Katz and Kahn model
Katz and Kahn developed a larger and more complex organizational model by applying systems theory and organization theory. Then they compared the possibilities of application of the main sociological and psychological currents in organizational analysis, proposing that the theory of organizations frees itself from the restrictions and limitations of the previous approaches and uses the general theory of systems.
According to the model proposed by them, the organization has the following typical characteristics of an open system:
a) The organization as an open system
For Katz and Kahn, the organization as an open system has the following characteristics:
- Import (inputs): The organization receives inputs from the environment and needs renewed supplies of energy from other institutions, or from people, or from the material environment. No social structure is self-sufficient or self-contained. Transformation (processing): Open systems transform available energy. The organization processes and transforms its inputs into finished products, labor, services, etc. Export (output): Open systems export certain products to the environment. Systems as cycles of repeating events: The operation of any system consists of repetitive cycles of import-transformation-export. Negative entropy: Open systems need to move to stop the entopic process to replenish energy, maintaining their organizational structure indefinitely. Information as input: Open systems also receive informational inputs that provide signals to the structure about the environment and about how it works in relation to it. State of equilibrium and dynamic homeostasis: In this sense, open systems are characterized by a state of equilibrium: there is a continuous flow of energy from the external environment and a continuous export of products from the system; however, the energy exchange quotient and the relationships between the parties remain the same. Differentiation: The organization tends to the multiplication and elaboration of functions, which also brings the multiplication of roles and internal differentiation. Equifinality: Which states that a system can reach, by different ways, the same final state, starting from different initial conditions. Limits or borders: The organization presents barriers between the system and the environment. These define the field of action of the system, as well as its degree of openness in relation to the environment.
b) Organizations as a class of social system
Organizations constitute a class or type of social system, which in turn is considered a class of open system. As a special kind of open system, organizations have properties that are peculiar to them, but they share other properties in common with all open systems.
All social systems, including organizations, are based on standardized activities of a number of individuals. These standardized activities are complementary or interdependent with respect to some product with a common result. They are repeated, relatively durable, and related in space and time.
c) First-order characteristics
The characteristics of organizations as social systems are:
- Social systems, unlike the other basic structures, have no limits in scope. Social systems cannot be represented through physical models Social systems need production and maintenance inputs Social systems are essentially invented, man-made and imperfect systems: they are affirmed in attitudes, perceptions, beliefs, motivations, habits and expectations of human beings. Social systems present greater variability than biological systems. They need control mechanisms to reduce the variability and instability of human actions. Functions, norms and values are the main components of the social system.Social organizations represent the clearest development of a standard of interrelated functions that hint at prescribed or standardized activities. The concept of partial inclusion. The organization uses only the knowledge and skills of the people that are important to it in relation to its environment. The organizational functioning must be studied with respect to the continuous transactions developed with the environment that surrounds it.
d) Organizational culture and climate
Every organization creates its own culture or climate, its own taboos, customs and uses. The climate or culture of the system reflects the norms and values of the formal system, as well as internal and external disputes and the exercise of authority within the system, which are transmitted to the new members of the group.
e) System dynamics
In order to maintain themselves, social organizations resort to the use of mechanisms, establish norms and values to stimulate the required activities and authority devices to direct organizational behavior.
f) Concept of organizational effectiveness
As open systems, organizations survive only when they are able to maintain negentropy, that is, importation in all forms of greater amounts of energy than are returned to the environment as a product. Efficiency seeks increases through technical and economic solutions, while effectiveness seeks to maximize the performance of the organization, by technical and economic means (efficiency) and by political means (not economic).
g) The organization as a system of roles
Role is the set of activities required of an individual who occupies a certain position in an organization. Therefore, the organization can be considered as constituted by roles or by a set of activities expected of individuals.
Sociotechnical model of tavistock
The organization is conceived as a sociotechnical system. In addition to being considered as an open system in constant interaction with its environment, the organization is also conceived as a sociotechnical system structured in two subsystems:
- The technical subsystem, which includes the tasks to be performed, the physical facilities, the equipment and instruments used, the operational techniques, the physical environment and the duration of the tasks. In short, the technical subsystem covers technology, territory and time. It is responsible for the potential efficiency of the organization. The social subsystem, which includes individuals, their physical and psychological characteristics, the social relationships between individuals as well as the demands of their organization.
