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1 Introducing Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments Part I The Experimental and Social Arche of Organizations 2 The Experimental Arche: Ashby’s Cybernetics 3 The Experimental Arche Continued: Von Foerster on Observing Systems 4 The Second ‘‘arche,’’ Organizations as Social Systems: Luhmann 5 Epilogue to Part I: The Two ‘‘Archai’’ Combined Part II Designing Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments 6 Beer: Functional Design Principles for Viable Infrastructures 7 Specific Design Principles: de Sitter’s Organizational Structures 8 Epilogue to Part II: functional and specific design principles Part III Poor and Rich Survival 9 Poor Survival: Disciplining Organizational Behavior 10 Towards Rich Survival: Aristotle 11 Organizational Structures Supporting Rich Survival 12 Epilogue
Organizations: Social Systems Conducting Experiments Jan Achterbergh l Dirk Vriens Organizations Social Systems Conducting Experiments Second Revised Edition Jan Achterbergh Radboud University Nijmegen Fac Management Sciences 6500 HK Nijmegen The Netherlands j.achterbergh@fm.ru.nl Dirk Vriens Radboud University Nijmegen Fac Management Sciences 6500 HK Nijmegen The Netherlands D.Vriens@fm.ru.nl ISBN 978-3-642-14315-1 e-ISBN 978-3-642-14316-8 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-14316-8 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2010933639 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 This work is subject to copyright All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use Cover design: WMXDesign GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) To Anne Jeannette, Tim and Luc e´stin gar autZ Z eupraxi´a te´loB (Artistotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1140b5-7) Acknowledgments Finishing a book one has been working on for almost nine years produces a strange state of mind Indeed, fulfillment is involved, but, as Aristotle would have it, that should have been there right from the start It is also not without a touch of melancholy, since it means the end of an enjoyable, interesting and educational period It may even cause one to despair a trifle – will future projects bring the same fulfillment? But above all, feelings of gratitude emerge Many have helped us in putting together this book, by reading (or even studying) chapters, by giving helpful advice on how to change them into something that is readable and understandable, or by means of their encouragement We really owe them a great debt of gratitude Although many were involved, we especially want to thank Wil Martens, Jac Christis, Marc Peeters, Hans Losscher, Harrie Regtering and Paul Hoeken for commenting on several chapters We would also like to thank our students attending the course “Systems Theory” (both ABK and Faculty of Management Science); many improvements are based on their input Finally, we would like to express our greatest gratitude to Anne, Jeannette, Tim and Luc: eu´daimovi´a, to us, always includes you Nijmegen, March 2009 vii Contents Introducing Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Making Sense of Organizations: From ‘‘Phenomena’’ to ‘‘Key Features’’ 1.2.1 Situation 1: Strategy Formulation 1.2.2 Situation 2: A Worker in Trouble 1.2.3 The First ‘‘Arche’’: The Experimental Character of Organizations 1.2.4 The Second ‘‘Arche’’: The Social Systemic Character of Organizations 1.2.5 The Relation Between the Social Systemic and the Experimental Character of Organizations 1.3 Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments 1.3.1 Conducting Experiments 1.3.2 Organizations as Social Systems 17 1.4 Principles Improving Organizational Design 20 1.4.1 Functional Design Principles 21 1.4.2 Specific Design Principles 22 1.5 Conceptual Background 23 1.6 Outline of the Book 25 1.6.1 Part I: The Experimental and Social Arche of Organizations 25 1.6.2 Part II: Designing Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments 27 1.6.3 Part III: Poor and Rich Survival 28 References 29 Part I The Experimental and Social Arche of Organizations The Experimental Arche: Ashby’s Cybernetics 33 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Cybernetics: Effective Methods for the Study of Complex Systems 2.2.1 Describing Behavior: ‘‘Systems’’ and ‘‘Transformations’’ 2.2.2 Regular Behavior and Input 2.2.3 A procedure to Describe Behavior and Identify Regularity 2.3 Cybernetics: Effective Methods for the Control of Complex Systems 2.3.1 Ashby’s Views on Regulation: Definition, Types of Regulation and Requisite Variety 2.3.2 Control, Design and Operational Regulation 2.3.3 Adaptive Behavior 33 34 35 38 40 46 46 54 65 ix 11.4 Organizations and Rich Meaningful Survival 377 the compliance and the integrity approach only seem to tell half the story The focus of the compliance approach on rules seems to forget that, in concrete situations, the “blind” application of rules may result in injustice Rules need to be applied, and their application requires virtue: compliance needs integrity The focus of the integrity