General Organizational Characteristics of Living Systems Applied to Organizations of People

Drawing from: The Systems View of Life, Chapter 8, the Turning Point, Fritjof Capra, 1982

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Term definitions
Working Group	The basic functioning 'cell/organ' of an organization, that performs tasks.
Charter	The document that describes the Objective(s) and Functional Principles of an organization.
Objective(s)	What the organization sets out to achieve.
Functional Principles	The various ways of functioning of Working Groups.

1. PROCESS-ORIENTED. Machines are constructed, organisms grow. Organizations can be seen as a combination of the two, some aspects are designed in advance [eg. the pre-agreed Charter], other aspects develop with time. Organs and Cells [Working Groups, inter-Working Group information exchange/flow] in a system need to be understood in terms of processes that constitute and create the system's dynamic organization. Although in the physical/material sense, the organism as a whole exhibits well-defined regularities and behaviour patterns, the relationships between its parts are not rigidly determined.

2. AUTONOMY. [of the organization/Working Group] A living organism is a self-organising system. Its order in structure and function is not imposed by the environment but is established internally by the system itself. The primary impetus that determines its organization is the organization itself. Though, this does not mean that living systems are isolated from their environment. They interact with their environments continually [relationships in society], and have to adapt themselves accordingly. This interaction might modifiy the organism's behaviour. See DECISION-MAKING.

3. FEEDBACK LOOPS. [this phenomenon is developed only in a general way so far in Open-Organizations.] Machines function according to linear chains of cause and effect, and when they break down a single cause for the breakdown can usually identified. In contrast, the functioning of organisms is guided by cyclical patterns of information flow known as 'feedback loops'. For example, component [Working Group] A may (positively) affect component B; B may affect C; and C may 'feed back' the influence to A and thus complete the loop. When such a system breaks down, the breakdown is usually caused by multiple factors that may amplify each other [negative feedback] through interdependent feedback loops between the same (and other) components. Which of these factors was the initial cause of the breakdown is often irrelevant. Positive and negative feedback can also happen simultaneously around the same loop, balancing eachother, where the result is positive REGULATION. Positive and negative FEEDBACK LOOPS play a central role in the dynamics of SELF-MAINTAINANCE, FLEXIBILITY and REGULATION. Interdependent variables [functioning of Working Groups] can vary over a wide range between an upper and a lower limit. All variables oscillate between these limits, so that the whole system is in a state of continual fluctuation, even when there is no disturbance. This is homeostasis [ REGULATION ]. It is a state of dynamic, transactional balance in which there is great FLEXIBILITY. Importantly, this enables the system to have a large number of options for interacting with its environment.

4. FLEXIBILITY. This depends on how many of a system's variables [functioning of Working Groups] are kept fluctuating within their tolerance limits; the more fluctuations [better more flexible functioning of Working Groups], the greater the healthy REGULATION.

5. REGULATION. [overall function of the Working Group/Organization] Self-organising systems have a high degree of stability, but utterly dynamic and not to be confused with equilibrium. It consists in maintaining the overall structure in spite of ongoing changes and replacements of its components [Working Groups]. The more self-regulating organizations are, sometimes by means of a cell [Working Group] especially dedicated to do this within (not above) the loops of process-function, or by means of the existing cells [Working Groups], more frequently do they carry out a category of regulation tasks. All processes are regulated in such a way that the overall pattern of the organism is preserved, and this remarkable ability of SELF-MAINTAINANCE persists under a variety of circumstances, including changing environmental conditions and many kinds of interference. But as the AUTONOMY of human organizations is limited and, or modified by the relationships with their social, political and economic environment, their self-maintenance refers to the maintenance of these relationship too. A machine will fail if its parts do not work in the rigorously predetermined manner. An organism will maintain its functioning in a changing environment, keeping itself in running condition and repairing itself through healing and regeneration. This is INTERNAL RENEWAL, or regeneration. The power of regeneration of organic structures diminishes with increasing complexity of the organism. Complexity 'reduces' the ability for overall regulation, that is, maintaining/rejuvenating form when damaged. [Regulation is dissipated as the organization grows in size and complexity. But primitive regulation must continue always: keeping to the organization's/Working Groups' Charter/Functional Principles].

