System Theory - Radboud University
Lecture 1:
Regulating systems: making sure that a system shows desired behavior despite
disturbances.
- System = a concrete unity consisting of elements and relations between those
elements showing particular behavior.
- Behavior can be activities & result of activities (effect)
- Effect = variables and values
- A variable can relate to the quantity or quality
System theory describes behavior of a system in terms of the sequence of values. This
sequence = behavior.
Elements -> human resources & technology
Relations -> Structure (how tasks are defined and related to each other)
Tasks relate human resources and technology to the behavior
Behavior is the sequence of values of a variable in the course of time
Desired behavior = The variable should be between the norm values
Undesired behavior = The variable is not between the norm values
Disturbance = the cause of undesired behavior
Regulating a system = making sure that a system shows desired behavior even though there
are disturbances.
-> device regulatory actions
-> perform regulatory actions
Recipe for regulation:
1. define the system (describe a concrete and abstract system)
2. determine desire behavior
3. determine disturbances
4. define and perform regulatory actions
Concrete / abstract system
Concrete system = concrete unity consisting of elements and relations showing particular
behavior.
Abstract system = a set of variables that you use to describe the effect of the behavior.
Complexity = defined in terms of variety ( number of elements of a set) (1,2,3, variety is 3)
The more complexity the harder it is to regulate the system
Regulatory actions deal with disturbances to create desired behavior
, You need complexity to deal with complexity means: You
need regulatory complexity (+) to deal with disturbance complexity (-).
Two types of system theory:
1. General ST = regulating all kinds of systems
2. Organizational ST = GST applied to organizations
- Understand organizations as a particular type of system
- Design organizations (infrastructure)
Organizations are social systems conducting experiments
Model of organization: 4 basic activities
1. Primary processes (products and services)
2. Operational regulation (when something goes wrong OR makes sure that PP can
continue)
3. Setting goals -> output of primary activities
4. Providing conditions -> designing infrastructure to efficiently and effectively support
these 3 activities ^.
Consisting of: (infrastructure of the organization)
- Human resources
- Technology
- Structure (the way tasks are defined and related)
Providing conditions is designing infrastructure in such a way that it efficiently and effectively
supports these activities (Design of the infrastructure)
Social systems conducting experiments:
Experiments: difficult problem -> try to think of solution (hypothesis) -> implement solution ->
monitor result
Set goals to help the organization survive
Social system: everything that happens in organizations is social interaction
Functional design principles: what an infrastructure should do for organizations to survive
Specific design principles: How infrastructure should be designed to realize this.
Lecture 1:
Regulating systems: making sure that a system shows desired behavior despite
disturbances.
- System = a concrete unity consisting of elements and relations between those
elements showing particular behavior.
- Behavior can be activities & result of activities (effect)
- Effect = variables and values
- A variable can relate to the quantity or quality
System theory describes behavior of a system in terms of the sequence of values. This
sequence = behavior.
Elements -> human resources & technology
Relations -> Structure (how tasks are defined and related to each other)
Tasks relate human resources and technology to the behavior
Behavior is the sequence of values of a variable in the course of time
Desired behavior = The variable should be between the norm values
Undesired behavior = The variable is not between the norm values
Disturbance = the cause of undesired behavior
Regulating a system = making sure that a system shows desired behavior even though there
are disturbances.
-> device regulatory actions
-> perform regulatory actions
Recipe for regulation:
1. define the system (describe a concrete and abstract system)
2. determine desire behavior
3. determine disturbances
4. define and perform regulatory actions
Concrete / abstract system
Concrete system = concrete unity consisting of elements and relations showing particular
behavior.
Abstract system = a set of variables that you use to describe the effect of the behavior.
Complexity = defined in terms of variety ( number of elements of a set) (1,2,3, variety is 3)
The more complexity the harder it is to regulate the system
Regulatory actions deal with disturbances to create desired behavior
, You need complexity to deal with complexity means: You
need regulatory complexity (+) to deal with disturbance complexity (-).
Two types of system theory:
1. General ST = regulating all kinds of systems
2. Organizational ST = GST applied to organizations
- Understand organizations as a particular type of system
- Design organizations (infrastructure)
Organizations are social systems conducting experiments
Model of organization: 4 basic activities
1. Primary processes (products and services)
2. Operational regulation (when something goes wrong OR makes sure that PP can
continue)
3. Setting goals -> output of primary activities
4. Providing conditions -> designing infrastructure to efficiently and effectively support
these 3 activities ^.
Consisting of: (infrastructure of the organization)
- Human resources
- Technology
- Structure (the way tasks are defined and related)
Providing conditions is designing infrastructure in such a way that it efficiently and effectively
supports these activities (Design of the infrastructure)
Social systems conducting experiments:
Experiments: difficult problem -> try to think of solution (hypothesis) -> implement solution ->
monitor result
Set goals to help the organization survive
Social system: everything that happens in organizations is social interaction
Functional design principles: what an infrastructure should do for organizations to survive
Specific design principles: How infrastructure should be designed to realize this.
