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 f...