MANAGEMENT (Human Systems)
Charles François (2004). MANAGEMENT (Human Systems), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 1992.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1992 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences |
M. ZELENY has characterized Human Systems Management in the following terms:
- “1) Human systems are to be managed rather than analyzed or designed. Template:Ency entity is not systems analysis or design”.
(Note: In recent years, a new concept of co-participative design has emerged, which escapes from the limits of authoritarian and prescriptive design);
- “2) Management of human systems is a process of catalytic reinforcement of dynamic organization and bonding of individuals. Template:Ency entity does not design a hierarchy of control and command;
- “3) The components of human systems are humans. Template:Ency entity is not general systems theory but a general theory of human organizations;
- “4) The integral complexity of human systems can be lost through the process of mathematical simplification… Template:Ency entity is not operation research, econometrics or applied mathematics;
- “5) The interactions between individuals are not those of electronic circuitry, communication channels, or feedback loop mechanisms. Template:Ency entity is not cybernetics or information theory of communication”
(Note: i.e. is not mechanicist cybernetics of the first order, but could be aided by von FOERSTER 2nd order cybernetics);
- “6) The order of human organizations is maintained through their structural adaptations under the conditions of environmental disequilibrium. Template:Ency entity is not the theory of general equilibrium;
- “7) the concepts of optimization and optimal control are not meaningful in a general theory of human systems. Human aspirations and goals are dynamic, multiple and in continuous conflict. Such conflict is the very source of their catalysis. Template:Ency entity is not optimal control theory or theory of conflict resolution;
- “8) The inquiry into human systems is transdisciplinary by definition. Human systems encompass the whole hierarchy of natural systems: physical, biological, social and spiritual. Template:Ency entity is not interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary, it does not attempt to unify scientific disciplines, it transcends them” (1977, p.27).
All these ideas are consonant with, for instance, P. VENDRYES concept of autonomy, i.e. the capability of a system (biological, social) to establish its own behavioral laws, and with MATURANA and VARELA's autopoiesis.