A system called organization

How we can see the organization as a system?
by Eion Maison

I was rather surprised to hear of the US Vice President who went to see his doctor about a cold and was told that he had an irregular heart rhythm and needed an electric shock to try to make his heart rhythm regular. Could this in practical terms, happen to an organization?
The organization is a system, albeit a social system with its own boundaries, subsystems and feedback mechanism much the same as the human body system. Lou Marcoccio intimates that “Many organizations have failures sitting in their systems, but they won't show up until they run the transactions.”

An organization, according to the General Systems Theory 1968 allows educators, writers and consultants to help managers look at the organizations from a broader point of view and thus interpret patterns and events in their respective organization. The organization is seen as a system of systems with many subsystems just like the body has its Circulatory, Digestive, Urinary, Immune, Endocrine, Lymphatic, Reproductive systems. The counter part in an organization would be the departments, programs, division and the teams. Each having its inputs, processes, outcomes, and outputs.

A system is defined by its legal documents, laws, roles and policies just like the human is defined by marital status, income and educational background. Further, the system is depicted by its organizational chart, job description, and marketing strategy much the same like the person is defined by their family name and title. Therefore, if one part of it is removed, then the nature is changed.

Feedback is very important to the organization as a system. The body system gets it feedback from symptoms we feel, or observe, and like the case of the politician, from a doctor’s evaluation. The organization on the other hand gets its feedback from employees, clients, governments, technology and economic indicators, inter alia.

In conclusion, since the systems are all interconnected and interdependent then there should be regular check ups or evaluation for both the human and the organization with the express purpose of ensuring efficiency, effectiveness, productivity and longevity. Therefore, all organization should assess its capacity which in order will reveal its current status or performance. One such tool I came across in my research is the Mckinsey Assessment Tool. This or any other relevant tool could detect any failure sitting in the system.