Changing the World - One Business at a Time
Living System Theory
The Dynamics of Interrelationship
I'm going to talk about a few of the relevant aspects of living systems. The first one is nesting. Systems are "nested" with smaller systems within bigger systems. Individuals are nested within families within cities within states etc. Why is this important? It is because the actions taken by the smaller system are determined by the larger system, at least in part.
The second aspect is that all living systems are open to some extent. Living systems respond to the environment they are nested in and they change and adapt as the environment changes. The more closed the system is the less responsive it is to its environment. This has huge implications for organizations. The more an organization resists adapting to the changes around it the less likely it is to survive or the more work it will need to do to address changes it has ignored.
The third aspect is the fact that all living systems seek sort of “stability” called “homeostasis” or “far from equilibrium.” This means that there is a range of movement in which the system is considered stable. There is what is known as a "normal range of variation." This is crucial because we often want to make living systems act like mechanical ones and repeat actions and processes exactly the same way over and over again. People are fired because their boss has demanded they achieve a goal or target that is outside of the normal range of variation for that system. Or, worse still, the employee achieves the target by cheating because it is impossible for the system to produce in the manner requested.
Living systems achieve this form of homeostasis through the use of feedback loops. Feedback comes in two forms: accelerating and dampening. Accelerating loops continually increase. The more the boss yells the worse morale becomes. All accelerating loops have a dampening loop at some point. The employees will eventually leave, in the above example. Growth can continue until it meets the limits to growth (size, resources, structure etc.). Most importantly systems need both kinds of feedback and will go out of balance and potentially self-destruct without them.
We live in many different types of ecologies and like the ecology of the natural world, all of the parts are interdependent. All of the parts are equally important and each part affects the whole in some way. The gift of systems thinking is that by seeing and understanding those dynamics we can manage them and not suffer the unintended consequences of mismanagement.
I'm going to talk about a few of the relevant aspects of living systems. The first one is nesting. Systems are "nested" with smaller systems within bigger systems. Individuals are nested within families within cities within states etc. Why is this important? It is because the actions taken by the smaller system are determined by the larger system, at least in part.
The second aspect is that all living systems are open to some extent. Living systems respond to the environment they are nested in and they change and adapt as the environment changes. The more closed the system is the less responsive it is to its environment. This has huge implications for organizations. The more an organization resists adapting to the changes around it the less likely it is to survive or the more work it will need to do to address changes it has ignored.
The third aspect is the fact that all living systems seek sort of “stability” called “homeostasis” or “far from equilibrium.” This means that there is a range of movement in which the system is considered stable. There is what is known as a "normal range of variation." This is crucial because we often want to make living systems act like mechanical ones and repeat actions and processes exactly the same way over and over again. People are fired because their boss has demanded they achieve a goal or target that is outside of the normal range of variation for that system. Or, worse still, the employee achieves the target by cheating because it is impossible for the system to produce in the manner requested.
Living systems achieve this form of homeostasis through the use of feedback loops. Feedback comes in two forms: accelerating and dampening. Accelerating loops continually increase. The more the boss yells the worse morale becomes. All accelerating loops have a dampening loop at some point. The employees will eventually leave, in the above example. Growth can continue until it meets the limits to growth (size, resources, structure etc.). Most importantly systems need both kinds of feedback and will go out of balance and potentially self-destruct without them.
We live in many different types of ecologies and like the ecology of the natural world, all of the parts are interdependent. All of the parts are equally important and each part affects the whole in some way. The gift of systems thinking is that by seeing and understanding those dynamics we can manage them and not suffer the unintended consequences of mismanagement.
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