The Systems Viewpoint

The Systems Viewpoint

By definition, a system is a set of interrelated parts that operate together to achieve a common purpose. A system has structure and interconnectivity. In the contemporary management perspective, we have the system viewpoint that sees organizations as a system, either open or closed. When we move from traditional thinking and adopt this view, we can see organizations like a set of sub-systems and begin to be part of the environmental- at least to some degree.

Four Parts of the System

According to Kinicki and Williams (2015), the four parts of the system are defined as the follow: Inputs are whatever goes into a system such as the people, money information, equipment, and materials required to produce an organization's goods or services; Transformation process are the organization's capabilities in management and technology that are applied to converting inputs into outputs; Outputs are whatever comes out of the system such as products, services, profits, losses, employee satisfaction or discontent; and finally, Feedback is the information about the reaction of the environment to outputs that affects the inputs (Chapter 2). All parts of the system interact with each other and are essentials to meets organization's goals.

Open & Closed Systems

An open system interacts with its environmental while a closed system resists all interaction and incorporation of new ideas from its environmental.

An organization is an assembly of people working together to achieve common goals through a division of labor. Therefor, the open and closed systems can be compared with team member versus a group of employees within an organization. Team members have an open mind, shared a common goal and seek to learn and develop themselves. On the other hand, employees will focus only on their