SYSTEMS APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT

• Presenter: Rebat Kumar Dhakal

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http://www.buzzle.com/articles/systems-approach-to-management.html

1. 1. System2. 2. Systems theory3. 3. Systems approach to

management4. 4. General systems

theory5. 5. Social systems theory

Presentation outline

"No longer do we see the world in a blind play of atoms, but rather a great organization.” - Harper Perennial, 1987

1. SYSTEM

SYSTEMA set of things or parts forming a whole.A system is a composition of several

components working together to accomplish a set number of objectives.

- Ernest Madara (2008) A system can be biological, physical or

social.Ecosystem, solar system, a business or an

organization

Systems exist at all levelspersons families organizations communitiessocietiescultures and so on.

Holon*

Each social entity whether large or small, complex or simple, is a holon (Greek = expresses the idea that each entity is simultaneously a part and a whole).

The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts because the whole includes elements, which cannot be broken down and applied to individual members.

The properties of these letters, when considered together can give rise to meaning which does not exist in the letters by themselves.

WHOLE > SUM OF ITS PARTS

A system consists of four things

I. Objects – the parts, elements, or variables within the system. These may be physical or abstract or both.

II. Attributes – the qualities or properties of the system and its objects.

III. Internal relationships among its objects. IV. Environment – systems exist in an

environment. Thus, a system is a set of things that affect one another within an environment and form a larger pattern that is different from any of the parts.

Characteristics of a System

a) organization: there is an orderly way in which things work and operateb) goal directedness: there are a number of goals or objectives to be accomplished c) Integration: a way in which things are tied togetherd) Interaction: a way in which the components interact e) Interdependence: a way in which the various components depend on each other + others like evolving/ adaptability/ hierarchy/ chain of influence (suprasystems and subsystems), etc.

Elements of a System

a) Input –the element that initiates an activity e.g. the data entry through the devices such as keyboard, mouse and scanner etc.

b) Throughput (Process) – this element transforms or manipulates the input into results (central processing unit within a computer system)

c) Output- the ultimate result or product after processing. e.g. information for decision making

+

Feedback EnvironmentControl Boundary

Types of Systemsa) Open vs. closed systemsb) Adaptive system (self organizing

system or cybernetic system)c) Physical vs. abstract systemsd) Deterministic vs. probabilistic systemse) Natural vs. man-made systemf) Mechanistic vs. biological systemsg) Information system (management

information system)h) controlled (cybernetic) or uncontrolled

An organization as a system

An organization is an open system that brings together people to undertake activities for achieving an objective which can be profit-oriented (business) or charity-oriented e.g. local authority.

The organizations are made up of people in different departments that are governed by known policies and procedures.

An organization takes in raw materials, energy and labor and through its production systems transforms or adds value to these to produce goods / services. It is obligatory for the management to control the various operations by collecting feedback from customers to remain relevant and where necessary it may have to enhance performance or take corrective actions if the results are below expectations.

Each department has a boundary of functions. A change in the environment can have a profound impact upon the entire system.

Systemic Thinking Using the mind to recognize pattern,

conceive unity, and form some coherent wholeness – seeking to complete the

picture. Comprehension of the whole/part

nature of life is the central tenet of systemic thinking.

System thinking focuses on causes, rather than occurrences around

organizations in solving problems effectively.

The learning experience subsystem: the cognitive information processing of the learner.

The instructional subsystem: the production of the environment or opportunities for learners to learn by the instructional designers and teachers .

The administrative subsystem: decision making of resource allocation by the administrators based on the instructional needs and governance input .

The governance subsystem: the production of policies which provide directions and resources for the educational enterprise in order to meet their needs by ‘owners’

Subsystems in an Educational Enterprise- Banathy (1987)

Basic idea : objects in the world are interrelated to one another. It provides a framework by which groups of elements and their properties may be studied jointly in order to understand their outcomes.The fundamental systems-interactive model of organizational analysis features the continual stages of input, throughput, and output .

