Systems Approach To Management
The word System is taken from a Greek language which means to bring together or to combine. A system is a set of inter-related parts, which work together to achieve certain goals.
According to Ludwig von Bertalanffy,
"In order to understand an organised whole, we must know both the parts as well as the relation between them."
Concepts of Systems Approach To Management
A systems approach has the following key concepts :-
Open or Closed Systems : Systems may be either open or closed. An open system is one, which depends on the outside environment for survival. A closed system does not interact with the environment.
Sub-system : The full system is made up of many parts. Each part is called a sub-systems. A system may be a sub-system of a larger system. For e.g. A department is a sub-system of a plant. A plant is a sub-system of a company.
Synergy : Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In an organisation, when different departments co-operate and interact, they become more productive. This is called synergy.
Defined boundaries : Each system has a boundary that separates it from its environment. In case of a closed system, the system boundary is rigid. However, in an open system, the boundary is flexible. A business organisation, has boundaries with many external systems like creditors, suppliers, customers, government agencies, etc. The system is inside the boundary, the environment is outside the boundary.
Feedback mechanism : A system can adjust itself to the changing environment through the feedback mechanism. Feedback helps the system to find out and correct its mistakes.
Multidisciplinary : Management system uses information from many fields such as psychology, sociology, ecology, economics, mathematics, statistics, operations research, systems analysis, etc. Therefore, it is multidisciplinary.
Consideration of whole system : No part of the system can be fully studied and understood without understanding all its parts. So instead of dealing separately with different parts of one organisation, the manager must study the organisation as a whole. For example, in order to understand the working of the finance or production or marketing departments, he must understand the company as a whole. It is because the activity of any one part of the company affects the activity of every other part.
Input output system : A business organisation is an input-output system. Inputs consist of human, physical and financial resources obtained from the environment. These resources are converted into outputs of products and services.
This systems approach looks upon the management as a ‘System’ of as an organized whole make up of sub-systems integrated into a unity or orderly totality. The attention should be given so overall effectiveness of the system rather than effectiveness of any sub-system if isolation. It took where management process school left off in attempting to unify management theory. It emphasizes the inter-relatedness and inter-dependence of all activities within an organisation. It is based on system analysis. It attempts to identify the nature of relationships of various parts of the system. A system is a set of inter-connected elements or component parts to achieve certain goals. An organisation is viewed by the modern authors as an op0en system. An organisation as a system has five basic parts:
Input,
Process,
Output,
Feedback and
Environment.
Systems approach to management provides a conceptual basis as well as guidelines for establishing a more efficient system for planning, organisation, directing and controlling. It forces the manager to look upon his business as an open adaptive system. Information is an important part of the system because an organisation must act and interact with its environment.
Systems are of two types:
Closed system: if closed system has no interaction with the outside world.
Open system: continually interacts with its environment. All living systems are open system.
All systems have boundaries, a fact that is immediately apparent in mechanical systems such as the watch, but much less apparent in social systems such as organizations. The boundaries of open systems, because they interact with other systems or environments, are more flexible than those of closed systems, which are rigid and largely impenetrable. A closed-system perspective views organizations as relatively independent of environmental influences. The closed-system approach conceives of the organization as a system of management, technology, personnel, equipment, and materials, but tends to exclude competitors, suppliers, distributors, and governmental regulators. This approach allows managers and organizational theorists to analyze problems by examining the internal structure of a business with little consideration of the external environment. The closed-system perspective basically views an organization much as a thermostat; limited environmental input outside of changes in temperature is required for effective operation.
Open-systems theory originated in the natural sciences and subsequently spread to fields as diverse as computer science, ecology, engineering, management, and psychotherapy. In contrast to closed-systems, the open-system perspective views an organization as an entity that takes inputs from the environment, transforms them, and releases them as outputs in tandem with reciprocal effects on the organization itself along with the environment in which the organization operates. That is, the organization becomes part and parcel of the environment in which it is situated.
the open-system approach serves as a model of business activity; that is, business as a process of transforming inputs to outputs while realizing that inputs are taken from the external environment and outputs are placed into this same environment. Companies use inputs such as labor, funds, equipment, and materials to produce goods or to provide services and they design their subsystems to attain these goals.
