The social systems As a specific type of open systems, they have distinctive and differentiating properties. They do not have physical limits, an established physical structure like that of biological systems. Social systems have a structure but it is more of events and events than of physical parts and this is inseparable from their functioning.
Organizations are artificially devised systems and what keeps their members together are psychological rather than biological ties. The organizationsopen social systems, can be designed for a wide range of objectives and determine that their growth curves do not fit those typical of the life cycle of animals. systems biological. They require various control mechanisms that keep their parts together and functioning interdependently.
Social systems according to Katz and Kahn
Katz and Kahn point out a theoretical model For the understanding of organizations, it is an energy input-output system. Social organizations are open systems in which the input of energy and the conversion of output into subsequent energy input consists of transactions between the organization and its environment.
All social systems They consist of scheduled activities of a certain number of individuals. These activities are complementary or interdependent with respect to some common output or result, they are constantly repeated and are limited in space and time. By emphasizing in the concept of organization the aspects related to the scheduled activities of a certain number of individuals, they place the concept of role in a pertinent place. Conceptualizes the organization as a system of roles.
Social systems according to Miller
Miller highlights a complementary aspect to define organizations. Points out the importance of decision-making processes aimed at the transformation and processing of energy, matter and information. It defines organizations as “systems with multi-level decision-makers whose components or subcomponents are societies. The difference with respect to other social systems is that they always have 2 levels in their decisions, even if they are small.
Group decision makers do not have steps formally designed. A third characteristic is its constant relationship with the environment, exchanging matter, energy and information. An organization can be described as an open system that maintains transactions with its environment. In order to survive and prosper, an organization must maintain a favorable input-output ratio. To the extent that a stable cycle of inputs-transformation-outputs can be maintained, procedures of transformation more effective. The organization is a complex social formation. A system of roles, decision-making, with communication networks, with functional groups differentiated according to the task and coordinated with each other.
Social systems according to Schein
Presents structural aspects and internal processes of operation. Its interaction with the environment, its need to exchange matter, energy and information with that environment and its integration as a subsystem in broader social systems, highlights the need to consider the organization in its relations with the outside. Schein states:
- conceive the organization as an open system, which means that it is in constant interaction with its environment, receiving, transforming and exporting
- The organization can be conceived as a system of multiple purposes or functions that involve various interactions between the organization and the environment.
- organizations consist of many subsystems that are in dynamic interaction with each other, it is important to analyze the behavior of these subsystems, whether we conceive them in terms of group and roles or in terms of other concepts;
- subsystems are mutually dependent on each other, changes in one subsystem are likely to affect the behavior of others;
- the organization exists in an environment atmosphere dynamic consisting of other systems, some broader and some narrower
- The ties between the organization and its environment make it difficult to specify the boundaries of a given organization, it is better to formulate an organizational concept in terms of stable processes of import, conversion and export.
Limitations of considering the organization as an open system
Organizations are systems located at the eighth level. However, the conceptual models formulated to understand them do not exceed the fourth level. Organizations are social systems, however, theories have been formulated that have not gone beyond the characteristic notes of elementary open systems: capacity to self-structure and relevance of interaction with the environment to maintain that capacity. In the 1970s, emphasis was placed when studying organizations on achieving functional coordination of their purposes, structure, technology and environment in the presence of a situation of persistent uncertainty.
Subsequently, some authors insist on the need to go further and consider organizations as social systems in all their complexity. Pondy and Mitroff (1979) in their application to organizations address these social phenomena in all their complexity. They point out some limitations:
- forgetting the ecological effects of organizational action
- insufficient consideration of organizational dysfunctions
- the blocking of certain relevant issues by considering only mature organizations and starting from the norms of rationality and a partial and biased approach to the superior cognitive capacities of its members.
The ecological effects of organizational action
By considering organizations as open systems, they point out that they are influenced by their environment and therefore must take it into account and interact with it in the most positive way possible. Generally, however, it has been assumed that the primary objective of this entire relationship was to neutralize the effects of the environment or to try to control them by trying to reduce the uncertainty they produce and their variability. The organization, as a complex social system, needs an environment, a varied and differentiated ecological niche that allows it to maintain its own complexity, since only part of that environment is given to it, the other is produced or modeled by the organization. Weick (1969) points out that the organization does something and once its product or result is made, it becomes part of its own environment from which that same organization must incorporate new inputs to maintain its structure and internal order. The An organization not only interacts with its environment but contributes to its construction or destruction and can intervene in its “design.”
Faced with a limited conception in organizational theory of organization-environment interaction, another alternative must be emphasized that insists on the need for the organization itself to contribute to the enrichment of its environment and not merely try to neutralize or control it.
Conclusion
Organizations are multipurpose social systems, composed of many subsystems conceived in terms of groups, roles, communication or decision-making centerss, etc. They are formed and developed in an environment that encompasses other social systems and that imposes demands and restrictions on them. Organization is conceptualized as stable processes of import, conversion and export of matter, energy and information in an environmental environment.
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