Organizations

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. Introducing Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments

   • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

   Pages 1-29

3. The Experimental Arche: Ashby's Cybernetics

   • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

   Pages 31-70

4. The Experimental Arche Continued: Von Foerster on Observing Systems

   • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

   Pages 71-111

5. The Second “arche”, Organizations as Social Systems: Luhmann

   • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

   Pages 113-163

6. Epilogue to Part I: The Two “Archai” Combined

   • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

   Pages 165-175

7. Beer: Functional Design Principles for Viable Infrastructures

   • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

   Pages 177-221

8. Specific Design Principles: de Sitter's Organizational Structures

   • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

   Pages 223-276

9. Epilogue to Part II: functional and specific design principles

   • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

   Pages 277-284

10. Poor Survival: Disciplining Organizational Behavior

    • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

    Pages 285-309

11. Towards Rich Survival: Aristotle

    • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

    Pages 311-343

12. Organizational Structures Supporting Rich Survival

    • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

    Pages 345-372

13. Epilogue

    • Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

    Pages 373-379

to do to ensure survival, and (2) principles for designing organizational structures in such a way that they can realize the required functions adequately. In the course of their elaboration, we will show that these principles are general – i. e. , that they hold for all organizations. 1. 5 Conceptual Background To describe organizations as social systems conducting experiments and to present principles for designing an infrastructure supporting the “social experiment,” we use concepts from (organizational) cybernetics, social systems theory, and Aristotle’s ethics. In this book, we hope to show that concepts from these traditions – as introduced by their relevant representatives – can be integrated into a framework supporting our perspective on organizations. To this purpose, we introduce, in each of the following chapters, relevant concepts from an author “belonging” to one of these three traditions and show how these concepts contribute to either describing organizations as social expe- ments (in Part I of the book), to formulating principles for the design of functions and organization structures supporting meaningful survival (Part II), or to formul- ing principles for the design of organization structures enabling the rich sense of meaningful survival (Part III). Of course, the relevance of cybernetics, social systems theory and Aristotle’s ethics can only be understood in full, after they have been treated in more detail – but based on what we said above, it may already be possible to see why these theories have been chosen as conceptual background.

• Design
• Transformation
• organization
• organizations
• social systems
• systems theory

• Fac. Management Sciences, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands

  Jan Achterbergh, Dirk Vriens

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