approach on responsibility seems to forget that responsible behavior and the virtues associated with it can only develop in a society or in organizations with (basically) just rules: integrity presupposes rules and compliance with them Compliance and integrity seem to be interdependent The approach advocated in this chapter takes this interdependency seriously By focusing on organizations incorporating themselves into society by incorporating society into themselves, it takes into account the importance of societal and organizational rules However, as argued, incorporation should not be “mechanical” or “isolating.” What counts is integrity of and beyond incorporation In this way, it takes into account the importance of integrity Therefore, a first advantage may be that the approach presented in this chapter comprises the compliance and integrity approaches, overcoming their possible one-sidedness A second advantage of the approach outlined in this chapter appears if we ask how, i.e., by what means, compliance or integrity should be supported in organizations In literature on these approaches, a lot of attention is paid to what they entail, why they are important, what their view on humanity is, and what features organizational members should have to realize either of them However, we were unable to find a more or less systematic derivation of principles supporting the design of infrastructures allowing for the realization of either compliance or integrity The approach developed above, not only specifies what rich survival entails, it also formulates specific design principles for organizational structures supporting rich survival In this way, it not only points into the direction of a state of affairs that should be realized It also provides practical guidelines that can help realize it There is a third way in which the developed argument in this chapter can be helpful It may be argued that rich survival is a utopia and nice for idealists, but that it has little to with the hard reality of “doing business.” The same may be said for the design principles supporting it Against this “argument,” we can say that the principles supporting rich meaningful survival also support survival As argued in Chaps and 7, Beer’s functional design principles and de Sitter’s specific design principles, increase an organization’s controllability, and thereby, the potential for realizing and adapting goals They allow for order flexibility, control over realization, and innovation They increase involvement, create opportunities for learning, and reduce structure-related stress And, they increase the quality of communication in organizations If they are anything, these features are all requirements to successfully participate in the hard reality of “doing business.” Therefore, the argument in this chapter and its relation to that of the previous part of this book, may be useful, because it shows that there need not be a contradiction between high organizational performance and a “rich” contribution to society, for both have the same design principles 378 11 Organizational Structures Supporting Rich Survival References Beer, S (1995) The Heart of Enterprise Chichester: Wiley Luhmann, N (1998) Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft Zweiter Teilband Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Teubner, G (1985) Corporate fiduciary duties and their beneficiaries: A functional approach to the legal institutionalization of corporate responsibility In K J Hopt & G Teubner (Eds.), Corporate Governance and Directors’ Liability: Legal, Economic and Sociological Analyses of Corporate Social Responsibility (pp 149–177) Berlin/New York: De Gruyter Sharp-Paine, L (1994) Managing organizational integrity Harvard Business Review (March– April), 106–117 Sharp-Paine, L (1997) Cases in leadership: Ethics and organizational integrity: A strategic perspective Chicago: Irwin Sitter, L.U de (1994) Synergetisch Produceren Assen: Van Gorcum Trevino, L., & Nelson, K (1999) Managing business ethics Chichester: Wiley Trevino, L., Weaver, G R., Gibson, D G., & Toffler, B L (1999) Managing ethics and legal compliance California Management Review, 41(2), 131–151 Chapter 12 Epilogue 12.1 Introduction In this epilogue, we want to provide a brief summary of the book (Sect 2.2), make a few closing remarks about poor and rich survival (Sect 2.3), and propose our agenda for future research (Sect 2.4) 12.2 Organizations, “Archai,” Design Principles, and “Rich” Survival Looking back on the path we have followed, it can be said that in Part I of the book, we explored two features of organizations: their experimental and social systemic feature We maintained that, whatever else organizations may be, they are a particular type of social systems conducting experiments These two features cannot be denied of organizations, without denying them altogether They are “archai” of organizations To theoretically describe the experimental “arche,” we introduced first- and second-order cybernetics Based on Ashby, we argued that experiments in organizations