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.
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