Strategic Communication for Sustainable Organizations by Myria Allen

Author:Myria Allen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

5.2.2.3 Systems Thinking

In the nineteenth century biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy developed general systems theory. In the late twentieth century, the theory was adopted by multiple disciplines. It has proven especially useful for natural sciences, communication (Littlejohn 2009), and organizational researchers. Systems theory focuses us on how a system is a set of integrated and interacting parts that together create a larger whole. Poole (2014) provides an excellent summary of the theory and its influence on organizational communication research and practice. All systems have four aspects—objects (i.e., parts or elements), attributes (i.e., characteristics of the object and the system), internal relationships (i.e., patterns of relationships), and an environment (i.e., influences that impact the system). Systems are distinguished by three qualities—wholeness and interdependence, hierarchy, and self-regulation and control.

This chapter’s initial focus was based on the systems theory idea that organizations import resources from their external environments which help them adapt to conditions in their macro-environments (e.g., changing norms, new technologies, climate changes). It is important that people within an organization engage in systems thinking (Oncica-Sanislav and Candea 2010). Often we tend to focus on the parts rather than the whole and fail to see an organization as a dynamic long-term process existing within a macroenvironment.

Systems Theory, the City of Portland, and the City and County of Denver

Knowledge of systems theory made an important impact of Susan Anderson’s, Director of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, thinking—especially the ideas of wholeness and interdependence. When I asked her how she personally defined sustainability, Susan said:I define it as two simple things. The first is everything is connected—the environment, economy, jobs, our personal health, the community’s health. If you mess up one piece, somehow down the road the other pieces will get messed up. The second idea is that everything you do today effects tomorrow—how you got here, what clothes you have on, the foods you eat, the car you drove, the table we are sitting at, the building we are in. Everything. The decisions we make about our children, our families, our businesses, they all have an impact on tomorrow. If we do things right, we may have a better tomorrow and if we do things wrong, we leave a big mess for our kids to clean up. Everything is connected and you cannot run the jobs program without having some environmental and health impacts. You can’t run a health program without job impacts. People tend to think in silos because we are human and it is hard to think of more than one thing at a time. We have to think about the connections… To me, sustainability is about those connections.

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