entail a continuous process of selecting organizational goals, infrastructural arrangements, operational regulation, and transformations These experiments are risky because there is no absolute certainty that selections regarding these “objects” contribute to what is at stake in organizational experiments: their meaningful survival Based on von Foerster’s ideas, we argued that the risky character of these selections is fundamental; it cannot be “organized away,” for they are ultimately bound to our contingent pre-cognitions developing in a world of nontrivial machines To flesh out the social systemic “arche,” we introduced Luhmann’s theory In his view, organizations are social systems consisting of decisions “producing” decisions By “production” Luhmann understands that, given particular decision J Achterbergh and D Vriens, Organizations, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-00110-9_12, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 379 380 12 Epilogue premises, operations are generated that are recognized as decisions and connected to prior decisions Based on this production process, the organization as a system of related decisions emerges that distinguishes itself from its environment The experimental and social “arche” of organizations are related Goals, infrastructures, operational regulation, and transformations, are “objects” of decisions and decision premises They are what decisions and decision premises in organizations are about Moreover, because decisions are communications communicating selections as selections, they highlight the contingency and risk involved in them, making organizations into a type of social systems that explicitly reflect and deal with contingency, uncertainty, and risk Because the experimental character of organizations cannot be “organized away,” organizations should be directed at supporting, instead of suppressing, experiment, i.e., at supporting the selection and reselection of goals, infrastructures, operational regulation, and transformations And because an organization’s potential for selection and reselection is conditioned by the design of its infrastructure, i.e., the design of the organization’s structure, HR-systems, and technology, Part II of the book focused on finding design principles for infrastructures supporting organizational experiments In Part II, we discussed two types of design principles: functional and specific design principles Functional design principles specify what a system must be able to do, if it is to continue its experiments with meaningful survival Based on Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model, we argued that in order to be able to survive, an organization should – at every level of recursion – define its identity in terms of primary activities, and design relevant attenuators and amplifiers Moreover, at every level of recursion it should realize two overlapping sets of functions The first set supports the realization of the organization’s identity This set comprises primary activities and the coordination and control function The second set supports the adaptation of the organization’s primary activities It comprises the control, intelligence, and policy function According to Beer, these five functions (and their relations) are necessary and sufficient for (organizational) viability Beer’s model specifies functional principles that may be used to design organizational infrastructures However, it does not provide a prescriptive model explicitly relating infrastructural arrangements to the realization of these functions To this purpose, specific design principles are required De Sitter formulated this type of principles for the design of organizational structures More in particular, based on Ashby’s theory, he argues that these structures should be designed in such a way that potential disturbances are attenuated as much as possible and regulatory potentials are amplified as much as needed To this purpose, the design parameters describing the production and control structure should have low values Based on Beer’s functional principles and de Sitter’s specific principles, it is possible to design organizational structures supporting social experiments with meaningful survival In Part III of the book two modalities of meaningful survival were at issue: poor and rich survival Foucault’s description of the disciplines provided an extreme 12.3 Rich Survival: Its Applicability to Organizations and Relation to Poor Survival 381 example of poor survival Attached to these disciplines, we found six disquieting features Roughly speaking, the disciplines consider organizational goals as contingent and minimal and aim at trivializing the basically non-trivial behavior of organizational members by means of a process quite similar to operand conditioning, using fear as a prime motivational factor To find a counter-model to the disquieting features of the disciplines, we introduced Aristotle’s ideas about the fulfilled human life This entails realizing our characteristic human capacities in the best