Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

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