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Draft:Open systems theory

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Open systems theory (OST) is a framework in the social sciences developed by the Australian psychologist Fred Emery and colleagues, particularly Eric Trist, at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations from the late 1950s, and subsequently extended by Fred and Merrelyn Emery and others at the Centre for Continuing Education, Australian National University.[1][2]

Origins and development

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OST springs from two main sources that later merged. The first is concerned with the transactions between systems, such as organizations and communities, and the wider social field in which they are embedded, and with the conditions under which such systems can actively adapt to that field rather than merely react to it.[3].

The second grew out of a long-standing search for a system of work that was both high-quality and high-productivity without being autocratic. The formative research was Eric Trist and Ken Bamforth's 1951 study of British coal mining, which brought into being sociotechnical system.[4][5]

Through the 1960s, Emery worked with Einar Thorsrud on the Norwegian Industrial Democracy Project (IDP), co-authoring its principal reports on either side of his 1969 return to Australia.[6][7][8] It was during this project that Emery identified the genotypical organizational design principles underlying all organizational structures.[9] This discovery radically changed the whole field, and the focus became all organizations instead of just work.

From 1969 onwards, Fred and Merrelyn Emery extended the framework into one for unified design and change, developing the Participative Design Workshop (from 1971) to replace the earlier expert-driven sociotechnical method, developing and refining the Search Conference, and later integrating the two as the two-stage model of active adaptation.[10][11] These were later complemented by Unique Designs, which are for any task other than organizational design or planning.[12]

Core concepts

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The genotypical organizational design principles are central to the theory. The first principle is redundancy of parts (DP1), in which responsibility for control and coordination sits above the people doing the focal activity; the second is redundancy of functions (DP2), in which that responsibility sits with the actors. DP1 produces dominant hierarchies while DP2 produces self-managing groups.[9]

Methods and applications

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The two methods that constitute the two-stage model are the Search Conference, a participative strategic planning process, and the Participative Design Workshop, a method for redesigning organizational structures from DP1 to DP2. 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, including work toward an open systems science.[1][2][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. 1 2 de Guerre, D. W. (2016). "Open Systems Theory and the Two-Stage Model of Active Adaptation". STS Roundtable.
  3. ↑ Emery, F. E. & Trist, E. L. (1965). "The Causal Texture of Organizational Environments". Human Relations. 18 (1): 21–32. doi:10.1177/001872676501800103.
  4. ↑ Trist, E. L. & Bamforth, K. W. (1951). "Some Social and Psychological Consequences of the Longwall Method of Coal-Getting". Human Relations. 4 (1): 3–38. doi:10.1177/001872675100400101.
  5. ↑ Emery, F. E. (1959). "Characteristics of Socio-Technical Systems". Tavistock Document 527; reprinted in The Social Engagement of Social Science: A Tavistock Anthology, Vol. II, pp. 157–186 (1993). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. doi:10.9783/9781512819052-009.
  6. ↑ Emery, F., Thorsrud, E. & Trist, E. (1964). Industrielt demokrati: Representasjon på styreplan i bedriftene? Noen norske og utenlandske erfaringer. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Nationalbiblioteket.
  7. ↑ Emery, F. & Thorsrud, E. (1969). Form and Content in Industrial Democracy. London: Tavistock. (Reprinted 2015, Routledge.)
  8. ↑ Emery, F. & Thorsrud, E. (1976). Democracy at Work: The Report of the Norwegian Industrial Democracy Program. International Series on the Quality of Working Life, Vol. 2. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff.
  9. 1 2 Emery, F. E. (1967). "The Next Thirty Years: Concepts, Methods and Anticipations". Human Relations. 20 (3): 199–237. doi:10.1177/001872676702000301.
  10. ↑ Emery, F. & Emery, M. (1974). Participative Design: Work and Community Life. Canberra: Centre for Continuing Education, Australian National University. (2022 revised edition available online.)
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ 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: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler. ISBN 978-1576753798.
  13. ↑ Social Science That Actually Works – the OST research community website maintained by Fred and Merrelyn Emery and colleagues.
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Category:Systems theory Category:Organizational theory

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