The technical and social subsystems present an intimate and dependent interrelation and each influences the other. The sociotechnical approach conceives the organization as a combination of technology and at the same time as a social subsystem. The technological and social subsystems are considered in a mutual and reciprocal interaction and each determines the other, to some extent.
The open system model proposed by the sociotechnical approach is based on the assumption that every organization "imports" various things from the environment and uses these imports in certain types of "conversion" processes to later "export" products, services, etc., which they result from the conversion process.
The primary task of the organization is that which allows it to survive within this process of:
- Import: The acquisition of raw materials. Conversion: The transformation of imports into exports. Export: The location of the import and conversion results.
Critical evaluation of systems theory
A critical evaluation of systems theory leads to the following aspects:
1. Confrontation between open system and closed system theories
The open system "can be considered as a set of parts in constant interaction constituting a synergistic whole oriented towards certain purposes and in a permanent relationship of interdependence with the external environment."
The implications of the distinction between open and closed systems for the modern conception of administration, the following stand out:
- The essentially dynamic nature of the environment is in conflict with the essentially static tendency of the organization.A rigid organizational system will not be able to survive as long as it fails to respond effectively to continuous and rapid changes in the environment.An open system, such as a club, a hospital or a government, needs to guarantee the assimilation of its products by the environment, consequently, the system needs constant and refined information from the environment only regarding the nature of that environment but also the quality and quantity of available inputs, and mainly in terms of the effectiveness or adequacy of the organization's products or responses to the environment.
2. Basic characteristics of the systemic analysis
The main characteristics of modern management theory, based on systemic analysis, are the following:
- Systemic point of view: Considers the organization as a system made up of five basic parts: input (input), process, product (output), feedback and environment. Dynamic approach: The emphasis of modern theory is applied in the dynamic process of interaction that occurs within the structure of an organization. Multidimensional and multilevel: Modern theory considers an organization from the micro and macroscopic point of view. The organization is macro when it is considered within its environment (at the level of society, community); it is micro when analyzing its internal drives. Multimotivational: Systems theory recognizes that an act can be motivated by many desires or reasons. Probabilistic: Modern theory tends to be probabilistic. Which shows that many variables can be explained in hypothetical terms and not with certainty. Multidisciplinary: Systems theory is multidisciplinary, as it seeks concepts and techniques from many fields of study, such as sociology, psychology, administrative theory, economics, etc. Descriptive: It seeks to describe the characteristics of organizations and administration. Multivariate: Modern theory tends to assume that an event can be caused by numerous interrelated and interdependent factors. Adaptation: The organization is an adaptive system to changes in the environment.
3. Integrative and abstract character of systems theory
Many authors consider systems theory too abstract and, therefore, difficult to apply to practical managerial situations.
It is a general theory of organizations and administration, an integrative synthesis of classical, neoclassical, structuralist, neo-structuralist and behaviorist concepts.
4. The synergistic effect of organizations as open systems
One of the solid reasons for the existence of organizations is their synergistic effect, that is, the way in which the results of an organization can differ in quantity or quality in the sum of the inputs. The output units can be equal to, greater than, or less than the input units.
Likewise, each individual in the organization expects that the personal benefits of participating in an organization will outweigh their personal costs of participation.
5. The "functional man"
Systems theory is based on the concept of "functional man", in contrast to the concept of homo economicus in classical theory, homo socialis in human relations theory, organizational man in structuralist theory, and administrative man of behaviorist theory. The individual plays a role within organizations, interacting with other individuals as an open system.
6. A new organizational approach
The systemic perspective introduced a new way of appreciating phenomena. The Gestalt and global vision of things, which privileges the totality and its components, without neglecting what we call systemic emergent: the properties of the whole that do not appear in any of its parts.
In this new organizational approach, the important thing is to see the whole in part in isolation to glimpse the emerging system. It is this systemic emergence that makes water different from its elements, hydrogen and oxygen.
