systems of organisation Flashcards
how is the nature of organisation used in two major ways?
as a noun and as a verb
what is meant by the noun organisation?
institutional perspective
describes an organisation in which exists independently of its members
informs and contains members
social structures hace a life over members
what is meant by the verb organisation?
action perspective
organisation is created through repeated continuing action of its members
action continually reproduces organisation
does not exists independently of members
what is the major difference between the action and institutional perspective?
action - does not exist independently of members
inst - social structure has a life over members
what is meant by systematics?
how is it related to organisation?
system thinking
study of systems
organisation can be thought of as a system
what is a system?
a set of interrelated and interdependent elements that exist for some purpose
what are the features of a system?
holism interaction emergence identity purpose
what is meant by feature holism?
the whole is more important than the parts
organisation is thought of as a whole
what is meant by feature interaction?
systems have continuous interaction of parts in order to work
what is meant by feature emergence?
certain properties of a system emerge through the interaction of different parts
what is meant by the feature of identity?
should be possible to set a boundary around the system in order to separate in form others
what is meant by the feature of purpose?
all systems are teological
they are organise to do or achieve something
what is emanate by teological?
purposeful
what is meant by organisation through emergence?
organisation is best seen as a system that emerges through action
e.g a river emerges through the repeated action of flowing water
how is continuous action created in organisation?
people enact roles which create repeated action creating a structure of a system
what is meant by negentropy?
patterned order
what is entropy?
no order
how is negentropy linked o organisation?
organisation is patterned order
it needs energy through work in order to achieve pattered order
why might it be better to ue the action perspective in terms of patterns?
that members organise themselves in order to get jobs done effectively
in an order
what is meant by a pattern?
anything which repeats across situations
what is meant by patterns or organisation?
actors taking rpeeotive action across time and space
what does any pattern of organisation consist of?
- action
- actor
- sequence
- location
what are ties of actions?
articulation
coordination
communication
what are actors?
anything that can act
can be human or machine
how is data structure an actor?
it can proscribe or prescribe
what is meant by patterns of organisation in time and location?
action takes place at different places and at different times
what is the advantage of system thinking?
a way of understanding complex problems (analyse) and see how to change (design)
how is control in a system achieved?
through feedback
what is emanate by feedback?
an outcome balancing feedback (regulate) reinforcing feedback (growth)
what are the three interrelated actions important to pattern of organisation
communication
coordination
articulation
what is meant by communication?
ways actors inform for purpose of coordinating
what is happeneidng
what is meant by coordinating?
ways in which informed actors achieved coordinations nin the acheievedmnet of goals q
what is meant by articulation?
ways in which substance is given form for the purpose of informing actors
selfing a message
what is meant by sequencing action?
action takes place at a certain place and time
events take place before and after and in a spate order
