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Draft:Open systems theory

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Open systems theory (OST) is a conceptual framework for active socioecological adaptation and democratic self-management developed by the social scientists Fred Emery and Merrelyn Emery.[1] It provides both a theoretical view of organizations and their environments and practical methods for organisational and community design and planning. It is an amalgamation of research on sociotechnical system by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, Ludwig von Bertalanffy's general systems theory (GST), and the conceptualisation of the environment as Causal Textures by Fred Emery and Eric Trist.[2][3][4]

Core concepts

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Two concepts are central: the genotypical organizational design principles, which describe two different places where the responsibility for control and coordination lies: over the work (known as DP1) or with the people doing it (known as DP2). DP1 produces dominant hierarchies while DP2 produces self-managing groups.[5][6][7]

The other is the ecological view in which people and their environments co-evolve, so that active adaptation requires changing the system and environment together.[1][8][4][9]

Applications

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The framework is used for organizational unified design and change, using methods like the Search Conference[10] for strategic planning and the Participative Design Workshop to design a DP2-based organisational structure.[11] These can be combined to form a two-stage method for active adaptation.[12][13] OST has been applied in democracy programmes in both the private and public sectors, in community planning, and in a wide range of research projects.[9]

Reception

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Baburoğlu tracks the development of the framework from the 60s through the mid-1990s.[3] Mike Jackson places OST within the wider systems thinking tradition.[14] OST methods are also treated in surveys of Dialogic Organization Development.[13]

See also

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References

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  1. 1 2 Emery, M. (2000). "The Current Version of Emery's Open Systems Theory". Systemic Practice and Action Research. 13 (5): 623–643. doi:10.1023/A:1009577509972.
  2. ↑ Emery, F. E. & Trist, E. L. (1965). "The Causal Texture of Organizational Environments". Human Relations. 18 (1): 21–32. doi:10.1177/001872676501800103.
  3. 1 2 Babüroğlu, O. N. (1992). "Tracking the Development of the Emery–Trist Systems Paradigm (ETSP)". Systems Practice. 5 (3): 263–290. doi:10.1007/BF01059830.
  4. 1 2 Pasmore, W. A.; Khalsa, G. S. (1993). "The Contributions of Eric Trist to the Social Engagement of Social Science". Annual Review of Sociology. 19: 339–365. doi:10.1146/annurev.so.19.080193.002011.
  5. ↑ Emery, F. E. (1967). "The Next Thirty Years: Concepts, Methods and Anticipations". Human Relations. 20 (3): 199–237. doi:10.1177/001872676702000301.
  6. ↑ van Eijnatten, F. M. (1993). The Paradigm That Changed the Workplace. Assen: Van Gorcum. ISBN 978-9023227175.
  7. ↑ Purser, R. E.; Cabana, S. (1998). The Self-Managing Organization: How Leading Companies are Transforming the Work of Teams for Real Impact. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0684836348.
  8. ↑ Emery, F. E.; Trist, E. L. (1973). Towards a Social Ecology: Contextual Appreciations of the Future in the Present. London: Plenum. ISBN 978-0306307935.
  9. 1 2 Emery, M.; de Guerre, D. W. (2007). "Evolutions of Open Systems Theory: The Two Stage Model and Unique Designs for Active Adaptation". In Holman, P.; Devane, T.; Cady, S. (eds.). The Change Handbook (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. pp. 605–617. ISBN 978-1576753798.
  10. ↑ Emery, M. & Purser, R. E. (1996). The Search Conference: A Powerful Method for Planning Organizational Change and Community Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN 978-0787901929.
  11. ↑ Emery, F. & Emery, M. (1974). Participative Design: Work and Community Life. Canberra: Centre for Continuing Education, Australian National University. (2022 revised edition available online.)
  12. ↑ de Guerre, D. W. (2016). "Open Systems Theory and the Two-Stage Model of Active Adaptation". STS Roundtable.
  13. 1 2 Bushe, G. R.; Marshak, R. J. (2016). "The Dialogic Organization Development Approach to Transformation and Change". In Rothwell, W.; Stavros, J.; Sullivan, R. (eds.). Practicing Organization Development (4th ed.). San Francisco: Wiley. pp. 407–418. ISBN 978-1118947708.
  14. ↑ Jackson, M. C. (2019). Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity. Chichester: Wiley. ISBN 978-1119118374.
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Category:Systems theory Category:Organizational theory

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