(1980). Culture and Organizations. International Studies of Management & Organization: Vol. 10, Organizations and Societies, pp. 15-41.

Culture and Organizations

1. The Meaning of Social Anthropology2. Structure and Organization in a Small Community3. Social Change in Peasant Communities4. The Social Framework of Economic Organization5. The Social Framework of Primitive Art6. Moral Standards and Social Organization7. Religion in Social Reality

Elements of Social Organization

The ﬁrst part of this chapter is a review of the evolution of the
systems movement and a discussion of human systems inquiry.Systems inquiry incorporates three interrelated domains of disciplined inquiry: systems theory, systems philosophy, and systems methodology. Bertalanffy (1968) notes that in contrast
with the analytical, reductionist, and linear-causal paradigm of
classical science, systems philosophy brings forth a reorientation of thought and worldview, manifested by an expansionist,
nonlinear dynamic, and synthetic mode of thinking. The scientiﬁc exploration of systems theories and the development of
systems theories in the various sciences have brought forth a
general theory of systems, a set of interrelated concepts and
principles, applying to all systems. Systems methodology provides us with a set of models, strategies, methods, and tools
that instrumentalize systems theory and philosophy in analysis,
design, development, and management of complex systems.

Systems inquiry and its application in education

The article examines the role of values in business education and proposes a philosophy of education with respect to value positions. The author notes that due to increasing political and ethical issues being raised in business there has become a growing interest to include a value-oriented aspect in the business education curriculum. He examines how values play a role in areas such as conflict management and discusses some of the conflict-handling modes which include; competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating. He closes by discussing the need to develop teaching strategies that take into account differences in strengths and weaknesses between students in order for students to get the most out of their individual skills.

Toward Multi-Dimensional Values in Teaching: The Example of Conflict Behaviors

In this presentation I intend to narrate a story that has its particular origins in three strategic decisions collectively taken, almost 20 years ago now, by a small group of educators within a small agricultural polytechnic located on the urban/rural fringe of Australia’s largest city. It is a story which arises out of the integrated thoughts and actions of an academic community, which, tired of its marginal status, decided in the late 1970s, to profoundly and concurrently transform itself as a School of Agriculture in three fundamental ways: (a) to change its own focus from production agriculture to responsible rural development, (b) to change its own emphasis from a teaching approach based on courses to one of learning based on projects, and (c) to change its own prevailing reductionist paradigm to embrace an holistic one. The mission became one of helping people in rural communities across the state, to learn their way forward to better futures, in the face of the immensely complex, dynamic, and slowly degrading environments – socio-economic, politico-cultural and bio-physical – in which they increasingly recognised they were deeply embedded. The intent would thus become that of helping people to see their worlds differently as a prelude for doing things differently – essentially more systemically. The context for this grand enterprise is captured in the aphorism ‘if we always see how we’ve always seen, we’ll always be who we’ve always been’! Changing the way we collectively construe ourselves means collectively changing the way we think about ourselves, to lead in turn, to changing the way we collectively act.

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The community challenge: the learning response

This article presents the systems sciences as a field of inquiry and discusses the way in which it has evolved in relation to the humanities. Following a brief historical overview and assessment of the systems sciences by considering their origins and foundations in general system thinking, the review highlights the key players and the major trends in the field, and leads to a consideration of the ways in which it complements and contrasts the methods of human-related studies generally pursued in the humanities. It discusses the potential for the systems sciences to enrich descriptive, instructional, and explanatory orientations of contemporary Geisteswissenschaften through the inclusion of normative considerations.



The normative component of the systems sciences is considered within an evolutionary framework that presents holism as a methodology for understanding the dynamics of complex "real-world' (ontological) systems and suggests action imperatives for their viable and sustainable design over time. Through the tools metaphor, modeling and simulation, interactive design and other praxes, systems scientists investigate the goals and ends of systems and their interactions within environments shared with, and provided for, one another. In this way social systems in general, and human activity systems in particular, can be described as a function of their degree of purposefulness in terms of the role of human values in concrete circumstances.



Through the tools of systems analysis and design, systems science represents the world of symbols, values, social entities, and cultures as embedded in an embracing order of hierarchies that bridges the gap between C. P. Snow's "Two Cultures' of the sciences and the humanities. The use of modeling in systems sciences provides the language of design and the means by which creativity is applied in the course of inventing, making, assessing, and implementing the designs. In this way it lends to the humanities the capability to deal with increasing systemic complexities, rapid societal changes, and design decisions that affect the sustainable evolution of human societies within the wider context of their life support systems. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Contribution of the Systems Sciences to the Humanities

Contemporary general systems theory encompasses systems science and technology, as well as systems philosophy. The latter is the growing edge where conceptual innovations are explored and their relevance to concrete problems examined. Philosophical value theory can be reconstructed in the framework of systems philosophy by conceiving of values as expressions of various states of adaptation of the individual to his biological and sociocultural environment. Hereby the way is opened to a science of normative values, defining patterns of optimum physical and mental development in persons. The basic conceptual map underlying this program is constructed in reference to contemporary theories of value and system-environment interaction patterns.

A systems philosophy of human values

The conceptual synthesis of the accepted bodies of knowledge in a culture provides a sense of meaning in existence, a viable image of the future, and individual and collective motivations. In our age, the dominant bodies of knowledge are fragmented and, although they are more accurate than ever before in limited domains, they fail to guide the imagination and inspire purposive action. To rectify this situation we need to develop a coherent and explicit conceptual synthesis that is based on science but extends beyond the current range of validated scientific theories, overcoming the noxious separation of the factual and the moral, the empirical and the mystical, the sensate and the affective. General systems theory, a metadiscipline created specifically for the purpose of integrating scientific research and theories, is a highly qualified instrument for promoting the required science‐based conceptual synthesis. Efforts in this direction are aided by the intrinsic tendency within science to correct for overspecialization and fragmentation through a search for integrative general theories, and by the rising perception of societal need for integrated bodies of knowledge, capable of coping with the increasing complexity of contemporary problems.

Ervin Laszlo

Papers

The Contribution of the Systems Sciences to the Humanities

A systems philosophy of human values

General systems theory and the coming conceptual synthesis