Leading change for success: embracing resistance

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abbas Nadim ◽  
Parbudyal Singh
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Change ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Organizational Survival ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Open Systems Theory ◽  
Systems Model ◽  
Scant Attention

Purpose Organizational change is one of the most researched issues in management and leadership. Change is generally viewed as necessary, with positive outcomes for all stakeholders. Resistance is consequently seen as a surprising outcome. However, much of the management literature focuses on change as organizational dynamics-driven, especially by those at the top, in the interests of those at the top, often with scant attention to the role of employees. The purpose of this paper is to take a different perspective, grounded in the systems theory. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper. The authors critically examine theoretical explanations of resistance to change in organizations and offer an alternative perspective. Findings Systems theorists have addressed change, and its necessity in organizational survival, using an open systems model. The open systems theory posits that organizations are social systems that have purposes of their own and is made of parts (employees) that are purposeful and operate within a purposeful larger system – the environment (stakeholders). Change that ignores a key part – employees – will be resisted. Originality/value Using the systems theory, the authors propose several suggestions for organizational leaders and managers to implement sustainable change. These include, among others, recommendations on circular organizational designs, the need for more democratic organizations, purposeful leadership styles and how to include employees in proactive organizational change processes.

The supply and demand of social systems: towards a systems theory of the firm

Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 570-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladislav Valentinov ◽  
Spencer Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Theory Of The Firm ◽  
Complexity Reduction ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Organisation

PurposeThe economic theory of the firm apparently concurs with Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems with regard to the primary function of the firm to be complexity reduction, i.e. the alleviation of the cognitive burden on agents whose cognitive capacities are limited. At the same time, however, the theory of the firm ignores the attendant issues of societal sustainability emphasised by Luhmann. The paper aims to fill this gap.Design/methodology/approachTaking a theoretical approach, the paper builds on the conceptual construct of “the complexity-sustainability trade-off”, which combines two contrasting aspects of the relationship between a system and its environment, namely, the precariousness highlighted by Luhmann and the embeddedness highlighted by open systems theory. These themes are respectively reflected in the principles of complexity reduction and environmental dependence which constitute the trade-off.FindingsDrawing inspiration from the classic Marshallian presentation of supply and demand in modern economics, the paper argues that the principles of complexity reduction and critical dependence translate into the demand for and supply of social systems. In the proposed systems-theoretic interpretation of the theory of the firm, demand and supply refer to the imperatives of achieving coordination and securing cooperation within the firm, respectively. Thus, in the theory of the firm, the complexity-sustainability trade-off manifests itself as a trade-off between coordination and cooperation.Originality/valueThe implicit focus of the theory of the firm on complexity reduction disregards the nature, importance and fragility of cooperation in real-world firms. In so doing, it impedes the authors’ understanding of unconventional types of business organisation, such as cooperatives. These defects can be corrected by reorienting the theory of the firm according to the proposed systems-theoretic approach, which holds that firms should not be governed or studied in isolation from their environment, as they too often are – and, accordingly, that apparently anomalous forms of organisation should be taken seriously, as they too often are not.

scholarly journals Category Theory for Autonomous and Networked Dynamical Systems

Entropy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Charles Delvenne
Keyword(s):  
Dynamical Systems ◽  
Systems Theory ◽  
Ergodic Theory ◽  
Category Theory ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Topological Dynamics ◽  
Control Problems ◽  
Natural Conditions ◽  
Discussion Paper ◽  
Open Systems Theory

In this discussion paper we argue that category theory may play a useful role in formulating, and perhaps proving, results in ergodic theory, topogical dynamics and open systems theory (control theory). As examples, we show how to characterize Kolmogorov–Sinai, Shannon entropy and topological entropy as the unique functors to the nonnegative reals satisfying some natural conditions. We also provide a purely categorical proof of the existence of the maximal equicontinuous factor in topological dynamics. We then show how to define open systems (that can interact with their environment), interconnect them, and define control problems for them in a unified way.

Extending the Tavistock model: bringing desire, danger, dread, and excitement into a theory of organisational process

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-133
Author(s):  
Larry Hirschhorn
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Classical Model ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
The Public ◽  
Psychosocial Experiences ◽  
Open Systems Theory ◽  
The Future ◽  
Case Vignettes ◽  
Organisational Process

This article develops some novel extensions of the classical Tavistock model of organisational psychodynamics. The classical model privileges the emotion of anxiety as the primary trigger for psychosocial experiences in organisations. While this approach has been very generative, it has also been limiting, since there are several other important emotions that shape how people take up their work and their roles in organisations. The article shows how open systems theory and sociotechnical thinking emerge logically from the anxiety model by highlighting how organisations become functional, and work becomes satisfying. The article goes on to explore how desire as a feeling for the future, stimulates such feelings as danger, dread, and excitement. When these feelings become dispositive, they generate experiences associated with anxiety, and the primary risk, as well as the potential for developmental politics. Politics can be developmental rather than defensive when executives create settings where conflict is seen as transaction and rationality as an achievement. This article explores these issues through the use of case vignettes in the public domain, including a skunk works project in Data General, and leadership struggles and strategy dilemmas in Apple, IBM, and Polaroid.

