Organizations & External Environments - Lierature Review

Questions: Organizations and External Environments Student: Professor: Course title: Date: Organizations and External Environments Response to question 1 Systems Design is understood as the process used to define the architecture, interfaces, components, data, and modules for a system in order to meet certain requirements. Systems design ties back to the general systems theory in that systems design entails the application of the systems theory to product development. The general systems theory holds that a system is typified by the interactions of its parts as well as the nonlinearity of those interactions (Boulding, 1956). Response to question 2 According to Weick (1976), loosely coupled systems and organizations are those that comprise autonomous parts which are usually unresponsive to each other, instead of being hierarchically and rationally controlled. Other than the educational system, the other example of a loosely coupled system is the restaurant industry. If a restaurant opens a new shop in a different location but the management does not apply the rules for how to make pizza and hamburger, then it is a loosely coupled organization. Moreover, even though there are rules at all the restaurant branches in different locations, the managers only check to ensure there is compliance in one of them, and there is decentralization of power resulting in autonomy of workers. Furthermore, the managers check for compliance but they do not retrain their workers to improve performance. In essence, there is no coordination. A disadvantage of loosely coupling system is the lack of consistency. A customer may not get her favorite pizza precisely the same way each time she orders it primarily because the different locations might make the pizza differently, and different workers may use dissimilar quantities of each ingredient. The advantage is that it is a good system for localized adaptation, and can allow more new mutations and solutions to take place compared to tightly coupled systems (Weick, 1976). Response to question 3 Boulding’s System Types consists of 9 systems: social/families, controls/thermostat-like systems, structures/bridges, transcendental/God, lower organisms/plants, animals/birds, clock works/solar system, and open/biological cells (Boulding, 1956). Boulding’s System Types accomplishes the goal in that it allows specialists and scientists from the different systems levels to effectively communicate with one another. Researchers in different fields of study communicate relevant findings by publishing their findings in recognized journals. To communicate more effectively, I recommend that differing specialists should hold conferences, meetings, and seminars with the key stakeholders and discuss the findings. Response to question 4 The two organizations selected are a textile manufacturing company in China, a fast-paced market and a garment company in Spain, which provides a stable environment. The environmental factors that affected the structural design of these two companies include competitors in the marketplace, customers, government rules and regulations, technology, and availability of resources such as skilled labor and raw materials. The more stable the environment is, the more hierarchical and formalized the form. The organizations which can best adapt to their surrounding environment would survive (Scott & Davis, 2007). Response to question 5 The Garbage Can Model describes the behavior of companies as simply organized anarchies. It differs from other decision-making models in that it does not see the process of decision-making as a series of steps that start with a problem and end with a solution. Rather, decisions are the result of a stream of independent events in an organization. In essence, these streams of events are problem points, possible solutions, participants, as well as choice opportunities (Cohen, March & Olsen, 1972). A company is seen as a garbage can in which these streams are mixed. Garbage Can Model would be more effective than a normal rational-decision making model in pharmaceutical companies and other organizations that depend on science-based innovations. In these organizations, managers have to be more alert for the likelihood of haphazard decision-making. Response to question 6 The main difference between a closed system and open one is that an open system organization will interact with its environment by receiving and giving information, whereas a closed system is closed off from the external environment and all the interactions and knowledge are only transmitted inside the closed system (Scott & Dav...