Productivity Improvement

Open Systems Approach

Practical guidelines on using the approach

General applications

Although the open systems approach has been in use for some decades now, it continues to be more than a useful tool offering a number of benefits:

• It facilitates analysis of a complex problem by focusing on specific important elements within the system and in the environment. A problem can thus be simplified and outlined more clearly.
• Interactions among elements or variables in the system and in the environment, and their likely effects on the system can be identified and analyzed.
• Likely future developments and their implications can be considered in the same way.
• The diagram that often forms part of the systems analysis can also contribute to understanding the problems involved since the visual model of the situation can lead to new insight - 'A picture speaks a thousand words.'
• The tabulating of variables, trends and implications can serve as a useful stimulus to both logical and imaginative thinking, by forcing people to think of various possibilities and changes, and their effects on the problem situation, that is it facilitates brainstorming within a rational framework. This leads to understanding of problems and development of alternative solutions that are essential for sound decision-making.
• Both diagrams and tables can be useful space and time-savers when it comes to writing of reports, assignments or examinations, since both techniques can put across a lot of information and ideas in limited words and space.
• Furthermore, neat diagrams and tables can contribute to the professional appearance of reports, since they give the impression of a well thought-out, well prepared piece of work. (Naturally the contents must be of similar quality.)
• A systematic analysis of a business problem and likely future developments (whether this be a case study or real life situation) promotes:
  - better decision-making
  - better planning
  - better preparedness
  - adoption of the system concerned (often the firm) to the environment
  - the possibility of adjusting relevant variables in the environment in order to achieve the preferred state of the system
  - the recognition and consideration of some of the intangible, unquantifiable and future oriented variables which are often overlooked in business situations because it is difficult to get to grips with them.
  This could be particularly useful- in analyzing the economic and political environment and in the development of scenarios for future-oriented planning.

Suggested steps in the use of the open systems approach

Remember to concentrate on the aspects that you regard as important in the problem. Relatively less important factors can merely be mentioned, or shown in the diagram, and need not be discussed at length.

• Provisionally identify the boundary of the system for the purpose of analyzing the particular problem in hand.
• List elements / variables in the system that may have a bearing on the problem.
• List elements / variables in the environment that may affect the system.
• Adjust boundary of system if necessary after steps 2 and 3.
• Develop a diagram or a group of diagrams as a model of the system in its environment. All important variables / elements must be shown. Figures 7 (above) and 8 (below) give examples.

• Indicate the important flows and interactions among the various elements of both system and environment. Two possible ways of doing this are in the diagram, using the arrows (see Fig. 7,) or in a cross-impact matrix, (illustrated in the PDF).
• Identify the important actual or possible trends in the situation (both in the system and in the environment) and their likely implications on the system. A useful and brief way of doing this could be in the form of a table, (illustrated in the PDF.)

N.B. Large scale images, with readable text, of the above schematics are available in the accompanying PDF (see right hand sidebar to purchase.)

With this analysis remember that a future projections are important, and different possible trends and their implications must be considered - even if they are in conflict with one another, for example, both decrease and increase of sales and / or profits. Only in this way can all likely developments be thought through and catered for, and can different alternatives be considered when it comes to problem-solving and decision-making.

• Problem-solving and decision-making follows after the above thorough selection of system components, recording such components by means of a schematic and their critical examination and rigorous analysis.

Determining the boundary between system and environment

Some general guidelines:

• Do not make the system too small - this could lead to a myopic view.
• Do not make the system too large - it could defeat the purpose, by having the system so complex that you cannot apply your mind to it.
• Focus on the immediate problem - the trigger, the apparent problem which led to the decision situation or to the case being written. Problems are usually complex - you must start somewhere. The apparent or initial problem is often a symptom of the underlying, real problem.
• If an element is in the environment it does not mean that you regard it as unimportant.
• Inside the boundary:
  Usually elements / variables which company and their decisions are likely to influence. Some examples, if analyzing a typical organization
  Inside
  Firm itself, with different sectors, individuals, usually holding company, subsidiaries.
  (Sometimes, depending on the case and problem-also inside, suppliers, competitors, distribution channel, market.)
  Outside (Usually)
  Government, economy (domestic & global), labor market, availability of resources e.g. fuel, political situation, technological developments, markets, competitors, suppliers.
  Remember there is a trade-off between cost and comprehensiveness.
  Cost / time / attention to detail /accuracy
  The complexity of a systems model, and the number of variables or subsystems considered, depend on the importance of the decision making to be made from the model.
• You may have several boundaries, e.g. primary system, secondary, etc., or indicate subsystems.

Summary

The open systems approach to modeling the key variables, both inside the organization and outside it, is an investigative tool that promotes critical examination of an organization (or part thereof.) It will enable those using it to more quickly be in a position of understanding these key variables and their interrelationships. By regularly reviewing and revising (the annual planning review) initial efforts the model(s) produced can be updated to better enable the organization to succeed in it's aims and objectives.

The technique is scaleable up and down. That is it can be used to describe situations and systems at both a macro and micro level. For instance, it is quite practical to use the technique for a department (as the system) within an organization (the environment.)

The technique has many uses outside of organizational development as intimated in the article.

When first using this approach, build your models using small scale systems you are intimately familiar with. Once you have developed some experience, you can develop larger more complex models using the systems approach.