possible way and acting according to them However, Aristotle’s theory of the fulfilled life only was a first step towards finding organizational structures that can support rich survival In a second step, we explained what it means for an organization to contribute to a society enabling it to let its citizens live a fulfilled life More in particular, we argued that to this purpose, organizations should incorporate themselves into society by incorporating into themselves relevant societal values and programs This process of incorporation should not be “isolating” or “technical,” but “inclusive,” requiring integrity of and beyond incorporation In the previous chapter, we argued that this requires that (1) the organization’s primary contribution to society actually makes a difference in the organization and (2) organizational members develop job-related skills, practical wisdom, and moral virtues From these two requirements, we were able to derive six specific design principles for “rich” production and control structures It appeared that these structures are the same as those that can be deduced from Ashby’s theory and Beer and de Sitter’s application of it to respectively viable systems and organizations Organizational structures supporting rich survival, therefore, are indeed possible, and they are in line with basic insights provided by cybernetics Apparently, there exists a, yet to be explored, connection between cybernetics and Aristotle’s reasoning concerning the individual and societal meaning of and conditions for “eudaimonia.” Perhaps this connection has to with the point that both traditions are involved in the functional analysis and improvement of complex adaptive systems in their environment 12.3 Rich Survival: Its Applicability to Organizations and Relation to Poor Survival Reading Chaps 10 and 11, the question may arise whether all that is said is “realistic.” It may be fine to speak about rich survival, about organizations contributing to society, about integrity of and beyond incorporation, or about developing the integrity of organizational members However, it may also be argued that organizations have to compete for capital, resources, and customers on global markets, forcing them to operate in “isolating” rather than “inclusive” ways Moreover, organizational members have their own private and occupational interests and may be involved in lines of work and micro politics that not promote the best in them All this seems to be at odds with rich survival, making it into 382 12 Epilogue something that always should, but never actually is realized; making it into a “parasite of the future” (Cioran 2008) In this epilogue, we would like to direct a few words against this and similar arguments Indeed, rich survival is what can be called a “parasite of the future,” or to phrase it in a more positive way, a “counter-factual.” Here, we understand a counterfactual as something that should be realized, irrespective of its actual realization Irrespective of the fact that no, some, or all organizations provide a rich contribution to society, “rich survival,” in our view, remains something to strive for So, we are ready to admit that rich survival is counter-factual However, this alone cannot be held against it It is common to all basic values Of course, this does not mean that no objections can be raised against rich survival Both its value and attainability for organizations operating in modern society may be contested Without its value there is no reason to try to attain it And without attainability, there is little point in presenting it as a value Arguing in favor of the value of rich survival, we would like to point out that at its heart is the concept of living a fulfilled life As human beings, we literally cannot more or better than to develop our humanity to the best of our ability and act accordingly As we cannot and never actually this in isolation, we may ask of society and its institutions, including organizations, that they are arranged to allow for this kind of development Whatever the historically contingent lay-out of society and its institutions, we consider it of value that they are directed at providing conditions for individuals to cultivate their humanity The value of rich survival may also be presented by departing from its alternative: poor survival We already argued that poor survival in the form of the disciplines is disquieting, and the whole project of developing an alternative to them was inspired by these disquieting features This type of poor survival certainly is not valued as a goal to be pursued Now, it can be argued that there are other instances of poor survival than the disciplines and that some of them are more “enlightened,” and therefore less worrisome Maybe these more enlightened forms of poor survival can be of value For instance, suppose that an organization introduces a stakeholder approach that successfully takes into account relevant societal stakes for the purpose of goalsetting However, the reason for introducing this approach is