Presentation to Academy of Management Boston 2019 ... part of PDW "Rejuvenating system perspectives in management research"

1. Systems perspectives
FROM CYBERNETICS AND PRAGMATIC CONSTRUCTIVISM

2. Systems are
a description
Dependent upon the observer and
the context
Devoid of any but ascribed ontic
status

3. Descriptions
are model
based

4. Perceptions
influence
Understandings
which influence
Actions

5. We choose our
perceptions in
line with Ashby
Space rules
(Requisite
Variety and
Least Action)

6. We speak of
“systems” to
help
understand
change
Systems change
when their pattern-defining conditions
(similarities, differences, and
connections) change
or
when the dialogue about those pattern-
defining conditions change

7. The words and narratives matter
Systems narratives are
about:
resonance (self identity)
consonance (cohesion
with context)
coherence and
viability

8. To take a systems perspective is to choose
WHAT MODEL
MATTERS
WHAT ELEMENTS
MATTER
WHAT CONTEXT
MATTERS
WHAT
SIMPLIFICATIONS
MATTER

9. The future of
systems
perspectives
Depend on explicitly recognizing
the role of choice, the
contingency of attention and
ascription, the power of context,
and the possibility of error

10. To speak of systems is to speak in a framework
– one that others might not share

11. Systems Perspectives
are another tool to
resolve Ambiguity
11

12. Don’t credit them with more than what they can do