Transmitting System Theory to Human Resource Management
Essay on Transmitting social system theory to human resource management
Human resource management can be considered as the most complex field of an organisation. Assuming that this statement is true one could raise the question why human resource management is more diverse than the other fields in an organisation as finance or sales. The answer will be always the same. It is because of the individual, playing a major role within everyday’s HR work environment. This essay discusses what impact a less individual concentrated approach would have on human resource management. This does not mean that the importance of the individual will be devalued. The essay reflects on the influences of a systemic point of view on organisations under the approach of Luhmann’s social system theory. The basic assumption in this essay is that recently developed knowledge areas such as system science and cybernetics are able to improve the management of employees as well as the performance of the business success (Christopher, Holistic Management, 2007, p. xii). This essay will not cover all perspectives of system theory even if they could be related to human resource management it would go beyond of the scope of this essay. It will concentrate on the effect of autopoietically-closed systems on human resource management and the aspect of the social system theory as a holistic concept to understand and ameliorate human resource management. In this essay an organisation shall be described, as “a viable, very complex, purposeful, probabilistic system comprised of viable, very complex, purposeful, probabilistic systems” (Christopher, Holistic Management, 2007, p. 10) This description assumes that viable expresses the capability to survive in its environment and very complex defines the operations coordinated capabilities of all employees and members, including a carefully designed information structure and information flow, which controls the operations viability and the overall
Human resource management can be considered as the most complex field of an organisation. Assuming that this statement is true one could raise the question why human resource management is more diverse than the other fields in an organisation as finance or sales. The answer will be always the same. It is because of the individual, playing a major role within everyday’s HR work environment. This essay discusses what impact a less individual concentrated approach would have on human resource management. This does not mean that the importance of the individual will be devalued. The essay reflects on the influences of a systemic point of view on organisations under the approach of Luhmann’s social system theory. The basic assumption in this essay is that recently developed knowledge areas such as system science and cybernetics are able to improve the management of employees as well as the performance of the business success (Christopher, Holistic Management, 2007, p. xii). This essay will not cover all perspectives of system theory even if they could be related to human resource management it would go beyond of the scope of this essay. It will concentrate on the effect of autopoietically-closed systems on human resource management and the aspect of the social system theory as a holistic concept to understand and ameliorate human resource management. In this essay an organisation shall be described, as “a viable, very complex, purposeful, probabilistic system comprised of viable, very complex, purposeful, probabilistic systems” (Christopher, Holistic Management, 2007, p. 10) This description assumes that viable expresses the capability to survive in its environment and very complex defines the operations coordinated capabilities of all employees and members, including a carefully designed information structure and information flow, which controls the operations viability and the overall