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A   General   Systems   Model,   for Management   and   Business

By David Alderoty © 2015Chapter 8) Concept of Organizational Order and Disorder

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Notes for this E-BookThe concepts presented in this e-book are primarily focused on management and business. However, most of these concepts also apply to other types of systems that involve human beings. Thus, anywhere you see the words business or organization in this e - book, the material I am presenting may also apply to any type of system that is partly or totally comprised of human beings, such as a factory , a home-based business , a microbusiness , a school , a social club , a city , a state , a nation , a family , and an individual . In this e-book, I call the above entities, underlined in red, human systems .

In this e-book, I frequently use the word business, company, and organization interchangeably, as synonymous terms. In addition, I use the word employee, or employees to refer to non-managerial personnel.

Web Links in this E-BookThis e-book contains links to web-based articles and videos from other authors, f or additional information , supporting material , and for alternative: perspectives, interpretations, explanations, and opinions. The links are the blue underlined words. In this e-book brown text, like these words, represent quotes. You can access the original source, by clicking on a link presented just before a quote. If a link fails, use the blue underlined words as a search phrase, with www.Google.com , or for a video use www.google.com/videohp. The search will usually bring up the original website or one or more good alternatives.

Section 1) The Level of Order and Disorder of An

What is Order and Disorder, from the Systems Perspective Presented   in   this   E - Book?

What is disorder from the Systems Perspective Presented   in   this   E - Book?

Based on the way I am using the terminology, disorder is the degree of probability of encountering adverse events, because of one or more problematic factors. The adverse events, includes failures to obtain goals, and other undesirable outcomes, such as accidents, employee conflict, financial loss, and business failures. This can be summed up as when the chances of encountering failures or other adverse events are high, because of problems or dysfunctions dynamics, the level of disorder is high. Three common factors that contribute to disorder in organizations include lack of financial resources, poor management, inadequate marketing, and employees that lack appropriate skillsAn organization that is not well known, or has a negative reputation, can also contribute disorder.

What is Order, from the Systems Perspective Presented   in   this   E - Book? Based on the way am using the terminology, order is the degree of probability of reaching goals and/or desirable states, without encountering adverse events. That is when the probability of obtaining goals and other desirable states are

high, without encountering problems or accidents; the level of order is high. High levels of order are often associated with desirable factors, such as wealth, good management, highly skilled employees. A well-known organization, with a good reputation, is likely to contribute to a high level of order.

Management defined in terms of order and disorder

Management can be defined as the process of increasing order in an organization, with a focus on organizational goals

(Topic )Redefining Managing in Terms of order and disorder

Managing was previously defined in Chapter 3, and again in chapter 5, using different distance concepts. Below, I am defining mentoring in terms of assistance concept of order and disorder.

Based on the way I am using the terminology, managing is a process that involves observing and monitoring the subsystems of an organization with a focus on reducing disorder, increasing order, and obtaining organizational goals.

Topic ) What is Management, and What Does Management

Do,   from   the   Perspective of the Input and Output of Information,   from   One   Subsystem   to Another

In this topic, I am redefining management, and explaining the functions of management in terms of the input and output of information. This is presented in the following paragraph.

Management is a subsystem of an organization , comprised of one or more manages, and it receives information from the other subsystems by direct communication, and observation. The information obtained by management is evaluated and processed, to produce an output of information for increasing the overall order of the organization, for order of the system, reducing disorder, and obtaining organizational goals

directing, correcting, and/or for improving the subsystems of the organization. Management might also use the information it gathers for planning and goal setting.

The primary role of skillful management is to DECREASE the factors that relate to disorder, and to INCREASE the factors that relate to order. This requires managerial know-how, and the exact knowledge and skills required can

vary with a specific factor and type of organization, and its resources. It’s important to understand their there are no simple set of skills that an individual could learn to the a perfect manager, especially in terms of the set of factors listed below. However, a skillful manager, will rely on the assistance of other experts to manage business organization optimally.

A List of Factors that Relate to Order and Disorder, based   on   the   terminology defined above

Listed below there are a set of factors that relate to disorder, and order. The factors that relate to disorder are presented first in bold type, and the factors that relate to order are presented in black bold italicized type.

This list can also be used as a checklist, to evaluate a business or any organization, in terms of order and disorder, which is explained in the next topic.

1)   A poorly structured organization , versus a well-structured organization

2) Inadequately structured organizational subsystems , versus well- structured organizational subsystems (The subsystems often involve various departments within an organization, or and specific workgroups.)

