system approach jan 5th Flashcards
The Systems Concept
A system is designed to accomplish an objective.
Subsystems of a system have an established arrangement.
Interrelationships exist among the elements.
Flow of resources through a system is more important than basic elements.
Organization objectives are more important than those of the subsystems.
open system:
example our body system, school system, education system, government
closed system: bus system- not impacted by their environment
A system
is defined as a collection of interrelated parts or subsystems unified by design to obtain one or more objectives. Following are fundamental implications of the term system:
• A system is designed to accomplish an objective.
• Subsystems of a system have an established arrangement.
• Interrelationships exist among the elements.
• Flow of resources through a system is more important than basic elements.
• Organization objectives are more important than those of the subsystems
expanded systems model of an organization
The expanded systems model of an organization is shown in this slide (also Figure 1-2). The major parts of a system include input, transformation, and output (from the basic systems model) and four additional parts: control, memory, environmental factors, and feedback.
The input of a system may be defined as any human, physical, or operational resource required to accomplish objectives of the system.
Transformation involves any action or activity used in changing input into output, such as activities involved in production of food.
The output is the result from transforming the input, and it represents achievement of the system’s goal.
The control element performs three functions in a system:
It ensures that resources are used effectively and efficiently in accomplishing organizational objectives
It ensures that the organization is functioning within legal and regulatory constraints; and
It provides standards to be used in evaluation of operations.
Memory includes all stored information and provides historical records of the system’s operations.
Environmental factors are things that occur outside of the foodservice system yet impact some component of the system.
Feedback includes those processes by which a system continually receives information from its internal and external environment.
what are some of the imputs
- People (employees, students,)
- facilities, equipement)
- finance
- operational (money, time, utilities, information)
Characteristics of Open Systems
An open system has a number of unique characteristics:
- Interdependency of parts, leading to integration and synergy;
- Dynamic equilibrium;
- !! Equifinality (different path that all lead to the same goal(example assignments));
- Permeable boundaries;
- Interface of systems and subsystems;
- Hierarchy of the system. (regional health care system
Interdependency is the reciprocal relationship of the parts of a system; each part mutually affects the performance of the others.
This characteristic emphasizes the importance of viewing the organization as a whole rather than the parts in isolation.
Interaction among units of an organization is implied by interdependency.
Units do not operate in a vacuum but continually relate with other units.
The result of effective interaction is integration, in which the parts of the system share objectives of the entire organization.
Integration leads to synergy, meaning that the units or parts of an organization working together may have greater impact than each of them operating separately.
Dynamic equilibrium, or steady state, is the continuous response and adaptation of a system to its internal and external environment, which includes all the conditions, circumstances, and influences affecting the system.
The term equifinality is applied to the organization as a system.
It means that a same or similar output could be achieved by using different inputs or by varying the transformation processes.
In other words, various alternatives may be used to attain similar results.
Permeability of boundaries is the characteristic of an open system that allows the system to be penetrated or affected by the changing external environment.
Boundaries define the limits of a system, and permeability allows the system to interact with the environment.
The area of interdependency between two subsystems or two systems is often referred to as the interface.
The overall organizational system has many interfaces with other systems such as suppliers, government agencies, community organizations, and unions.
Another characteristic of a system is hierarchy.
A system is composed of subsystems of lower order; the system is also part of a larger suprasystem.
In fact, the ultimate system is the universe.
A foodservice systems model
A foodservice systems model in this slide (Figure 1-4) was developed to illustrate applications of systems theory to a foodservice organization and elaborates on the components from Figure 1-2 (Slide 1-5).
Arrows in the model represent the flow of materials, energy, and information throughout the foodservice system.
Gaps in the arrows from output to input on the periphery of the model represent the permeability of the boundaries of the foodservice system and reflect the environmental interaction inherent in the effectiveness of the system.
The bidirectional arrows represent environmental interactions, both internal and external to the system.
The inputs of the foodservice system are the human and physical resources that are transformed to produce the output.
Traditionally, these resources have been referred to as men, materials, money, and minutes.
This traditional definition has been expanded by defining the following four types of resources:
Human: labor and skills
Materials: food and supplies
Facilities: space and equipment
Operational: money, time, utilities, and information
Input requirements are dependent upon and specified by the objectives and plans of the organization.
For example, the decision to open a full-service restaurant serving fine cuisine rather than a limited-menu operation with carryout service would have a major impact on type and skill of staff, food and supplies for production of menu items, capital investment, and type of foodservice facility and layout.
output:
meals (quantity, quality)
customer satisfaction
employee satisfaction
financial accountability
control:
plans (standin anf single-use) goals and objectives, standards, policies and procedures, programs
contract
laws and regulation (local, state, federal)
transformation
management functions, functional subsystems, linking processes
feedback
goes from output to the input
memory
records (financial, personnel, forecasting)
Boundaries
Boundaries Limits of a system that set the domain of organizational activity.
Commercial foodservice Foodservice operations in which sale of food is the primary activity and a profit is desired.
operations in which sale of food is the primary activity and a profit is desired.
Dynamic equilibrium
Continuous response and adaptation of a system to its internal and external environment.
