(This class session relates to the concept (see Morgan) that organizations are systems. Our discussion is based on the following text: Littlejohn, Stephen. (1983). Theories of Human Communication. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company.)

Questions:
1. What is systems theory and what are its components?
2. How do concepts of systems theory apply to communications in organizations?

Communication theory - body of theories that makes up our understanding of the communication process (p 3)
System theory: A system is a set of objects or entities that interrelate with one another to form a whole. (p 29)

A closed system has no interchange with its environment; moves toward progressive internal chaos (entropy), disintegration, death; usually applied to physical systems, which do not have life-sustaining qualities

An open system receives matter/energy from environment and passes matter/energy to environment; oriented toward life and growth; biological, psychological, social systems (an organization is an open system)

From the simplest perspective a system can be said to consist of four things:

a. objects - parts, elements, members of the set - may be physical or abstract or both, depending on the nature of the system
b. attributes - qualities or properties of the system and its objects
**c. internal relationships among its objects; implies a mutual effect (interdependence) and constraint
d. environment; don't exist in a vacuum

Common qualities of biological, psychological, social systems (overlap; not mutually exclusive):
a. wholeness; holistic thinking (the opposite would be physical summativity, in which the whole is merely a collection with no unique abilities of its own, like a box of stones...in a system the whole is an integration of parts (p. 30)

b. interdependence; parts interrelate and affect one another; results of interaction differ from each element individually; correlation of parts can be thought of as a constraint. An object, person, concept, or other part of a system is always constrained by its interdependence with other parts. (p 30); think of dependence/independence as a continuum, with various parts in the system having differing degrees of freedom. As a result of interdependence, a change in one part of the system will produce changes throughout the system. (consider a family)

c. hierarchy; every complex system consists of a number of subsystems; the system therefore is a series of levels of increasing complexity; A. Koestler (The Ghost in the Machine) called it the Janus effect.The members of a hierarchy, like the Roman god Janus, all have two faces looking in opposite directions: the face turned toward the subordinate levels is that of a self-contained whole; the face turned upward toward the apex, that of a dependant part. One is the face of the master, the other the face of the servant; (p. 31 / refs to Koestler, Ghost, 45-47)  A system (hierarchy) has also been termed a "holon" - The individual in society is a social holon, consisting hierarchically of cells, organs, organ systems, and body and is part of the larger group, culture, and society (p. 31)

d. self-regulation and control - (teleology - the philosophy that attributes happenings to future goals or purposes); systems are most often viewed as goal-oriented organisms; they are governed by their purposes.What happens in a system is controlled by its aims, and the system regulates its behavior to achieve the aims. The parts of a system must behave in accordance with its rules or canons and must adapt to the environment on the basis of feedback (cybernetics).

e. interchange with the environment (open system, by definition); takes in and lets out matter and energy; has inputs and outputs; This concept follows logically from the idea of hierarchy and cybernetics p. 32. A particular element can be included in the system or the environment depending on the focus of the observer. An element in the environment will affect the elements of the system in the same way that a suprasystem would affect its subsystems and vice versa. The system affects the environment; the environment affects the system. (p. 32)

f. balance / homeostasis; relates to self-regulation and system organization. In order to avoid the fate of a closed system--increasing entropy--the open system must maintain itself, stay in balance, hold its own. It must work to do this. One of the primary tasks of many interacting subsystems is that of maintaining balance in the system. The system must be capable of sensing deviations from the >assigned' norm and of correcting these tendencies (see cybernetics)

g. change and adaptability; system must be adaptable in a changing environment; often accomplished by homeostatic quality; In complex systems such as sociocultural systems, adaptability involves more than homeostasis. Advanced systems must be able to change and reorder themselves on the basis of environmental pressures. (p. 32)

Concept of Morphogenesis (structure-changing): 3 kinds:
(1) progressive segregation- process of movement from wholeness to summativity, along continuum of dependence/independence toward division among subsystems; may lead to greater differentiation of subsystem function

(2) progressive systemization - opposite - movement toward interdependence among parts (both of these can occur in same system simultaneously or sequentially)