3) Dysfunctional communication channels that inhibit important communication between the subsystems of an organization versus highly

functional communication channels that facilitate communication between organizational subsystems (Dysfunctional communication channels can lead to serious problems in some cases. For companies that are dealing with potentially dangerous technologies, it can result in life-threatening disasters, as was explained in a previous chapter. However, for some companies communication between the subsystems might not be very important, especially if it is comprised a few subsystems.)

4) Inadequate or dysfunctional organizational planning , versus adequate, high quality functional organizational planning (Adequate high quality planning is focused on realistic strategies to reduce or eliminate problems. In addition, it includes sensible investments in time and money. It includes realistic goal setting. Good planning can sometimes include at least a few difficult goals that may or may not be obtainable. However, investments in time, effort, and money are carefully monitored and controlled, when the goal may be unobtainable. With good planning, the financial stability and overall functionality of an organization is not placed at risk by overinvestment in goals that may not be obtainable. An example of bad planning is just the opposite of the above.)

5) Internal organizational conflict versus Internal organizational harmony and cooperation (Internal organizational conflict can be reduced or minimized with a clearly defined set of rules that are fair to all concerned. Ambiguous rules, with many gray areas, can increase the risk of internal conflict, because people may not be certain when the rules or their rights are being violated.) Another way of preventing or reducing internal conflict is to treat employees with kindness and respect. This also includes developing a concern and understanding of the emotional, physiological, and psychological needs of

employees. This should include a comfortable work environment, with appropriate temperatures and air ventilation. )

6) External organizational conflict versus external organizational harmony (External organizational conflict often involves conflicts with customers, competitors, suppliers, and governmental control agencies. This can include lawsuits, which often can be prevented by developing a kind, understanding, and cooperative attitude towards potential adversaries. This can involve resolving customer complaints, in favor of the customers, even when the customer is wrong. This can cost the company money, but it can also produce loyal customers and a good reputation for the company.)

7) A messy or poorly structured physical environment versus a neat and well maintained physical environment (A messy or poorly structured environment is likely to lead to accidents, lost items, distractions, errors, wasted time, and financial losses. Correcting environmental problems of this nature is likely to be very cost-effective, in most cases.)

8) An environment or workspace with many safety hazards and violations versus an environment or workspace with little or no safety hazards or violations (Defective safety equipment can lead to severe financial problems for any organization if it leads to serious disaster.)

10) Equipment that frequently breaks down, or does not function well, because it is old, and/or inadequately designed for the way it is utilized versus equipment that really breaks down, and which functions highly effectively, and it is adequately designed for the purpose that it is used for (When equipment breaks down frequently, it usually leads to financial loss,

and purchasing appropriate equipment, and maintaining it properly might offset the expenses for new equipment. )

11) Inadequate financial resources, a shortage of funds, versus adequate financial resources, abundance of funds (Inadequate financial resources can be especially problematic for new businesses. This is because it can take a couple of years or longer before a new business becomes profitable. A new business may start out with very few customers, and it can sometimes take a couple of years to build inadequate customer base. If the financial resources cannot be increased, the best strategy is to attempt business plans that can be adequately funded by available resources. This may require calculating or estimating the cost of business related goals. It is usually best to be pessimistic when making estimates of this nature. After completing the above, it may be apparent that certain business goals are simply too expensive to attempt. Sometimes reducing the extent of business plans and goal can reduce the cost and financial risks.)

12) Poorly organized and inadequately managed finances versus Well organized and adequately managed finances (Conventional accounting strategies can be quite useful, and may be required for tax purposes. However, good financial management should include calculations and/or estimates based on the average rate of expenses, the average rate of sales, the average rate of profit, and/or the average rate of loss. With the above, it is possible to make projected estimates about the future financial state of an organization. With this information it may be possible to make corrections before financial problems are encountered. A reserve negotiable)

13) An organization that is not well known, or has a negative reputationversus a well-known organization, with a good reputation (The above can be also be delineated in terms of social status. A company with low social status, or negative social status, may have difficulty in marketing its products and/or services, and it will probably have difficulty sitting obtaining credit. A well-known company with high social status, will probably have less difficulty in marketing its products and obtaining credit, then the above.

13) A product of service that is not in high demand, and/or consumers prefer alternative products and services from competitors, versus products and services that are in high demand, and are preferred over competing products This is a very important factor, and it can compensate for inadequate managerial and marketing knowledge and skills. For example, the individuals that started Microsoft, Apple, and Google do not appear to be highly skilled and trained experts with years of managerial and marketing experience. When these companies started, they were limited in financial resources. However, they had a product that was in relatively high demand. Of course, once the companies started to grow, they quickly developed the financial resources needed to hire top - level managers and marketing experts.

