GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM Dominant post-industrial, post-modern

theoretical frameworks are:

General Systems Theory

Interactionist Approaches

Post-Modern Perspectives

All need to take into account eight types of Capital

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM

1. Social Capital = Personal networks to amplify personal productivity

2. Human Capital = Skills and experience3. Intellectual Capital = unique mix of social and

human capital4. Knowledge Capital = scientific and

technological ideas and knowledge5. Cultural Capital = access to education, training

etc

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM• Capital cont.

6. Public Capital = infrastructures, social services, business regulations, etc.

7. Institutional Capital = law and order, preventing corruption in public affairs

8. Natural Capital = clean air, water, food etc.

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM

• General Systems Theory:• Organisations are: independent systems with sub-

systems, are interconnected, and necessary for the functioning of the whole

• All organisations seek to maintain order and equilibrium

• Integration of specialised parts requires overall organisation

• Argument that there are essential laws/principles that explain all systems

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM• General Systems Theory = puts

organisations higher than individuals

• Need for individuals to subordinate themselves to the needs and demands of organisations

• Focus on the role and power of managers

• Preferred theory of organisational theorists

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM

• Interactionist Approaches:• Basic assumption = reality is socially constructed• Organisations are “negotiated orders” in which

control is never complete, and ongoing negotiations are necessary

• The socially constructed/interpreted organisational environment becomes the objective world to which orgs. respond

• Reality is subjective - not objective

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM• Focus on understanding organisational

instability and change

• Emphasis on methods of analysing and understanding organisational reality, including the social construction of orgs.

• Focus on processes - their control and emancipation

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM• Post-Modernism:• Least cohesive of theories = an overlapping

set of ideas about society, orgs, knowledge etc.

• A challenge to rationality• Focus on diversity — no core theory• No universal theory/truth — all is relative• All knowledge is fragmented

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY/POST-MODERNISM

• Reality is fragmented, contradictory and multifaceted — orgs/individuals must learn to accept uncertainty and relativity

• Progress is a myth• Most concern is with power — reject the

notion that managerial power is beneficial• Focus on individual self-control, polycentric

and fluid orgs. and ongoing improvement