<<< From Michael >>>
From: Michael McMaster <michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 19:44:55 +0000
Replying to LO3062 --
Jack, let't try this in the context of a team within an organisation.
Can we distinguish the team as a a system and the larger organisation
as a system which forms the environment of that team?
If so, then is the manager of the team part of the system of the team
or part of the environment of the team? Might it be useful to say
that there is another system as well which is "team" and "team with
manager" which are both in and part of the larger system
"organisation"?
My point is that each of this is a distinct phenomenon. The value in
the distinction is to see that each operates, *at least in some
ways*, independently of the other while also seeing that all exist
concurrently and the actions of each "system" impact the other
"systems".
I agree with you that if we fail to see that we are part of larger
systems and have environments which are systems that we are both
influencing and being influenced by, we will make serious and
damaging mistakes.
Michael McMaster
Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk
<<< end of your message >>>
Even if we conceive a team as a subsystem of a larger system called the
Organization, we cannot separate totally separate the manager as being a
part of either exclusively. Every member of the team is a part of the
larger system (the organization), although not every member of the system
is a part of the subsystem. I think that the complexity of studying these
cases is that the interaction of the members becomes more complex because
they dealing with each at more levels than in a situations where no teams
are used.
You are right. For some reason we tend to see ourselves a separate from
many of the systems we are a part of. A typical example I use all the
time is with respect to our relationship with nature. The fact that we
"own" portions of nature, we tend to think that we really own it, and see
ourselves as being outside of that. We can sell or buy it at any poin
after all.
I'll stop here before I confuse myself even more...
Ivan
-- Blanco@bu4090.barry.edu