Organizations as Social Systems

Organizations are social systems made up of people.

Social systems often amplify what happens.

If good things happen, more good things often follow.

When bad things happen, more bad things often follow.

To improve it is wise to this into account and design elements of the management system to encourage the amplification of what is good and that seeks to stop what is bad from being amplified.

Building in elements to stop the negatives from reinforcing and creating more negatives is important.

Building in elements to support and enhance positives so that they led to more positive results is also useful.

John presenting a Deming seminar in Singapore.

Related: Podcast with John Hunter on Building Organizational Capability – What to Do To Create a Continual Improvement Culture – Using Incentives to Guide Social System Improvements – Building a Great Software Development Team