eternal environment.
Feedback Loop
The feedback loop is a process in which a system receives internal/external environmental responses to its behavior and in turn, reacts to those received responses by accommodating and assimilating the energy/information received, by altering the system's structure, and then engaging in altered exchanges of energy/information.
Enabling Environments
The enabling environment is comprised of the external and internal factors.
The external environment is defined by external factors such as characterized by PESTEL factors e.g., tight lending conditions, government regulations and competition. These factors are uncontrollable, and can be modeled as the institutional relations between the business and the external organization/entity of interest to the business, but are not directly controlled by it. The external environment is modeled as a network of "External Entity" actors and their goal dependency relations with the business organization. The external entity abstraction is an abstraction over the concept of influencer in Motivational Modeling and can denote concepts such as regulators, competitors, market forces, customers, technology, etc. The category of external entities (influencers) is large and inclusive. Every business has hundreds of potential influencers. Influences can be political, economic, ecological, societal, and technology. There will always be too many influencers to model. The decision as to what influencers to model is determined by the influencers that impact the organization's strategies and tactics, and affect the achievement of goals and objectives of the organization.
The internal environment is defined by the set of internal factors resulting from either the way the business is run, or decisions made, or both. The factors resulting from how the business is run include the business reputation and image, credit worthiness, etc. The factors resulting from business decisions include management structure and staffing, physical decor of facilities/offices, etc. Internal factors can be controlled directly or indirectly; but changing these factors usually involves indirect costs such as lost productivity for example, while new employees are being trained, some direct costs such as a penalty for terminating a lease before it expires.
Open system theory (Ludwig von Bertanlanffy,, 1956), defines the concept of a system, where "all systems are characterized by an assemblage or combination of parts whose relations make them interdependent" (Scott p. 77). Open systems have open, or porous, boundaries that allow feedback exchanges from inside and outside the business. Open systems tend to devise more than one way to accomplish goals or reach similar results with different conditions and operations--what von Bertanlanffy called “equifinality.” This is in direct contrast to closed systems that function under the assumption that there is only one way to achieve a result: a direct relationship between cause and effect. The key elements of Open Systems include:
- Output and Inputs
- Processors
- Control System
- Feedback Mechanism
- Environment
- Boundaries and Interfaces
Openness refers to the free flow of information within the system.
[TBD]
The measure of effectiveness of an organization is its capacity to fulfill the system's goals, and the goals of its components. Often, normative structures are only loosely connected to actual behavior, at both the individual and group level. Pfeffer and Salancik note that "The organization is a coalition of groups and interests, each attempting to obtain something from the collective by interacting with others, and each with its own preferences and objectives." (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978 p. 36). This loose coupling can be useful in itself (Weick, 1976) by improving adaptability.
[TBD]
Organization Open Systems
Organization Open Systems continuously interact with their environments through acquisition of input, production of output, and exchange of information; they survive and grow by continuously adapting to their environment through learning. When a business regularly interacts with its environment, and exchanges and processes feedback, it is an open system organization.
Outputs and Inputs
The outputs of a system define the value produced by the system from its inputs for the benefit of the system's users. Determining the output is a critical step in specifying the nature, amount, and regularity of the inputs needed to operate the system.
- Inputs - An organization as a living entity must take in energy to survive and grow. An organization must obtain information from the external environment such as industry trends, the needs of market segments, as well as financial, human, and material resources from the external environment in order to survive and achieve sustainable growth. When an organization lacks suffucuent resources from the external environment, it begins to weaken and ultimately die.
- Outputs - The outputs of a system define the value produced by the system from its inputs for the benefit of the system's users. The determining the output is a critical step in is specifying the nature, amount, and regularity of the inputs needed to operate the system. The products and services produced from the inputs through the transformation processes are exported top the external environment by the organization to meet the tangible needs of customers, thus fulfilling the organization's purpose and making good on its commitments that managers and key personnel made in their implicit contract with the external environment.