not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is good for the “image” of the organization Although all kinds of positive developments may follow from this (employees, the environment, “important” client groups may benefit from it), this organization still suffers from the contingency of its goals The stakes and the organizational goals flowing from them are not considered relevant because of their societal value They are considered relevant because it is important for the organization’s image to (be seen to) pursue them As soon as this relation between stake and organizational image disappears, the “value” of the stake also disappears, irrespective of its actual societal value So, even in this example of enlightened poor survival, goals remain contingent This is disquieting because organizations like this can and will shed important societal stakes like snakes shed their skin 12.3 Rich Survival: Its Applicability to Organizations and Relation to Poor Survival 383 In general, if organizations can pursue any goal, for any reason, by whatever means, which may be the essence of even enlightened forms of poor survival, goals remain contingent And contingency of goals was one of the basic worrying features of poor survival, stimulating the development of an alternative to it The fact that features attached to even enlightened forms poor survival can be or are experienced as worrying, point into the direction of the worth of underlying values that may be articulated in terms of rich survival and the fulfilled life Those who are prepared to grant the value of rich survival may still question its attainability They may ask whether it is realistic or even possible to strive for rich survival in a modern global market Concerning attainability we want to address two issues The first is that of the “organization of the organization”: can organizational infrastructures be designed enabling rich survival? The second concerns the organization’s relation to its societal environment Is rich survival a viable option in a global market? If we zoom in on the “organization of the organization,” it can be argued that just as “habitual dispositions” are needed for virtuous human behavior, “virtuous infrastructures” (decision premises) are needed for decisions supporting rich survival Can such infrastructures be designed? In the previous chapter, we showed that infrastructural conditions can be created that support it As argued, organizational structures supporting rich survival are possible and may be realized in organizations And what is more, such structures not only support rich survival They also support organizational performance in terms of viability (Beer) and the quality of organization, work, and working relations (de Sitter) Their implementation not only can benefit society in terms of rich survival, it also can benefit organizations in terms of competitive advantage Moreover, we think that it is possible to develop specific design principles for the other two constituents of the organization’s infrastructure as well Building upon and in line with organizational structures as described in Chaps and 11, systems for human resources management and production and information technologies may be designed to allow for the development of the practical wisdom, moral virtue, and job-related skills needed to make rich organizational contributions to society So, we think it is possible to design organizational infrastructures allowing for rich survival The second issue is that of the organization’s relation to its societal environment More in particular, it might be argued that organizations pursuing rich survival not stand a chance on markets dominated by profit and shareholder value Therefore, rich survival may be a nice idea, but organizations that need to survive in the “real” world can never attain it With respect to this argument, we would like to point out two things First, in Chap on organizational structures we argued in detail how production and control structures designed according to the controllability principle enable organizations to realize the functional requirements (quality of organization, quality of work, and quality of working relations) needed to survive in a fundamentally risky world Particularly, realizing quality of organization, involving 384 12 Epilogue order flexibility, control over realization, and potential for innovation provides excellent conditions for survival, even in a global society In Chap 11, we showed how organizational structures designed according to the same principle also enable rich survival Therefore, from an infrastructural point of view, there need not be a contradiction between being able to compete on global markets and rich survival The structures enabling the one also enable the other Second, making a profit or realizing shareholder value need not necessarily be at odds with rich survival In Chap 11, we argued that organizations can contribute to different societal subsystems each devoted to handling a particular societal problem One of these subsystems is the economic subsystem which