6. SELF-MAINTAINANCE and INTERNAL RENEWAL means and equates to sustainability of tasks. The ability of living systems continuously to renew and recycle their components, while maintaining the integrity of the overall structure [ REGULATION ]. [Interchangeable assignment of tasks to people where possible: the tasks are structured to be non-dependent on the people carrying them out at any one time. Which means that when goals are set high and broad, the structure of the organization must allow for the sustainability of tasks to happen. (In the most extreme and relevant case: one can not change the political order of the world with a few friends in an organization which has no mechanisms that will ensure the sustainability of their current tasks).

7. DIVERSITY. For larger organisations of organisms [people/Working Groups] the criterion corresponding to FLEXIBILITY is variability. Maximum variation of population [diversity] within an organization provides the maximum number of possibilities for evolutionary adaptation [maximum ability and potential (for change and development)].

8. OPEN (DEVELOPING) SYSTEMS. Must maintain a continuous exchange of energy and matter [includes, information] with their environment to stay alive. This exchange involves taking in other ordered structures, breaking them down and using some of their components to maintain or even increase the order of the organism when helpful. [A key point: this means that ideology should also not be fixed, but should always be open-ended, questioned and developed further. There is no such 'place' as a non-ideological one. Ideologies are models we have of the world we live in]. This process is known as metabolism. It allows the system to remain in a state or nonequilibrium, in which it is always "at work." A high degree of nonequilibrium is absolutely necessary for higher degree self-organisation [closed organizations with fixed structures are all dead machines]. Living organisms are open systems that continually operate far from equilibrium.

9. SELF-TRANSCENDENCE. The ability to reach out creatively beyond physical and mental boundaries in the processes of learning, development, and evolution. Creative development of new structures and functions without any environmental pressure, is inherent in all living organisms [at the extreme, this includes the organization's Objectives]. But see AUTONOMY and DECISION-MAKING.

10. DECISION-MAKING. [Working Groups/whole organization] The relative AUTONOMY of self-organising systems sheds new light on the age-old philosophical [but perhaps not 'metaphysical'] question of free will. From the systems point of view, both determinism and freedom are relative concepts. To the extent that it depends on it through continuous interaction, its activity will be shaped by environmental influences. Therefore, the notion of free will is relative, limited, like all other concepts we use in our rational descriptions of reality.

11. ADAPTATION. The ability to adapt to a changing environment is an essential characteristic. Stages of change can be described in phases: -

(a) Adaptive changes. These changes are swiftly reversible. [within the FLEXIBILITY of Working Groups]. Without these, the system as a whole will be rigid and thus unable to adapt to further stress. Furthermore, since all variables in the system are interlinked, a rigidity in one will also affect the others, and the loss of flexibility will spread through the system [negative FEEDBACK LOOPS ].

(b) Longer term "somatic" changes of habit. [changes in the Functional Principles in Working Groups/organization.] Adaptation achieved comparatively slowly and will be slower to reverse. Yet changes are still reversible. Without this change, a prolonged loading of process 'circuits' will limit freedom to control other functions and thus reduce overall FLEXIBILITY. But the system is more flexible after the somatic change than it was before. Somatic change internalises stress. The danger is that the accumulation of such internalised stress may, eventually, lead to organizational illness [the need for major Charter/Objectives changes].

c) Adaptation in the process of evolution [change of Charters/Objectives]. The system adapts to the environment by shifting the range of some of its variables, and notably of those which result in the most economical changes. Means more FLEXIBILITY in the longer term.

The next step is to take an existing organization and see what processes can be identified within it and how it compares to the above characteristics.

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