Processors
Processors are elements of a system that actually transforms inputs into outputs. Transformation involve processors which are the elements of a system that actually transforms inputs into outputs. Processors may include resources such as people/human resources, equipment, etc., which can be organized according to how work gets done, i.e., processes for creating and delivering value, and how they are managed i.e., organization functions, divisions, etc.
- Process - A process is an orderly grouping of interdependent activities/tasks linked together according to a plan (flow chart) to achieve a specific objective (produce an output of a specified type). An activity is associated with assignment policies that defines the rules and criteria for match between role definition and the specification of the required skills and qualifications to perform the activity/task. The policy can be resolved at run-time to any available resource with the requisite skills and qualifications. These resources may be tangible assets/resources such as human resources (people), capital assets (i.e., property, plant and equipment).
Organization Unit
The Organization Unit is an abstraction of the logical structured actors that represent business entities such as business units, business functions, departments, bureaus, teams, groups, divisions, etc. An organization unit policies define the criteria for a group of people that are members of the organization. The criteria for the grouping may be based on function (people with similar skills), product develop, division, etc. An organization unit is an ordered grouping of interdependent positions linked together according to a plan (reporting relationships) to achieve specific objectives. Organizational Units can be categorized according to certain characteristics such as responsibilities and obligations of a set of employees. They group organizational controls, people, processes, culture, assets such as applications, and knowledge, and information to reflect the realization of the organization's effective strategy. When the Organizational Unit reaches its lowest level of decomposition it is represented by a Position.
Positions - Skills, Knowledge, and Capabilities
Positions as Logical Actors are social concepts employed by organizations for abstracting from specific human actors in the organization. Positions represent the part of the organizational design which specifies the competencies and services necessary to achieve the society (business enterprise) objectives. Positions define how the organization aims at implementing its design through the specification of the behavior of particular individuals or group of individuals.
Organization capability defines “what” a business does at its core, and can be denoted by the level-1 functions of the organization. It expresses the capacity to deploy resources or efficiently and effectively assign organization activities in creating and delivering value to customers. Organization capability is defined operationally, in terms of the dynamic relationships between organizational culture, the outcomes of operational processes, institutional arrangements, structure, and the organization’s resources. It expresses the potential capacity to deploy resources, or efficiently and effectively assign organization activities to the right “actors” (socio-technical systems) in creating and delivering value to customers.
Feedback
Feedback is a return of information about a result or the return portion of a process. Feedback measures output against a standard in some form of cybernetic procedure that includes communication and control. Feedback can be positive or negative; routine or informational. Negative feedback generally provides the controller with information for action. Positive feedback reinforces the performance of the system, and is routine in nature.
Business Results - Tactical Feedback
Business results are measures of the product and operational tactical performance of a business. Results demonstrate the quality and value of products and services that lead to customer satisfaction and engagement.
Strategic Context - Strategic Feedback
The strategic context helps explain, at a high level, the reason for the entity's existence, what it exists to achieve, and the powers and functions it may exercise to help achieve its goals.
Strategy organizes the internal and external context of an organization, using concepts like SWOTs and Porter’s Five Forces, to help us make sense or meaning of the environment we operate in. Strategy helps us make meaning of our context, and therefore helps us create a path forward. It provides others in the organization with a mental model to understand the organization, its’ environment and the path that it has chosen. A strategy is an approach or hypothesis of the intended means to accomplish certain defined goals and objectives that contribute to a certain defined vision/"end". A strategy is defined by an orderly grouping of interdependent goals linked together according to a plan (strategic plan) to achieve a strategic objectives that in turn contribute to achieving the mission. Strategy is achieved through the constant interplay between doing, planning, and evaluation. The strategic view defines the overall direction, goals and objectives of an organization given its purpose in the eternal environment.
Feedback Loop
The feedback loop is a process in which a system receives internal/external environmental responses to its behavior and in turn, reacts to those received responses by accommodating and assimilating the energy/information received, by altering the system's structure, and then engaging in altered exchanges of energy/information.