has the function of ensuring the satisfaction of future social needs Making profit or realizing shareholder value, may surely contribute to the realization of this function, and realizing this function may surely contribute to a society enabling its citizens to live a fulfilled life So, there need not be a fundamental opposition between rich survival and making profit or realizing shareholder value However, for an organization pursuing rich survival, the latter two cannot be decisive and of value in themselves 12.4 Things to The present book is about the experimental and social arche of organizations, about principles for the design of its infrastructure, more in particular, organizational structures, and about organizational structures supporting rich survival Given these topics, there are thee more or less natural lines for further investigation First, if organizations are to contribute to a society enabling its citizens to live a fulfilled life, it seems plausible that such a society needs to meet particular functional requirements and specific principles for its design can be derived The first line of enquiry addresses these requirements and specific design principles It consists of the application of cybernetics and social systems theory to society and aims for the development of principles for the design of societal subsystems and their institutions that can support a society enabling its members to live a fulfilled life Second, in the book we formulated principles for the design of organizational structures These structures are only one aspect of the organizational infrastructure The question remains whether specific design principles for human resources management systems and production and information technology can be formulated that are in line with the principles formulated for organizational structures Formulating these specific design principles is the second line of enquiry Third, by specifying design principles for organizational infrastructures that allow for rich survival we did not yet address the problem of the transition from “poor” to “rich” infrastructures As may be expected, such transitions may be highly problematic The reason for this is that organizations with poor infrastructures lack the variety needed to redesign their own infrastructure They have become “self-locking” organizations In such cases, episodic interventions are References 385 required, involving temporary change-organizations within the larger organization The third line of inquiry concerns the application of cybernetic and social systemic insights to the design of such episodic interventions in organizational infrastructures References Cioran E (2008) Die verfehlte Schoăpfung Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main Index A Accepted environment, 202 Acting (as opposed to making), 87, 89, 99, 102, 104, 251, 325–328, 331–333, 335–337, 339, 341, 344, 346, 348, 376, 381 Adaptation, 9, 12–15, 17, 21, 26, 65–67, 176, 200, 202, 203, 205, 210, 211, 216–219, 222, 224, 300–302, 304, 359, 380 Adaptive behavior, 46, 65–69 Amplification, 57, 59, 60, 184, 185, 215, 219, 229–247, 278 Amplifying programs, 355, 356 Analysis of bodily operations, 294 Analysis of space, 294, 295, 300 Analysis of the process of production, 294, 295 Archai, 2, 5, 7, 19, 20, 24, 27, 167–177, 181, 285, 379–381 Arche, 6–7, 17, 20, 24–27, 33–72, 75–115, 117–168, 172–176, 182, 213, 215, 277, 284, 285, 308, 379, 380, 384 Attenuating programs, 186, 354–356 Attenuation, 57, 59, 60, 62, 64, 68, 185, 186, 211, 215, 219, 229–247, 278 Audit, 199, 205–207, 212, 355 Autopoietic production of social systems, 138–141 Autopoietic systems, 119–127, 129, 132, 137, 146, 147, 157, 162, 164, 173 B Black box, 35, 40–45, 75, 169, 369 C Category mistakes, 223–225 Cause-controlled regulation, 50–53, 58, 68 Choice (combining practical wisdom and moral virtue), 327–347 Closed systems, 86–105 Closed transformation, 38, 40, 87 Closure, cognition, 94–103 Cognitive routines, 154–156, 173 Communication pathways, 151–154, 157, 159, 163, 173, 174, 217, 219, 223, 306 Communications (as elements of social systems), 6-8, 17–20, 133–135 Complexity, 52, 89, 93, 118, 124, 126, 148, 149, 163–166, 170, 175, 182–193, 203, 206, 207, 209–216, 221, 255, 261, 262, 269, 276, 287, 364, 367 Complexity problem, 184–193 Complex systems, 26, 34–69, 79, 89, 93, 117, 126, 168 Conditional programs, 152, 153, 156–158, 160, 163, 173 Conducting experiments, 1–29, 33, 34, 59, 69–72, 106, 164, 167, 181, 182, 215–225, 230, 277–280, 284, 287, 308, 309, 379 Conservatism, 203, 210 Control, 34, 46, 54–65 Controllability, 245–247, 252–276, 299, 371, 375, 377, 383 Control structure, 236, 240, 241, 247, 250–255, 258–261, 265, 267, 268, 272–274, 357, 363, 368, 370–375, 381, 383 Coordination, 102, 142, 197–200, 203–205, 207, 212, 214, 216, 222, 224, 362, 380 Criteria for regularity, 38 Cybernetics, 23–26, 28, 33–72, 75, 77–86, 88, 91–93, 96, 101, 103–106, 117–119, 147, 156, 167–172, 175, 176, 183, 209, 228–230, 240, 245, 277–279, 288, 291–293, 295, 299–309, 314, 315, 317, 375, 376, 379, 381, 384, 