FUTURE STUDIES

1
FUTURE STUDIES

• FUTURING 10
• SYSTEMS ORGANIZATIONS
• A COURSE FOR
• UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS
• by
• Earl C. Joseph, Futurist

2
TOPICS COVERED

• SYSTEMS THEORY PHILOSOPHY
• GENERAL SYSTEMS
• Ludwig von Bertalanffy
• PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION DESIGN
• ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
• ORGANIZATION RE-DESIGN

3
SYSTEMS THEORY PHILOSOPHY

• Systems Theory the transdisciplinary study of
  the abstract organization of phenomena,
  independent of their substance, type, or spatial
  or temporal scale of existence. It investigates
  both the principles common to all complex
  entities, and the (usually mathematical) models
  which can be used to describe them
• Systems theory was proposed in the 1940's by the
  biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy (General Systems
  Theory, 1968), and furthered by Ross Ashby
  (Introduction to Cybernetics, 1956). von
  Bertalanffy was both reacting against
  reductionism and attempting to revive the unity
  of science. He emphasized that real systems are
  open to, and interact with, their environments,
  and that they can acquire qualitatively new
  properties through emergence, resulting in
  continual evolution.

4
MORE SYSTEMS PHILOSOPHY

• A "system" is a collection of things which have
  relationships among them. (Of course all three
  things and relationships and the whole system
  have to be imagined by us, and tested against
  'reality', to serve our purposes.)
• System Holism Principle A system as a whole
  works differently than the parts of the system
  The parts alone cannot do what the system can,
  that is, the whole is greater than the sum of its
  parts (synergy)

5
GENERAL SYSTEMS

• General Systems Theory A scientific effort to
  identify structural, behavioral, and
  developmental features common to particular
  classes of dynamic organisms
• growth, homeostasis, evolution
• hierarchy of complexity of organization

6
Ludwig von Bertalanffy

• "It is necessary to study not only parts and
  processes in isolation, but also to solve the
  decisive problems found in organization and order
  unifying them, resulting from dynamic interaction
  of parts, and making the the behavior of the
  parts different when studied in isolation or
  within the whole..."
• General system theory, therefore, is a general
  science of "wholeness...The meaning of the
  somewhat mystical expression, "The whole is more
  that the sum of its parts" is simply that
  constitutive characteristics are not explainable
  from the characteristics of the isolated parts.
  The characteristics of the complex, therefore,
  appear as "new" or "emergent"...

7
PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION DESIGN

• Division of labor
• Departmentalization specialization
• Unity of Command
• Line of command one superior
• Authority Responsibility
• Line staff authority Authority power
• Span of Control
• Levels of control Centralization
  decentralization
• Contingency Factors
• Environment technology
• Knowledge technology
• Task variability problem analyzability

8
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

• Organizational Development - A Set of activities
  AND techniques to manage change
• Change agent
• Change intervention
• Unfreezing-----gt Movement -----gt Refreezing
• Structural Interventions
• Reorganization
• New reward systems
• Cultural change

9
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE - 2

• Task-Technology Interventions
• Job redesign
• Socio-technical systems
• Quality of working life
• People-Focused Interventions
• Sensitivity training
• Survey feedback
• Process consultation
• Team building
• Inter-Group development

10
ORGANIZATION RE-DESIGN

• In today's complex, dynamic, and
  information-intensive business environments, Its
  imperative to
• Create and maintain organizations that keep
  performing at high levels of effectiveness Even
  in face of rapid changes in mission requirements
  and market demands

11
ORGANIZATION RE-DESIGN - 2

• To re-design" an organization, frame the design
  problem in a meaningful way, including
• Decomposing an overall mission (or goal) into
  specific tasks
• Specifying the relationships between tasks
• Quantifying the resources needed to complete the
  tasks
• Guiding and optimizing the criteria and
  trade-offs for the organization to achieve its
  goals and a competitive advantage
• The re-design method is iterative