Chapter 4 System Approaches Cierra Van Patten Comm

Chapter 4 System Approaches Cierra Van Patten Comm 108

After This Chapter, You Should… v Be able to explain systems components, system processes, and systems properties and illustrate these ideas with organizational communication examples v Be familiar with cybernetics as a systems theory that can help explain goal-related communication in organizations v And to appreciate Weick’s Theory of organization as an important way to “make sense” of the workings of organizational communication

System Approaches v Organizations are complex organisms that must interact with their environment to survive v Don’t look at how we should behave in organizations, rather they look at how we should study them v Started in engineering and biological fields

System Components v Hierarchical Order: v System has smaller subsystems within larger systems v Interdependence: v Systems rely on each other v Permeability: v System is open to its environment

System Processes v Input-Throughput-Output: v Process like a machine v Exchange: v System exchanges good for services v Feedback v Both Negative and Positive v. Negative- stays the same v. Positive-changes

System Properties v Holism: v System is more than the sum of its parts v Equinfinality: v Many ways for final outcome v Negative Entropy: v System can flow and avoid deterioration v Requisite Variety v System should remain fair and not complicated

Cybernetics Systems Theory v System Goal: v Have a goal in mind v Mechanisms: v Use methods to reach goal v Feedback: v Have feedback to stay on track v New Mechanism: v If necessary, may have to tweak to stay on track

Karl Weicks: Theory of Organizing v Karl Weick a scholar v Wrote The Social Psychology of Organizing (1979) v And Sensemaking in Organizations (1995) v Goal=Reduction of Equivocality v For more information visit on Karl Weick

Karl Weicks’ Theory v Ecological Change> Enactment> Selection> Retention v Ecological Change: v Change in Environment v Enactment: v Know what is going on v Selection: v Know what to do v Retention: v Know what not to do

Karl Weick’s Theory Continued. . v Assembly Rules: v Procedures called “recipes” v Follow the book v That can guide organizational members in set pattern of sense making v Communication Cycles: v When equivocality in the environment is high v And there are many possible explanations for an event v Organization members engage in communication cycles v They figure it out by themselves

Summary v In this chapter, we have reviewed the systems approach to the study of organizational communication v We looked at a number of basic system concepts v Including the nature of system components v The nature of system processes v And the properties that emerges from the conceptualization of organizations

Summary Continued. . v We took a closer look at cybernetic system theory which highlighted the importance of feedback and regulation in goal-directed systems v And lastly, Weick’s Theory of organization emphasizes how interaction revolves around making sense of equivocal information environments

Reference v Miller, Katherine (2009). Organizational Communication: Approaches and Practices (5 th ed. ). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth-Engage Learning.