Systems Approach

Systems Approach-

The systems theory has had a significant effect on management science and understanding organizations. A system is a collection of part unified to accomplish an overall goal. If one part of the system is removed, the nature of the system is changed as well. A system can be looked at as having inputs (e.g.,resources such as raw materials, money, technology, labour), processes (e.g.,planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling), outputs (products or services) and outcomes (e.g., enhanced quality of life or productivity for customers/clients, productivity). Systems share feedback among each of these four aspects of the system.The Systems Theory may seem quite basic. Yet, decades of management training and practices in the workplace have not followed this theory. Only recently, with tremendous changes facing organizations and how they operate, have educators and managers come to face this new way of looking at things.The effect of systems theory in management is that it helps managers to look at the organization more broadly. It has also enabled managers to interpret pattern sand events in the workplace i.e., by enabling managers to recognize the various parts of the organization, and, in particular, the interrelations of the parts.The basic idea of systems approach is that any object must rely on a method of analysis involving simultaneous variations of mutually dependent variables.

Features of a System

A system is an assemblage of things connected or inter related so as to form acomplex unity; a whole composed of parts and sub-parts in orderly arrangement according to some plan.

1. A system is basically a combination of parts, subsystems. Each part may have various sub-parts. When a subsystem is considered as a system without reference to the system of which it is a part, it has the same features of a system.
2. Parts and sub-parts of a system are mutually related to each other, some more, some less; some directly, some indirectly.
3. A system is not merely the totality of parts and sub parts but their arrangement is more important. It is an interdependent framework in which various parts are arranged.
4. A system can be identified because it has a boundary. The boundary maintains proper relationship between the systems and its environment.
5. The boundary of the system classifies it into two parts- closed system and open system.
6. System transforms inputs into outputs. This transformation process is essential for the survival of the system.

Open and Closed Systems

The boundary of the system classifies it into two parts: closed system and open system. All living organisms are open system while all non-living systems are closed systems. 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. Once set, thermostats require little maintenance in their ongoing, self-reinforcing function. While the closed-system perspective was dominant through the 1960s,organization scholarship and research subsequently emphasized the role of the environment. Up through the 1960s, it was not that managers ignored the outside environment such as other organizations, markets, government regulations and the like, but that their strategies and other decision-making processes gave relatively little consideration to the impact these external forces might have on the internal operations of the organization.

The distinction between closed and open systems is clear but really no system is a closed one but has some properties of open systems. The classification of various systems into closed and open is not very proper.

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