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Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D.

Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

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Page 1: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work

Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D.

Page 2: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 2

The Three Tiers

PersonalStored personal data--known only to oneself

Interpersonal

Affiliations

Relationships

CommunicationPatterns

Individual & Group

Behavior

Organizational

Norms

LeadershipStyle

Policies andProcedures

Succession

Practices

Organiza

tional

Imag

e

Org

aniz

atio

nal

Val

ues

“In” and “Out” Groups

Adapted from Pacific Management Systemsby Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. © 2008

Page 3: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 3

Complexity of Systems

As we move among communities that are experiencing decline, we repeatedly confront people who know only vaguely how complex organizational systems operate.

Robert Terry, Authentic Leadership, p. 288.

Page 4: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 4

What Are Systems?

A system is: 1. an assemblage or combination of things or parts forming a complex or unitary whole; 12. the prevailing structure or organization of society, business, or politics or of society in general.

Random House Unabridged Dictionary 1993.

Page 5: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 5

“Every system is exquisitely designed to produce the results it gets. If you want to change the results, you have to change the system.”

Mary Beth Cooney

Page 6: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 6

What Are Systems? (cont’d)

“A ‘system’ is something which must be considered as a whole because each part bears a relation of interdependence to every other part.”

Grusky and Miller, p.68.

Page 7: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 7

Interdependence in a System

Development Office

Student Organizationsgovernment, union, services

Hospital

Research

Workers Union

Supervisors

Suppliers to University

Trustees

Administration Deans

Public Relations

Investments

Endowment

BanksCurriculum

Academic CouncilFaculty

Religious Activities

Professional Schools

Alumni

Parents

Financial Aid

Placement Office

Recruitment

Admissions

Newspaper

HousingHalls, policies

Athletics

Sororities & Fraternities

ROTC

One Example Interdependence in a Particular Institution (Higher Education)

Page 8: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 8

Why do we care about a systems perspective?

Understanding systems enables us to see interrelationships rather than isolated things and patterns of change rather than static “snapshots.”

Senge, p. 68

Page 9: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 9

A systems perspective (cont’d)

Systemic Structure (generative)

Patterns of Behavior (responsive)

Events (reactive)

The systems perspective shows us that there are multiple levels of explanation in any complex situation…In some sense all are equally “true.” But their usefulness is quite different.

Senge, pp. 52-53

Page 10: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 10

A Systems Perspective (cont’d)

Events explanations—“who did what to whom”— doom their holders to a reactive stance. Event explanations are the most common in contemporary culture, and that is exactly why reactive management prevails.

Page 11: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 11

A Systems Perspective (cont’d)

The Cycle of Frustration demonstrates the problem of focusing on what is happening in an organization. If this is your primary way of assessing an

institution, making substantive and long-lasting changes will be extremely difficult because you will miss the underlying patterns.

The Cycle of Frustration is particularly evident in organizations that rely on the Events mode of thinking.

Page 12: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 12

A Systems Perspective (cont’d)

Crisis

ProblemRecognition

Intervention

High Expectations

Disappointment

Dormancy

The Cycle of Frustration

Page 13: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 13

A Systems Perspective (cont’d)

Pattern-of-behavior explanations focus on seeing longer-term trends and assessing their implications. They begin to break the grip of short-term reactiveness. At least they suggest how, over a longer term, we can respond to shifting trends.

Page 14: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 14

A Systems Perspective (cont’d)

The third level of explanation, the “structural” explanation, is the least common and the most powerful. It focuses on answering the question, “What causes the patterns of behavior?”

Page 15: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 15

A Systems Perspective (cont’d)

The reason that structural explanations are so important is that only they address the underlying causes of behavior at a level that patterns of behavior can be changed. Structure produces behavior, and changing

underlying structures can produce different patterns of behavior.

Senge, p. 53.

Page 16: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 16

How systems work:Only if we understand them can we change them.

Organizations are made up of a number of individuals working together toward a common end: the collective purpose of the total organization. However, the organization is more than a collection of

individuals. It is also a social organization for the members of the

institution; for example, administrators, faculty, staff, and students interact daily with one another.

Senge reminds us that when placed in the same system, people, however different, tend to produce similar results.

Page 17: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 17

How systems work. (cont’d)

The systems perspective tells us that we must look beyond individual mistakes or bad luck and beyond personalities and events to understand important problems.

We must look into the underlying structures which shape individual actions and create the conditions where types of events become likely.

Senge, pp. 42-43

Page 18: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 18

The Three Tiers

PersonalStored personal data--known only to oneself

Interpersonal

Affiliations

Relationships

CommunicationPatterns

Individual & Group

Behavior

Organizational

Norms

LeadershipStyle

Policies andProcedures

Succession

Practices

Organiza

tional

Imag

e

Org

aniz

atio

nal

Val

ues

“In” and “Out” Groups

Adapted from Pacific Management Systemsby Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. © 2008

Page 19: Basic Information about What Systems Are and How They Work Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D

© 2009, Frances E. Kendall, Ph.D. 19

Resources

Compiled and adapted from chapters in The Sociology of Organizations, Basic Studies,

Second Edition, Oscar Grusky and George A. Miller, Eds. New York: Free Press, 1981;

The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge, New York: Currency Doubleday, 1990; and

The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, Peter Senge, Art Kleiner, Charlotte Roberts, Richard B. Ross, and Bryan J. Smith, New York: Currency Doubleday, 1994.

Authentic Leadership, Robert W. Terry, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1993.