System is an entity consisting of parts that are interconnected to perform as a complex whole. By means of control systems are aimed at achieving a certain purpose that is defined by the user of the system as well as the surrounding environment, which creates specific conditions and constraints. Systems Thinking presupposes observing every system as a sum of components, which have a fixed set of functions in a system performance and their goals do not have multiple interpretations. The more complex the system is the more complex and numerable are the components of this system that all should be encountered by the system designer in the totality of their specific characteristics. In an organization Systems Thinking approach is a way to build a solid holistic structure in the outer surrounding circumstances, whether these circumstances are another analysable system or a huge-scale system unreachable for analysis that can be characterized as chaos. It enables manager to establish proper performance of an organization by means of initial simplifying dynamic process of their responsibility to certain separate structural components (systems always have such parts as inputs, processing and outputs, which are frequently controlled by a feedback loop), and then defining the one that is not working properly or introducing any new components to improve organizational performance and effectiveness. Systems Thinking gives managers solid basis to make decisions and solve problems that seem impossible to manage using any other approach.
Total Control Vs. Total Independence
The first thing in an organization to consider in terms of system thinking is sharing responsibility and, therefore, workload connected with control within an organization. Shifting a conventional hierarchical structure of a system proved to be beneficial in a certain set of circumstances and enabled such a company as Volvo to stay flexible within constraints of the workforce market and survive in the changing economic environment. As this project developed, Volvo devised a series of developmental levels through which a team could progress as it became increasingly able to self-manage in an autonomous way. Initially this system of levels had been developed and run by management, but by the early 1980s it had become the responsibility of the workers as a ‘self-regulating system’ (Johnes, H.G 1983, 79). Accommodation of an organization to the demands of the contemporary market requires more natural, human-like mechanisms. Totalitarian scientific management, though remaining effective in such sections of an organisation as those connected with finances, where strict procedures are required, did not prove to be long lasting, which can be observed on the examples of either communist regimes or global corporations that were destroyed by the recent economic crisis. Alternatively to so-called Tailorism in management, there are schemes of management to match the company’s goal with those of a separate department or an individual worker. Personal empowerment can not only make an organization more flexible in adjusting itself to dynamics of the environment, but also reduce the cases of absenteeism at the workplace and increase effectiveness and efficiency as a result of a …