Enabling Environments
The enabling environment is comprised of the external and internal factors.
The external environment is defined by external factors such as characterized by PESTEL factors e.g., tight lending conditions, government regulations and competition. These factors are uncontrollable, and can be modeled as the institutional relations between the business and the external organization/entity of interest to the business, but are not directly controlled by it. The external environment is modeled as a network of "External Entity" actors and their goal dependency relations with the business organization. The external entity abstraction is an abstraction over the concept of influencer in Motivational Modeling and can denote concepts such as regulators, competitors, market forces, customers, technology, etc. The category of external entities (influencers) is large and inclusive. Every business has hundreds of potential influencers. Influences can be political, economic, ecological, societal, and technology. There will always be too many influencers to model. The decision as to what influencers to model is determined by the influencers that impact the organization's strategies and tactics, and affect the achievement of goals and objectives of the organization.
The internal environment is defined by the set of internal factors resulting from either the way the business is run, or decisions made, or both. The factors resulting from how the business is run include the business reputation and image, credit worthiness, etc. The factors resulting from business decisions include management structure and staffing, physical decor of facilities/offices, etc. Internal factors can be controlled directly or indirectly; but changing these factors usually involves indirect costs such as lost productivity for example, while new employees are being trained, some direct costs such as a penalty for terminating a lease before it expires.
Organizations as Systems - Social Systems
Organizations can be viewed as systems - social systems - that are alive, organic, dynamic and complex. Organizations as social systems are comprised of a collection of people, organized into structured grouping and managed to meet a need or pursue collective goals. Organizations are social systems in that each organization is made up of people, and has a defined purpose that is subscribed by the individuals that comprise the organization. Each organization depends on norms and rules as enforcement mechanisms to restrain the individual behavior of the people (actors). Organizations as social systems are comprised of complexes of norms and policies that guide behaviors of the members of the organization. Institutions - complexes of norms and behaviors that persists over time by serving collectively valued purpose. Organizations as as Open systems are essentially, goal-seeking, information feedback systems.
Social Systems are defined as system of systems in that, larger more complex systems are composed of systems of the same type (i.e., people or Social System). A basic construct of conceptualizing social systems is human actors that are deemed to be systems in that they have are purpose and have intentions. Any organization of people in a purposeful endeavor (i.e., business, community, society, militia, army, etc.) is also by deduction a system. So enterprises and business organizations are social systems that have purpose and are capable of independent thought, decisions, and actions as a result of the behavior of the members (human actors).
Elements of Social Systems
A social system is a whole that is defined by its function(s) in one or more containing systems; each system containing at least two essential parts which can affect its behavior and properties. How it performs cannot be calculated by adding up all the work arrangements - like departments - with the resources and processes that connect it all together.
A social system may be defined as a plurality of social actors (people) who are engaged in more or less stable interaction "according to shared cultural norms and meanings". Individuals (people) constitute the basic interaction units; but the interacting units may be groups or organization of individuals within the system; each interacting individual has function or role to perform in terms of the status he occupies in the system. The elements of a social system includes:
Organizations can be viewed as systems - social systems - that are alive, organic, dynamic and complex. Organizations as social systems are comprised of a collection of people, organized into structured grouping and managed to meet a need or pursue collective goals. Organizations are social systems in that each organization is made up of people, and has a defined purpose that is subscribed by the individuals that comprise the organization. Each organization depends on norms and rules as enforcement mechanisms to restrain the individual behavior of the people (actors). Organizations as social systems are comprised of complexes of norms and policies that guide behaviors of the members of the organization. Institutions - complexes of norms and behaviors that persists over time by serving collectively valued purpose. Organizations as as Open systems are essentially, goal-seeking, information feedback systems.
Social Systems are defined as system of systems in that, larger more complex systems are composed of systems of the same type (i.e., people or Social System). A basic construct of conceptualizing social systems is human actors that are deemed to be systems in that they have are purpose and have intentions. Any organization of people in a purposeful endeavor (i.e., business, community, society, militia, army, etc.) is also by deduction a system. So enterprises and business organizations are social systems that have purpose and are capable of independent thought, decisions, and actions as a result of the behavior of the members (human actors).