14) Low-quality or dysfunctional marketing versus high quality, highly functional marketing (This includes inadequately trained marketing personnel, and the use of marketing strategies that repeatedly fail.)

15) Low-quality or dysfunctional management versus high quality highly functional management (This is one of the most important components on the list, one of the most important on the This includes poorly trained managers, as well as manages that are inappropriately hostile or aggressive.)

16) Dysfunctional or inadequate feedback and correction loops versus highly functional and adequate feedback and correction loops This is probably the most important factor on this list, because well-functioning feedback and correction loops will result in identifying and correcting problems before serious damage results. Well-functioning feedback and correction loops are very helpful in making improvements, and spotting and eliminating dysfunctional changes to the system.

Using the above as a checklist to estimate the degree of order and disorder of an organization, or any system that is partly a totally

comprised of human beings

With the factors presented in the distance presented above, it is possible to estimate (or perhaps guesstimate) the relative degree of order and disorder of an organization, a factory , a home-based business , a microbusiness , a school , a social club , a city , a state , a nation , a family , and an individual .

Start by choosing a scale, such as -10 to +10, or -100 to +100. You can use small numbers if you believe it will simplify the estimations, such as -3 to +3. Then estimate each of the factors using the scale you chose. Minus numbers, such as -10, represent disorder, and positive numbers, such as +8 represent some degree of order. For example, I let us assume that there is an organization with a good marketing department, with the following component it would be rated +9. Low-quality or dysfunctional marketing versus high quality, highly functional marketing However, an organization with a moderately poor marketing department, might be rated as -5.

With this technique, you can add up the positive numbers, and the negative numbers, to determine an estimate of the overall degree of order or disorder in an organization. With the example presented below the overall disorder score is-60 and the overall order is +47. However, it is necessary to keep in mind that the resulting figures might have relatively limited utility. For an example, let us assume that an organization scores a +10 in almost all of the components, except for marketing which is -10. If the organization cannot sell its products because of a defective marketing department, it will sooner or later exhaust all its funds, and probably go bankrupt.

A poorly structured organization , versus a well-structured organization

Inadequately structured organizational subsystems , versus well- structured organizational subsystems 0

Dysfunctional communication channels that inhibit important communication between the subsystems of an organization versus highly functional communication channels that facilitate communication between organizational subsystems 5

Low-quality or dysfunctional marketing versus high quality, highly functional marketing -10

Inadequate or dysfunctional organizational planning , versus adequate,

high quality functional organizational planning +2

Internal organizational conflict versus Internal organizational harmony and cooperation +5

External organizational conflict versus external organizational harmony-7

A messy or poorly structured physical environment versus a neat and well maintained physical environment +9

An environment or workspace with many safety violations versus an environment or workspace with little or no safety violations +9

Safety equipment that is not properly maintained versus well-maintained safety equipment +9

Equipment that frequently breaks down, or does not function well, because it is old, and/or inadequately designed for the way it is utilized versus equipment that really breaks down, and which functions highly effectively, and it is adequately designed for the purpose that it is used for +6

Inadequate financial resources, a shortage of funds, versus adequate financial resources, abundance of funds -10

Poorly organized and inadequately managed finances versus Well organized and adequately managed finances -8

A product of service that is not in high demand, and/or consumers prefer alternative products and services from competitors, versus products and services that are in high demand, and are preferred over competing products -10

Low-quality or dysfunctional management versus high quality highly functional management -7

Dysfunctional or inadequate feedback and correction loops versus highly functional and adequate feedback and correction loops -8

Estimating The Level Of Disorder In An Organization

The level of disorder of any system, including an organization can be estimated using common sense. For example, if you walk into a business and you notice that the facility is messy, poorly maintained, and there is a high level of tension or conflict between employees and/or customers.

The level of disorder of an organization can be estimated in terms of the percent of net revenue that is spent to deal with adverse events. For example, an organization that spends 10% of its net revenue on dealing accident, and related insurance is more disorderly than an organization that spends 5% of its revenue

on the above.