385 387 388 D Decision premises, 140–143, 146–157, 171–176, 217–224, 285, 305–308, 355, 380 Decision programs, 152–154, 217, 219, 223 Decisions (as elements of organizations), 5, 118, 140–146, 158–159, 170–176, 222–223, 305–308 Decomposition, 126, 231–233, 248, 251 Decomposition into aspects, 232, 233 Decomposition into parts, 232, 233 Deliberation (as part of practical wisdom and skill), 325–347 Design of the distribution of work, 228 Design parameters, 246–276, 370, 380 Design principles, 1, 21–23, 27, 29, 177, 181–225, 227–288, 351, 357–377, 379–381, 383, 384 Desire, 319, 322–331, 336 Diagnosis, 27, 213–216, 221, 223 Differentiation, 126, 140, 141, 249–251, 254–260, 263–268, 271–273, 352, 371–373, 375 Direct commands, 199, 205, 206 Disciplines, 28, 291–315, 317–320, 333, 348–349, 357, 360, 365, 366, 368–371, 375, 376, 380–382 Disposition, 319, 322–333, 336, 342, 343, 346, 348, 383 Disquieting features, 292, 293, 309–315, 317, 319, 348, 357, 365, 366, 368, 371, 375, 376, 381, 382 Disturbances, 46–49, 243–244 Division of work, 13, 14, 18, 21, 22, 27, 64, 69, 108, 111, 176, 177, 181, 219, 227, 229, 231, 277, 278, 368 Dysfunction, 221, 354, 355, 360, 363, 370 E Eigenvalues, 79, 85–106, 109, 110, 114 Elements of an autopoietic system, 120–123 Elements of organizations, 141, 143–146, 159, 160, 162, 164 Elements of social systems, 24, 133–135, 138, 143 Elements producing elements, 121–123 Error-controlled regulation, 50, 52, 53 Essential variable, 46–61, 65, 66, 70–72, 75, 169, 182, 184–187, 190, 214, 229, 237, 239, 242, 243, 258, 277, 371 Ethics, 11, 23–25, 28, 288, 319, 320, 322, 323, 336, 343, 345, 349, 351, 376 Eudaimonia, 11, 28, 320–327, 332, 333, 381 Index Event-like, 128, 130, 132, 153 Examination, 207, 284, 294, 298–302, 311, 312, 328, 370 Expectations, 3, 5, 7, 133, 135–141, 153, 160, 170, 239, 352, 360 Expectations about expectations, 133, 135–141 Experimental character, 6–8, 15–17, 175, 176, 380 Experiments, 1–29, 33–72, 75–115, 117, 118, 125, 143, 164, 166–168, 172–177, 181, 182, 213–225, 227, 228, 230, 261, 263, 264, 275, 277–287, 308, 309, 379, 380, 384 External non-routine regulation, 237–239, 244, 258, 261, 264 External routine regulation, 237, 258, 260, 272 F Fear, 2, 311–312, 314, 315, 318, 329, 348, 349, 365, 366, 369, 375, 381 Feedback-loop, 67–69, 300 First order cybernetics, 77–86, 93, 96, 104–106, 172 Flow, 232, 248, 249, 265–274, 276 Functional concentration, 248–249, 254, 256, 257, 262, 265–272, 371, 372 Functional design principles, 21–22, 27, 177, 181–225, 281, 282, 284, 285, 377, 380 Functional model, 21, 22, 182, 193–217, 220, 224, 227, 278, 285 Functional requirements, 23, 57, 214, 215, 219, 241–243, 262, 263, 265, 277, 333, 360, 383, 384 Function five, 202–205, 213 Function four, 200–202 Function of decision premises, 147–149, 306 Function one, 196–199, 216 Function three, 199–200, 203 Function two, 197–200 G Goal programs, 152, 163, 173, 174, 285 H Hierarchical surveillance, 294–298, 300–302, 304, 311 Highest good, 319–327, 348 High parameter values, 254, 256–261, 263, 370, 371, 375 HR-systems, 69, 227, 281, 282, 285, 380 Human capacities, 280, 319–325 Index Human resources, 13, 14, 18, 21, 22, 62, 64, 67, 107, 176, 177, 181, 219, 238, 250, 304, 309, 311, 314, 315, 317, 383, 384 I Inclusive incorporation, 359 Inclusive jobs, 363–370 Information (as part of communication), 133–135 Infrastructural conditions, 13–21, 25, 62, 64, 66, 67, 181, 228, 288, 383 Infrastructures, see Organizational infrastructures Innovatism, 203, 210 Input, 12, 34, 38–45, 80–84, 86, 91–93 Integrity, 288, 359–365, 370, 376, 377, 381 Integrity beyond incorporation, 359–361 Integrity of incorporation, 359, 360, 363 Intelligence, 107, 197, 200–205, 208–213, 215–218, 228, 362, 365, 380 Internal non-routine regulation, 237, 238, 258, 260, 373 Internal routine regulation, 237, 258 Isolating incorporation, 359 J Judgment (as part of practical wisdom and skill), 325–347 L Lack of involvement, 261, 312–313 Law of requisite variety, 49, 53–54, 57 Living a fulfilled life, 11, 248, 319–326, 332, 336–338, 340–342, 359, 360, 365, 369, 382 Low parameter values, 265, 267–275, 370, 371, 375 M Making (as opposed to acting), 331–333 Management reports, 199, 206 Meaningful existence, 9–12, 287 Meaning processing systems, 119, 128–132, 138, 153, 165, 166, 170 Mechanism, 33, 40, 41, 50, 56–59, 64–66, 70, 75, 99, 102, 123, 127, 142, 150, 169, 193, 213, 214, 219–225, 229, 238, 312, 349 Membership, 149–151, 157, 163, 173, 174, 306 Moral virtues, 319, 324, 327–347, 359, 361, 364–370, 373, 375, 376, 383 Multi-valued transformations, 38 389 N Nervous-system, 94–104 Non-trivial machine, 26, 81–84, 93, 95, 104, 105, 109 Normalizing sanctions, 294, 295, 297, 298, 301, 302, 304, 311 O Observer, 26, 35, 37, 38, 40–45, 76–80, 83–107, 117, 119, 194, 296, 310, 344 Open transformation, 38 Operational regulation, 5, 6, 13, 14, 26, 46, 54–65, 67, 68, 70–72, 75, 107, 117, 147, 169, 173, 175, 181, 229, 235, 239, 251, 255, 300, 301, 304, 308, 309, 379, 380 Operational transformations, 65, 66, 69, 175, 235, 241, 249–251, 256, 258, 260, 280 