Social Systems and Organizational Culture
SOCIAL SYSTEM
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ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
UNDERSTANDING A SOCIAL SYSTEM A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Possible interactions are as limitless as the stars in the universe. Each small group is a subsystem within larger groups that are subsystems of even larger groups, and so on, until all the worlds population is included. Within a single organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their relationships to one another and to the outside world. Two points stand out in the complex interactions among people in a social system. First, the behavior of any one member can have an impact, directly or indirectly, on the behavior of ant other. Although these impacts may be large or small, all parts of the system are mutually interdependent. Simply stated, a change in one part of a system affects all other parts, even though its impact may be slight. A second important point revolves around a system’s boundaries. Any social system engages in exchanges with its environment , receiving input from it and providing output to it (which then becomes inputs for its adjacent systems) Social systems are , therefore ,open systems that interact with their surroundings. Consequently, members of a system should be aware of the nature of their environments and their impact on other members both within and outside their own social system. Consequently, members of a system should be aware of the nature of their environments and their impact on other members both within and outside their own social system. This social system awareness is increasingly important in the twenty-first century, as global trade and international marketplaces for a firm’s products and services vastly expand the need for organizations and their employees to anticipate and react to changes in their competitive environments.
SOCIAL EQUILIBRIUM A system is said to be in social equilibrium when there is a dynamic
&
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
UNDERSTANDING A SOCIAL SYSTEM A social system is a complex set of human relationships interacting in many ways. Possible interactions are as limitless as the stars in the universe. Each small group is a subsystem within larger groups that are subsystems of even larger groups, and so on, until all the worlds population is included. Within a single organization, the social system includes all the people in it and their relationships to one another and to the outside world. Two points stand out in the complex interactions among people in a social system. First, the behavior of any one member can have an impact, directly or indirectly, on the behavior of ant other. Although these impacts may be large or small, all parts of the system are mutually interdependent. Simply stated, a change in one part of a system affects all other parts, even though its impact may be slight. A second important point revolves around a system’s boundaries. Any social system engages in exchanges with its environment , receiving input from it and providing output to it (which then becomes inputs for its adjacent systems) Social systems are , therefore ,open systems that interact with their surroundings. Consequently, members of a system should be aware of the nature of their environments and their impact on other members both within and outside their own social system. Consequently, members of a system should be aware of the nature of their environments and their impact on other members both within and outside their own social system. This social system awareness is increasingly important in the twenty-first century, as global trade and international marketplaces for a firm’s products and services vastly expand the need for organizations and their employees to anticipate and react to changes in their competitive environments.
SOCIAL EQUILIBRIUM A system is said to be in social equilibrium when there is a dynamic