Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL
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Universally ‘correct’ structures do not exist. ‘Sound’ constitutions will be different under different<br />
circumstances. But universally ‘wrong’ structures do exist. They invalidate themselves through<br />
their inability to effectively maintain their own existence. Then they die out.<br />
Emergent features<br />
Some features of a system may directly stem from the separate features of the system’s elements;<br />
in this respect the system may be no more than the sum of its parts. But some other features are<br />
specific to the entity itself <strong>and</strong> do not exist within the separate components; then the system is<br />
more than the sum of its parts. A radio set can receive a broadcast, but no individual resistor or<br />
capacitor can so alone. Any part of a car may not have the ability to be ‘auto-mobile’ (self-moving),<br />
but some set of parts, properly assembled, may have this quality. Such emerging properties were<br />
called emergent features.<br />
Some other properties are not so critical – a radio set without external loudspeakers is still a radio<br />
set, <strong>and</strong> automobile without an air conditioner is still an automobile. The additional components are<br />
not necessary <strong>for</strong> the fulfilment of a mission, although they may be quite useful in one way or<br />
another.<br />
Within any given organizational system, an essential set of elements <strong>and</strong> interrelations justify the<br />
existence of the organization <strong>and</strong> identify the kind of entity it is. Without any one of these essential<br />
elements - or with broken essential relationships - the organization cannot be what it is supposed<br />
to be. No man or woman can give birth to a child alone; a partnership is necessary to create a<br />
family. Any group of individuals without mutual trust <strong>and</strong> support cannot be considered a team.<br />
And so on.<br />
The viability of any organism directly depends on its ability to maintain essential consistency <strong>and</strong><br />
interrelationships between components. The ‘life cycle’ is a process of losing these essentials <strong>and</strong><br />
restoring them. The natural human body does this - because its m<strong>and</strong>ate is to continue to exist.<br />
Human organizations also have a life cycle <strong>and</strong> must adhere to the same evolving process in order<br />
to fulfil their function or carry out the mission that justifies their existence in the marketplace or in<br />
society. Anyway – emergent features are essential <strong>for</strong> an organization. The feature or activity that<br />
does not contribute to the necessary emergent features of an organization can never be<br />
recognized by the organization as particularly valuable.<br />
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