2. SYSTEMS THEORY

System Model. Littlejohn (1999)

Input Process Output

Human Activities•burning fuels•deforestation•IndustrializationSolar Energy

•Concentration of GHG increases•Unhealthy GHE behavior

Rise in Global Temperature (Global warming)

Climate Change

•Regional weather change•Heat waves•Extreme weather•Temperature•Precipitation

•Contamination Pathways•Transmission dynamics

Health Effects•Temperature related illness and death•Air pollution related•Water and food borne disease•Vector borne disease and water shortage•Mental, nutritional and other health effects

Outcome

Impact

•Changes in agro- -ecosystem hydrology•Socio-economic and demographic disruption

System Model Of Climate Change

Climate Change& Human Health. NYSoCC, 2008.

Ideas of Systems View

all phenomena can be viewed as a web of relationships among elements..

all systems, whether electrical, biological, or social, have common patterns, behaviors, and properties that can be understood and used to develop greater insight into the behavior of complex phenomena.

Systems theory comes from the GST proposed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy. The systems view investigates the components of the phenomena, the interaction between the components, and the relation of components to their larger environment. Organizations are complex social systems; reducing the parts from the whole reduces the overall effectiveness of the organizations.

Components of the organizational concepts (systems approach) have been used to manage armies and governments for millennia. However, it was not until the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries that formal recognition of the "systems" approach to management, philosophy, and science emerged. (Whitehead 1925, von Bertalanffy 1968)

The systems approach

Four major concepts underlying systems approach

Specialization: A system is divided into smaller components allowing more specialized concentration on each component. Grouping: Related (sub)disciplines are grouped to avoid generating greater complexity with increasing specialization. Coordination: The interactions among the components are coordinated. Emergent properties: Dividing a system into subsystems requires understanding the "emergent properties" of a system; i.e., recognizing why the system as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. E.g. two forest stands may contain the same tree species, but the spatial arrangement and size structure of the individual trees will create different habitats for wildlife species. In this case, an emergent property of each stand is the wildlife habitat.

3. Systems Approach to Management

It views a company as an interconnected purposive system that consists of several business sections. It is the study of a firm in its totality so that the men and material resources of the firm can be organized to realize the firm's overall objectives efficiently.

Flow, Process, & Response in Business Systems

The collaborative working of input and output factors = the flow in a system. The processes consist of several subsystems that are interconnected by procedures. The response/feedback focuses on the information which is utilized for executing certain operations. The information is the know-how that is fed in men and machines. These inputs aid in correcting the errors found in the processes.

It implies that every manager should be much more precise about decision-making and information flow. First a detailed systems study will be necessary to decide on the best objectives and then subsidiary systems must be set up to realize these objectives efficiently.

The systems approach to management is based on GST – the theory that says that to understand fully the operation of an entity, the entity must be viewed as a system which requires understanding the interdependence of its parts.

The management system is composed of a number of parts that function interdependently to achieve a purpose. It is an open system. It interacts with its business environment which includes customers, suppliers, competitors, and government.,

7-S ModelA framework for analyzing organizations and their effectiveness. 1. Strategy;

2. Structure; 3. Systems; 4. Style; 5. Skills; 6. Staff; and

7. Shared values. To improve management of an organization, one has to pay attention to all of the seven elements at the same time.

www.1000ventures.com/.../mgmt_system_approach.html

The System approach views the organization as a unified, purposeful system composed of interrelated parts. This way the manager can look at the organization as a whole or part of the larger outside environment. Activity of any part affects all other parts of the organization.

- Stephen Rampur, 2009.

4. General Systems TheoryNothing can be understood in isolation but must be seen as

part of a system.Includes the narrower field of social systems, is a cross-

disciplinary body of scientific thought that developed during the 20th century.

General systems theory can be defined as: system in which the elements are in exchange, and which are bounded constitute a system, which operates within an environment.

System change may be natural, planned or managed. Management should make an attempt to ensure that a system fits in with a super-system in a way that works appropriately to accomplish some end.

Background

GST was originally proposed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1928. He proposed that a system is characterized by the interactions of its components and the nonlinearity of those interactions.

Contd.

Contd. Background Since Descartes, the "scientific method" had progressed

under two related assumptions. A system could be broken down into its individual components so that each component could be analyzed as an independent entity, and the components could be added in a linear fashion to describe the totality of the system.

Bertalanffy proposed that both assumptions were wrong. On the contrary, a system is characterized by the interactions of its components and the nonlinearity of those interactions. In 1951, von Bertalanffy extended systems theory to include biological systems and three years later, it was popularized by Lotfi Zadeh, an electrical engineer at Columbia University.