Based on the way am using the terminology, the level of disorder of the system involves the level of risk of adverse events, as a result of one or problems of deficiencies in one or more following: the location of the business, the management of the business, the employees, the physical facility, and the equipment. A dysfunctional managerial methodology Some examples are presented below:

An organization that engages the excessively risky financial investmentsthe following is a test of the system this is only a testManagers that behave in a dysfunctional way towards, towards employees

A work environment that is not properly maintained

Damaged safety equipment,

The lack of safety equipment

inadequate in-house security

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Section 1) The Level of Order and Disorder of An Organization, from a Systems Perspective ........................ 3

(Topic )Redefining Managing in Terms of order and disorder 4

Topic ) What is Management, and What Does Management Do,   from   the   Perspective of the Input and Output of Information,   from   One   Subsystem   to Another 5

Section 2) decide where to put this ............ 19

What Is A System? .................................... 19

TOPIC 5 ) # # ...................................... 19

The Word Count for this ChapterThis chapter contains over 2,500 words, WITHOUT COUNTING the table of contents, quotes, and any introductory text that is repeated in other chapters. However, the TOTAL word count for this chapter is 3,924 words.

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Section 2) decide where to put this

What Is A System?TOPIC 5 ) # #

Formal Communications in a Hypothetical OrganizationTo clarify the above concept, I am going to compare it with the formal communication channels in a hypothetical organization. Specifically, if an employee with low organizational status, wanted to speak to the president of a large company, he or she would have to contact the receptionist and request an

appointment, or a phone conversation. If the receptionist thought the request was appropriate, he or she may briefly discuss the matter with the president to see if an appointment should be scheduled. The receptionist would most likely refer the employee to a different individual and the organization, such as a first-line manager. If the employee attempted to communicate with e-mail or a formal letter, the correspondence might be ignored, or read and answered by another individual in the organization, or skim read by the president. This might result in a brief reply that may or may not relate to the issues presented in the correspondence. The situation would be very different from the above, if the employee were an individual with high organizational status. In such a case, the receptionist would probably connect the employee by phone directly to the president. If the employee decided to communicate by correspondence, his or her documents would be most likely carefully read, and appropriately acknowledged. The correspondence of individuals of high organizational status are likely to be read with more care, and answered with more precision, then would be the case for an individual of the lower organizational status.

that he or she wants to communicate with.

The discussion carried out in the hallway between the president of a company and the janitor.

An emergency phone call from safety engineer to the CEO of a manufacturing facility

A discussion of production problems involving several employees and managers while having lunch

Informal communication channels could have prevented the disasters discussed above. This probably could not have been achieved solely with a face-to-face discussion, or talk on the telephone, because the technical nature of the problems. Upper management usually does not have a scientific or engineering background, and they might have great difficulty in understanding technical risks. CEOs and other individuals involved with upper management are more likely to be skilled with human relations challenges, and knowledgeable about estimating financial risks. However, the problems could have been conveyed to management with a multilevel communication strategy that involves all of the following:Most organizations, and organizational subsystemsThe general psychological atmosphere of a business, and its subsystems The work environment in most businesses contains (what I call) a psychological atmosphere. A work environment can have a psychological atmosphere consisting of one or more of the following:

In addition, and organizational setting can be physically uncomfortable, because of excessive crowding, high temperatures, cold temperatures, high humidity, excessive noise, prolonged waiting time, etc.

Some examples are a friendly atmosphere, a hostile competitive work environment, and a very tense and anxiety provoking organizational environment.

Problematic Psychological work Environments

As explained above, sometimes a psychological work environment can be stressful because of the nature of the work,

The most common psychological

Ideally speaking, the optimum psychological environment should be created with skillful organizational design, and high quality management.

The best possible psychological environment should be for the organizational

tasks and long-term objectives.

Maximize

The physical layout, of an organization can have some influence on the psychological environment

However, it is important to keep in mind that all of the important to keep in mind that

less than optimal styles of communication.

Styles of dysfunctional problematic individuals, with

Hostile, nervous, and unskilled supervisors often contribute to and anxiety provoking environment. This often involves first-line managers that are faced with personal crises, or have problematic emotional temperaments. It may be

very difficult for management to spot individuals in this category, because they are likely to control their dysfunctional temperaments, when observed by their superiors. However, difficulties of this nature can be spotted, by providing anonymous rating forms for employees to fill out, in regard to their supervisors. Most of the supervisors may not receive ideal ratings because of their role in supervision. However, supervisors that receive ratings that are more negative than other supervisors, are probably unfit for their managerial position. Precisely focused and worded complaints, from two or more employees against a manager might also indicate legitimate grievances.

Detect, remove or retrain problematic sales personnel, or product support specialist as described below:The situation described above, can sometimes involve a salesperson or product support specialist who deals directly with customers. This can result in an adverse psychological atmosphere which results in loss of sales.