Organizational communication, 8, 17–20, 24, 114, 172, 173, 307 Organizational culture, 154–155 Organizational design, 1, 20–23, 192, 223, 256 Organizational structures, 13, 22, 23, 27, 28, 64, 177, 227–280, 282–283, 380–384 P Panopticon, 296, 297, 305–308, 311, 375 Parameter, 39, 75, 119, 169, 214, 246, 281, 351, 380 Passive block, 49–52, 54, 57, 60, 61, 64, 68 Performance, 5, 21, 26, 44, 53, 147, 152, 172, 190, 206, 218, 263, 276, 295, 353–356, 358–360, 362, 363, 365, 367–373, 375, 377, 383 Personnel, 8, 13, 45, 64, 106, 143, 151–153, 156, 161, 163, 173, 219, 241, 242, 251, 255, 264 Planning, 13, 153–154, 162, 173, 199, 209, 211, 236, 248, 250, 255, 257, 258, 262, 269, 271 Policy, 197, 202–205, 208–213, 216–218, 362, 380 Poor survival, 28, 287, 288, 291–315, 317, 375, 376, 381–384 Practical wisdom, 319, 325–347, 359, 360, 362, 364–370, 373, 375, 376, 381, 383 Primary activities, 10, 187–190, 196–208, 210, 212, 213, 215–218, 222, 223, 283, 353, 355–357, 362–364, 380 Problematic environment, 202 Production structure, 236, 240, 241, 247–250, 253–259, 265–273, 362, 363, 368, 371–373 390 Q Quality of organization, 241, 262–263, 274, 275, 277, 283, 285, 383 Quality of work, 241, 242, 245, 262–265, 274–276, 283, 371, 383 Quality of working relations, 241, 242, 245, 265, 274, 276, 283, 371, 383 R Real systems, 119, 121, 126 Reason (as a human capacity), 320–343 Recursion, 88, 152, 184, 187–193, 197, 204, 213–216, 223, 299, 362–364, 370, 373, 375, 376, 380 Reduction, 110–113, 185, 259, 269, 271 Regular behavior, 38–40, 43, 45, 168, 169 Regulation by design, 14, 46, 251, 255, 260, 375 Regulatory actions, 4, 5, 8–11, 16, 17, 19, 26, 28, 34, 35, 41, 45, 49, 52, 54, 58, 59, 64, 69, 70, 72, 77, 117, 229, 251, 259, 274, 283 Regulatory transformations, 234–241, 247, 250–253, 255, 267, 272, 375 Reification, 110–113 Relations between functions, 205–215 Responsibility, 11, 110, 113–115, 202, 265, 305, 313–315, 318, 348, 349, 355, 356, 362, 363, 366, 369, 375–377 Rich survival, 12, 25, 28–29, 280, 287, 288, 292, 293, 317–349, 351–377, 379–384 Risk, 3, 16, 17, 26, 27, 75, 76, 78, 106–115, 117, 125, 144–146, 165–168, 170, 172, 175, 182, 203, 206, 216, 221, 264, 281, 283, 284, 286, 287, 296, 310–312, 356, 379, 380, 383 S Science of discipline, 312 Second order cybernetics, 77, 78, 103, 117, 172, 379 Self-descriptions, 154, 173, 217 Self-inhibition, 222–223 Self-producing, 119–127, 136 Self-regulation, 46, 65–67 Self-trivialization, 311 Separation, 247, 250, 252, 258-260, 264–267, 272, 275, 374–375 Setting goals, 13, 14, 19, 21, 22, 62, 68–70, 107, 110, 169, 193, 300 Single-valued transformation, 39, 75, 76, 78, 81 Index Skill, 222, 280, 295, 297, 319, 325, 331–341, 366–370, 373, 375, 376, 381, 383 Social systemic character, 5–7, 17, 19, 25–27, 117, 216 Social systems, 1–29, 33, 34, 106, 117–173, 175, 176, 181, 182, 195, 215–225, 228, 277, 278, 283, 287, 288, 291–293, 299–309, 314, 315, 317, 376, 379, 380, 384, 385 Social systems theory, 23, 24, 167–173, 216, 220–225, 278, 308, 384 Societal subsystem, 224, 282, 352–356, 384 Society, 2, 11, 12, 22, 24, 25, 119, 140–142, 176, 192, 284, 287, 288, 293, 315, 318, 348, 349, 351–364, 367–370, 377, 381–384 Soul, 311, 321, 322, 324–328, 330, 331, 338, 341, 342, 366 Specialization, 250–260, 264, 266–268, 271–273, 276, 333, 371–373, 375 Specific design principles, 21–23, 27, 29, 177, 181, 215, 227–288, 357–377, 380, 383, 384 Strategic regulation, 13, 14, 251, 255, 375 Structure of an autopoietic system, 124, 125 Structure of social system, 135–138 Sub-transformations, 231–240, 248–252, 254–259, 261–263, 266–268 Survival, 1, 3–5, 7, 9–17, 20–29, 33, 47–49, 54, 55, 65, 67, 70–72, 76, 79, 107, 117, 164, 167, 172, 174–177, 210, 213–221, 224, 227, 277, 279–282, 284–288, 291–315, 317–349, 351–377, 379–384 Synthesis of space, bodily operations and the process of productions, 294, 295 T Tasks in organizations, 231–241 Technological means, 13, 14, 22, 64 Technology, 14, 21, 22, 48, 62, 69, 71, 176, 177, 181, 201, 202, 219, 227, 238, 297, 380, 384 Transformation, 35–38 Transformation process, 6, 9–21, 26, 33, 34, 62–64, 66–70, 75, 76, 106, 107, 111, 181, 219, 222, 225, 229, 231, 233, 248, 279 Trivialization, 111, 112, 310–311, 313, 369 Trivial machine, 26, 80, 81, 84, 310, 311, 319, 365 Types of decision premises, 147, 149–156, 173 Types of regulation, 15, 26, 49–53, 172, 236, 239, 240, 244, 245 Index U Uncertainty, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 16, 20, 37, 67, 71, 76, 111–113, 144–146, 165, 166, 170, 175, 380 Understanding (as part of communication), 133–135 Unwanted side effect, 354, 355, 360, 370 Utterance, 133–139, 143, 151 V Variability, 244, 256, 257, 265, 268, 269, 272 Variable systems, 117, 119, 171 391 Variety, 46–54, 183–193 Viability, 17, 22, 182–216, 218, 220, 225, 227, 241, 242, 264, 265, 278, 279, 310, 315, 362, 375, 380, 383 Viable system model, 22, 23, 27, 177, 182, 187, 192, 196, 197, 204, 205, 213–225, 227, 277, 279, 362, 380 Virtue, 99, 122, 164, 288, 319, 320, 323, 330–333, 336, 340, 341, 343, 346, 347, 352, 353, 360–362, 364–366, 368, 369, 373, 375–377