open systems correct answers a system is open or closed to the degree that it can exchange
information and energy with its environment. A more open system can adapt to environmental
changes
closed systems correct answers a system is open or closed to the degree that it can exchange
information and energy with its environment. A closed system cannot adapt to environmental
changes and is more likely to move toward entropy
interdependence and hierarchy correct answers interdependence of parts: "butterfly" effects and
critiques of causality- not about causality but randomness, one change can produce massive
changes
homeostasis correct answers Positive feedback (deviation amplifying); produces change;
morphogenesis (system grows over time)
negative feedback (deviation counteracting); maintains stability; morphostasis (system simply
maintains itself, growth is not a good thing, etc)
nonsummativity correct answers sometimes the whole is less than or more than the sum of its
parts; Taken together, the parts in a system function in this nonsummative manner
equifinality correct answers Equifinality: The same goal can be reached from a multitude of
different starting points
no causality
how multiple connections create multiple outcomes (in terms of interdependency)
multifinality correct answers Multifinality: Systems can reach different goals starting from the
same initial conditions and inputs
(butterfly effect: rewilding video)
There's no way to predict the outcome; need to think about the system as a whole
, UNC is characterized by multiple goals, reached from multiple points
entropy and negentropy correct answers negentropy-everything becomes order
negative entropy: open-closed continuum, ability of system to maintain itself
entropy: everything moving towards disorder/chaos
feedback and feedback states (steady, change, and growth) correct answers see homeostasis
Understand the idea of systems theory as a "general science of wholeness" correct answers
Understand the idea of systems theory as a "general science of wholeness"
focus on relations and patterns that connect
critique the idea of causal linear effects, shift to circular, relational thinking
System as an organism metaphor
Things are interrelated and interconnected
Be able to define a system correct answers A complex set of relationships among independent
parts that interact to adapt to a constantly changing environment
Focus on relationships in a system, not individual elements
How is "system" a new metaphor for studying organizations? correct answers Rejecting the
mechanist view of the world, and instead seeing everything as interrelated. You understand
something by understanding its relation to other things.
What does it mean to understand organizations as systems? correct answers focus on process of
organizing
organizations as complex
organizations as adaptive to changing environments (but powerful organizations change
environment)