(3) progressive centralization/or decentralization - may take place simultaneously w/ segregation or systemization; subsystem tends to become more important in guiding the system (centralization), w/ other subsystems become more depending on leading part (AThis quality of adaptability and change points up the dynamic nature of the complex, open system p 32)

h. equifinality - goal achievement or task accomplishment of a system; a particular final state may be accomplished in many ways and from many different starting points/ goal can be achieved in a variety of diff environmental conditions; inputs never equal outputs; inputted data may be processed in diff ways to produce output

An open system is a set of objects w/ attributes that interrelate in an environment. The system possesses qualities of wholeness, interdependence, hierarchy, self-regulation, environmental interchange, equilibrium, adaptability, and equifinality. ( p. 32)

Cybernetics - the study of regulation and control in systems, with emphasis on the nature of feedback.  Cybernetics deals with the ways systems (along with their subsystems) use their own output to gauge effect and make necessary adjustments (p 33). 

(Note: only the simplest systems respond as a unit to feedback (consider the thermostat); but subsystems respond to each other in mutual interdependence. As a result the concept of feedback is expanded for complex systems. In a complex system a series of feedback loops exist within and among subsystems, forming networks. At some points the feedback loops are positive, at other points negative. But always, consistent with the basic feedback principle, system output returns as feedback input. No matter how complicated the network, one always comes back to the beginning. (p. 35)

A primary aim of General Systems Theory is to integrate accumulated knowledge into a clear and realistic framework. General system theorists attempt to do this through the principle of isomorphism...a structural similarity between two models or between an abstract model and an observed phenomenon. Two systems that are widely different are said to be isomorphic if their behaviors are governed by the same principles. A generalized model such as General Systems Theory attempts to elucidate these principles. (p. 38)

Argument for the use of General Systems Theory as an integrator of knowledge:  Acts against what K. Boulding calls "the spread of specialized deafness" among scientists , whom he calls "walled-in hermits, each mumbling to himself words in a private language that only he can understand"... "that someone who ought to know something that someone else knows isn't able to find it out for lack of generalized ears." B says the main goal of General Systems Theory is "to develop these generalized ears."

System theories of communication:

A. Palo Alto group 1950s and 1960s:  notion of relationship - >Interactional systems then, shall be two or more communicants in the process of, or at the level of, defining the nature of their relationship.' (p 166).  Relationships emerge from the interaction between people. People set up for themselves interaction rules, which govern their communicative behaviors. By obeying the rules, behaving appropriately, the participants sanction the defined relationship. (p 166) (ex: a marriage or a status relationship in an organization -/ implicit rules on ongoing relationship)

B. Aubrey Fisher - Perspectives on Human Communication - applies system concepts to communication - pragmatic perspective - emphasizes 4 aspects of communication:

1. behavior - smallest unit of analysis - Individuals communicate by behaving in ways that have potential for eliciting meanings in others (p. 39) ; external acts link individuals to communication system - externalization.  From a system point of view...the behavior itself is what counts. factory worker - others have no way to know what he's thinking except by observing actual behavior - thru which meaning assigned (p 39)

2. sequential interaction patterns - in addition to observing individual behavior, must also consider sets of acts that are linked to one another in the stream of interaction --  a human system model - observe individ. behaviors in attempt to reveal understanding of person as b subsystem of communication.   Interactive system model - basic unit of analysis is the interact, a set of linked acts; one person's behavior followed by another person's behavior - usually verbal/ also nonverbal

Two related elements of interaction analysis:

a.  punctuation - natural grouping of interacts - acts cluster into groupings that help the observer make sense of the communication event ex: person tells jokes ; "have you heard the one about...?" - others grimace "oh, no, not another corny joke"

b.  stochastic probability - patterned nature of interaction - correlation of elements in system - events not random, but patterned, within system structure -- connection of acts - antecedent-subsequent link is stochastic relationship.   In a system certain acts are linked w/ greater frequency than others grimaces/after/intro of joke / communication system in workplace is structured or patterned by a large and complex set of interacts that vary in their degree of predictability

3. content/relationship dimensions - two dimensions to any communication act: information content, information about the relationship, which tells how to interpret - telling joke, also projecting friendliness

4 social system - communication is social /a social system relies on interaction between individuals; it does not rely on their internal states / social system created by interaction;  social system can also be viewed hierarchically, in terms of 3 levels: subsystem, system, suprasystem// subsystem is individual person/ system is interacting group / suprasystem is larger organization or social context / system can also be viewed in terms of hierarchy of repetitive interactions / series of phases/cycles, as new employees enter the scene