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- McNeill and Freiberger (in Walonick1993)

"Humanistic" Features of General Systems Theory

It also implies that everybody tends to treat life with reverence, and also tend to treat each other with dignity.

The Bertalanffian GST is ethical and ecological because it aims at increasing the awareness in every human of the need of being functionally interconnected with each other, with his/her community, with the whole humanity.

Social Systems Perspectives A philosophical viewpoint on the relationship of

persons with their social environment.

A social system is composed of persons or groups who interact and mutually influence

each other’s behavior.

A social system is a bounded set of interrelated activities that together constitute a single

entity.

The Social Systems ApproachThe social systems approach encompasses both

holistic (group/ top-down) and atomistic (individual/bottom-up) views at once.

The holistic view implied “downward” causality, while the atomistic view implied “upward” causality.

Holistic Viewpoint:◦The whole determines the actions of its parts.◦People are determined by society.

Atomistic Viewpoint:◦The whole is the sum of its parts◦Persons determine the society.

5. Social System TheoryA social system is a set of inter-related and inter-dependent components People, Families, Groups, Organizations, Communities, etc are all OPEN SYSTEMS System BOUNDARIES separate one system from the next– and tension occurs at the boundary. Social systems are characterized by COMPLEXITY, meaning that the possibilities of their structures and capacities to change are immeasurable.

Social System Theory

* Emphasis is placed on the “root causes” of social problems

* Social justice is the ultimate goal

Social System Theory is “holonistic” requiring:

◦Specification of the focal system◦Specification of the units that

constitute that holon ◦Specification of the significant

environmental systems◦Specification of one’s own position

relative to the focal system

Process Factors affecting social systemsA change in one part of the system will impact changes in other parts of system

Two internal processes affecting social systems :

Morphostasis refers to those processes that help the system maintain itself, whereas morphogenesis refers to those processes that help the system change, grow, more elaborate.

(Ritzer 2000,p.319)

Changes in systems may come about in a variety of ways, for example, by accessing and influencing the elite decision-makers. Changes can also come about through conflict and setting new goals, directions, and values. Changes occur as individuals or groups move away from center or towards the center as well, that is, mainstream and deviant locations in a system are possible.

Changes in Social Systems

Chaos Theory

For a system to function as a system, rather than a collection of parts, it must have ways of self-organizing and even directing behavior. ... A wild ecosystem is chaos driven. An organism or organization is purpose driven. ....

Chaos theory concerns the analysis of unpredictable systems that are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. One important example of a chaotic system is climate. A tiny inaccuracy in a single measurement of a chaotic system—such as a temperature variation of a fraction of a degree—can produce large errors in solutions to the model’s equations and predictions. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008.

In a 1980 lecture, cosmologist Stephen Hawking pointed out that Chaos theory is an attempt to explain and model the seemingly random components of a system.

One of the most important discoveries from chaos theory is that a relatively small, but well-timed or well-placed jolt to a system can throw the entire system into a state of chaos.

Approaches to the Study of Systems

A cross-sectional approach deals with the interaction between two system.

A developmental approach deals with the changes in a system over time.

Approaches to evaluating subsystemsA holistic approach examines the system as

a complete functioning unit. A reductionist approach looks downward

and examines the subsystems within the system.

The functionalist approach looks upward from the system to examine the role it plays in the larger system.

All three approaches recognize the existence of subsystems operating within a larger system.

Equilibrium

When all forces in a system are balanced to the point where no change is occurring, the system is said to be in a state of static equilibrium.

Dynamic (steady state) equilibrium exists when the system components are in a state of change, but at least one variable stays within a specified range.

Homeostasis is the condition of dynamic equilibrium between at least two system variables. Kuhn (1974) states that all systems tend toward equilibrium, and that a prerequisite for the continuance of a system is its ability to maintain a steady state.

SUMMING UPThe concept of system appears throughout the social and natural sciences and has generated a body of literature of its own (‘general systems theory’). A system is any pattern of relationships between elements, and is regarded as having emergent properties of its own, over and above the properties of its elements. The system is seen as possessing an inherent tendency towards equilibrium and the analysis of systems is the analysis of the mechanisms which maintain equilibrium, both internally and externally, in relation to other systems.

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