Determinants of family meetings in private family businesses

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Akif Cicek ◽  
Rüveyda Kelleci ◽  
Pieter Vandekerkhof
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Governance Mechanisms ◽  
Social Systems Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Family Governance ◽  
Family Meetings ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family

PurposeFamily governance mechanisms serve to govern and strengthen relations between the family and the business, as well as the relationships between the members of the business family itself. However, despite agreement on the importance of adopting family governance structures, explicit research on the determinants of family governance mechanisms is currently missing. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to uncover the determinants of family meetings. In order to do so, the social systems theory is used to unravel several determining factors of this crucial form of family governance mechanisms in private family firms.Design/methodology/approachThe authors perform a qualitative study by conducting semi-structured interviews in eight Belgian private family firms in order to discover the antecedents of the implementation of family meetings. The authors use a pattern-matching technique as an analytical strategy.FindingsThe findings of the study highlight the importance of “soft,” relational, qualitative issues as antecedents of family meetings as opposed to previous research on family governance, which predominantly focused on “hard,” quantitative measures (e.g. family ownership). The findings of the study also provide novel insights into the origins of the family component (i.e. family meetings) of family business governance.Originality/valueWhile the current literature has only focused on describing the different types of family governance and their positive consequences for the family firm, the authors take a step back to explain why family meetings, as a form of family governance, are adopted in the first place. Second, the authors demonstrate the instrumentality of the social systems theory in understanding the family's needs that necessitate the implementation of family governance mechanisms.

Moral communication and legal uncertainty in small and medium enterprises

Kybernetes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Winczorek
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Functional Differentiation ◽  
Theoretical Issue ◽  
Sociology Of Law ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moral Communication ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Legal Uncertainty

PurposeThe links between moral communication and legal communication have long been studied in sociology of law. Little has yet been said about moral communication invoking when communication in the legal system is impossible, ineffective or uncertain. The paper fills this gap to demonstrate that systems theory-based sociology of law can effectively recognise the role of moral communication in such situations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents an empirical study of moral communication in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It focused on situations when SMEs' interactions with function systems, particularly the legal system, result in irremovable legal uncertainty. The data depict strategies of managing such uncertainty and were obtained in a paths-to-justice survey of 7,292 owners and managers of SMEs and 101 in-depth interviews. The findings are interpreted using the author's concept of “uncertainty translation”, rooted in Luhmann's systems theory. It suggests that business organisations such as SMEs deal with the ubiquitous uncertainty in their operations by translating it into a convenient type.FindingsThe study distinguishes between formative and absorbing moral communication and finds that both types play a role in steering the uncertainty translation mechanism in SMEs. Six scenarios of invoking moral communication are identified in SMEs dealing with legal uncertainty. In such scenarios, moral communication facilitates the translation of business uncertainty “away from law”. Under some circumstances, this, in turn, leads to latent systematic results, reflexively affecting the legal system, the economic system and the SMEs.Research limitations/implicationsIn its core argument, the study is based on qualitative material. While it identifies empirical scenarios of invoking moral communication, it does not report the prevalence of these scenarios due to methodological limitations.Originality/valueThe study results pose questions related to the staple theoretical issue in post-Luhmannian social systems theory: functional differentiation. If moral communication–a type of communication not linked to any social system–can produce far-reaching, systematic results that affect function systems, then the functional differentiation thesis should be less pronounced than Luhmann typically stressed. This said, the paper argues that the contradiction between the findings and Luhmannian theory of morality is only apparent and may be reconciled.

Integrating instrumental and normative stakeholder theories: a systems theory approach

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladislav Valentinov ◽  
Anna Hajdu
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Stakeholder Theory ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Function System ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Economic Function

Purpose The stakeholder theory encompasses instrumental and normative varieties whose mutual relationship remains unclear and exhibits a classic tension between rational self-interest and moral motivation. The purpose of this paper is to develop a strategy for navigating this tension. Design/methodology/approach Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory is concerned with the limited ability of social systems to codify, and be receptive to, the complexity of the environment. Drawing on this theory, the paper juxtaposes the codification problems of two types of social systems: the for-profit firm and the economic function system. Findings This juxtaposition allows to identify four firm behavior patterns, two of which can be aligned with instrumental and normative stakeholder theories. If the codification capacity of the economic function system is assumed to be sufficient, the codification problems of the for-profit firm are shown to specify the range of applicability of the instrumental stakeholder theory. Dropping the above assumption is shown to specify the range of applicability of the normative stakeholder theory. Originality/value The argument offers a fresh way of understanding the institutional economics foundations of the stakeholder theory. Given that the systems-theoretic idea of codification reflects the functioning of the real-world institutions, the argument shows that both instrumental and normative stakeholder theories reflect the institutional texture of the modern society in distinct but equally legitimate ways.

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