Elements of Social Systems
A social system is a whole that is defined by its function(s) in one or more containing systems; each system containing at least two essential parts which can affect its behavior and properties. How it performs cannot be calculated by adding up all the work arrangements - like departments - with the resources and processes that connect it all together.
A social system may be defined as a plurality of social actors (people) who are engaged in more or less stable interaction "according to shared cultural norms and meanings". Individuals (people) constitute the basic interaction units; but the interacting units may be groups or organization of individuals within the system; each interacting individual has function or role to perform in terms of the status he occupies in the system. The elements of a social system includes:
- Purpose - The purpose of a social system or organization defines the end goal or the object or reason for its existence. This purpose can be expressed as a goal to be achieved. Members in that organization/society (social system) have to subscribe to that goal; which gives coherence to their motivations, decisions, actions, and behavior. The nature of a social system is determined by its needs, satisfactions, and purpose.
- Ideals and Norms - These are established by the society and intended for keeping the social system intact and for determining the various functions of different units. Norms prescribe the rules and relationships on the basis of which individuals or persons may acquire their cultural goals and aims. Ideals and norms are responsible for an ideal structure or system of the society. These norms and ideals may include folkways, customs, traditions, fashions, morality, religion, etc.
- Knowledge and Faith - Faith is the result of the prevalent customs and beliefs. They ensure the force of individuals are guided towards a particular direction. Faiths and knowledge act as controlling agency of different types of human societies.
- Sentiment - Sentiment is directly linked with the culture of people, it plays an immense role in investing society with continuity.
- Status - Every individual in society is functional; status may be conferred on an individual by virtue of his birth, sex, caste, age, etc. One may achieve it on the basis of service rendered.
- Role - Role is the external expression of the status. Adhering to roles lead to social integration, organization and unity in social systems.
- Power - [TBD]
- Sanction - [TBD]
Work Systems
A typical business organization accomplishes its work load by creating a series of tasks that are performed and carried out as required. These tasks can include purchasing materials, selling services, hiring employees or responding to customers. Placing those tasks into series of organized and interconnected systems may benefit the company by introducing efficiency and order to the workday and ultimately increasing the bottom line.
Work systems allow everyday tasks to operate in a coordinated manner and provide a basic framework to produce services and products. Work systems are designed to accomplish a variety of tasks such as:
Elements or Components of Work Systems
The elements or components that define a work system include:
A typical business organization accomplishes its work load by creating a series of tasks that are performed and carried out as required. These tasks can include purchasing materials, selling services, hiring employees or responding to customers. Placing those tasks into series of organized and interconnected systems may benefit the company by introducing efficiency and order to the workday and ultimately increasing the bottom line.
Work systems allow everyday tasks to operate in a coordinated manner and provide a basic framework to produce services and products. Work systems are designed to accomplish a variety of tasks such as:
- Work systems that accomplish a task and then end, Special Projects .e., Conference, data collection, etc.
- Work systems that are designed to manufacture a product for a specific time and then discontinued.
- Work systems that link together to form a larger work system, for example Production Lines. Production Work Systems link the Supply Chain Work System (material purchases), the Design Work System (Engineering), and the Packaging Work System (produced a purchase ready product).
Elements or Components of Work Systems
The elements or components that define a work system include:
- Workers (Participants) - employees or contract workers.
- Task - Task at hand that needs to be done, and how the task should be accomplished.
- Organization - The Organization element is defined in terms of Organization Structure, Organization's Policies, and Leadership Practices. The Organization Structure includes the individuals, the roles in the company and how the roles relate regarding the work to be done. The Organization's Policies include agreements, rules and statements that dictate the way the work needs to be completed. Leadership practices within the organization directs and controls the accomplishment of the work system and help maintain focus and motivation.