The word System is taken from a Greek language which means to bring together or to combine. A system is a set of inter-related parts, which work together to achieve certain goals.
According to Ludwig von Bertalanffy,
"In order to understand an organised whole, we must know both the parts as well as the relation between them."
Concepts of Systems Approach To Management
A systems approach has the following key concepts :-
Open or Closed Systems : Systems may be either open or closed. An open system is one, which depends on the outside environment for survival. A closed system does not interact with the environment.
Sub-system : The full system is made up of many parts. Each part is called a sub-systems. A system may be a sub-system of a larger system. For e.g. A department is a sub-system of a plant. A plant is a sub-system of a company.
Synergy : Synergy means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In an organisation, when different departments co-operate and interact, they become more productive. This is called synergy.
Defined boundaries : Each system has a boundary that separates it from its environment. In case of a closed system, the system boundary is rigid. However, in an open system, the boundary is flexible. A business organisation, has boundaries with many external systems like creditors, suppliers, customers, government agencies, etc. The system is inside the boundary, the environment is outside the boundary.
Feedback mechanism : A system can adjust itself to the changing environment through the feedback mechanism. Feedback helps the system to find out and correct its mistakes.
Multidisciplinary : Management system uses information from many fields such as psychology, sociology, ecology, economics, mathematics, statistics, operations research, systems analysis, etc. Therefore, it is multidisciplinary.
Consideration of whole system : No part of the system can be fully studied and understood without understanding all its parts. So instead of dealing separately with different parts of one organisation, the manager must study the organisation as a whole. For example, in order to understand the working of the finance or production or marketing departments, he must understand the company as a whole. It is because the activity of any one part of the company affects the activity of every other part.
Input output system : A business organisation is an input-output system. Inputs consist of human, physical and financial resources obtained from the environment. These resources are converted into outputs of products and services.
This systems approach looks upon the management as a ‘System’ of as an organized whole make up of sub-systems integrated into a unity or orderly totality. The attention should be given so overall effectiveness of the system rather than effectiveness of any sub-system if isolation. It took where management process school left off in attempting to unify management theory. It emphasizes the inter-relatedness and inter-dependence of all activities within an organisation. It is based on system analysis. It attempts to identify the nature of relationships of various parts of the system. A system is a set of inter-connected elements or component parts to achieve certain goals. An organisation is viewed by the modern authors as an op0en system. An organisation as a system has five basic parts:
Input,
Process,
Output,
Feedback and
Environment.
Systems approach to management provides a conceptual basis as well as guidelines for establishing a more efficient system for planning, organisation, directing and controlling. It forces the manager to look upon his business as an open adaptive system. Information is an important part of the system because an organisation must act and interact with its environment.
Systems are of two types:
Closed system: if closed system has no interaction with the outside world.
Open system: continually interacts with its environment. All living systems are open system.
All systems have boundaries, a fact that is immediately apparent in mechanical systems such as the watch, but much less apparent in social systems such as organizations. The boundaries of open systems, because they interact with other systems or environments, are more flexible than those of closed systems, which are rigid and largely impenetrable. A closed-system perspective views organizations as relatively independent of environmental influences. The closed-system approach conceives of the organization as a system of management, technology, personnel, equipment, and materials, but tends to exclude competitors, suppliers, distributors, and governmental regulators. This approach allows managers and organizational theorists to analyze problems by examining the internal structure of a business with little consideration of the external environment. The closed-system perspective basically views an organization much as a thermostat; limited environmental input outside of changes in temperature is required for effective operation.
Open-systems theory originated in the natural sciences and subsequently spread to fields as diverse as computer science, ecology, engineering, management, and psychotherapy. In contrast to closed-systems, the open-system perspective views an organization as an entity that takes inputs from the environment, transforms them, and releases them as outputs in tandem with reciprocal effects on the organization itself along with the environment in which the organization operates. That is, the organization becomes part and parcel of the environment in which it is situated.
the open-system approach serves as a model of business activity; that is, business as a process of transforming inputs to outputs while realizing that inputs are taken from the external environment and outputs are placed into this same environment. Companies use inputs such as labor, funds, equipment, and materials to produce goods or to provide services and they design their subsystems to attain these goals.