Vojko Potocan

How to restore Bertalanffian systems thinking

Ludwig von Bertalanffy created general systems theory in an effort to counter the oversight and endangerment of humankind by disciplinary specialization. Bertalanffy desired for a holistic worldview and openness to replace overspecialization. Although widely cited and regarded, his concept prevailed only at a fictitious level, mostly as a tool inside specialization, which many scholars are neither able to overcome nor complement with interdisciplinary, creative co‐operation. Similarities (isomorphisms) are not enough. Here, a system of seven groups of systems thinking principles, which serve as a framework for restoring Bertalanffian systems thinking without his exaggerations is presented.

INFORMAL SYSTEMS THINKING OR SYSTEMS THEORY

Systems thinking is the practice of holistic thinking, which can be informal or based on systems theory. Success has always depended on holistic rather than one-sided thinking. Empirical findings about the innovative society can exemplify this statement, though there seems to be no universal agreement as to what the basic attributes of systems thinking are, and we offer a summary of them. To test them, we investigated an industrial latecomer country and found that the understanding of both the innovative society and the systemic thinking are rare: one-sidedness prevails. What do we do to come closer to holistic thinking? Neither the General Systems Theory nor most other systems theories (except the Dialectical Systems Theory) provide a methodology supportive of holism; however, the case of the visionary companies proves that informal systems thinking can be very powerful. Hence, systems theories should work more on informal systems thinking.

Business cybernetics: a provocative suggestion

Purpose – There is a field needing both cybernetics and systems theory: business as one way to viability – “business cybernetics” might have to emerge. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.Design/methodology/approach – A first draft of business cybernetics (BC) notion is presented. Discusses the definition of business systems (BSs) and their need for requisite holism, our understanding of cybernetics, our understanding of the (general) systems theory and systems thinking, differences between some versions of systems theories and cybernetics, and add our draft cybernetics of BSs, finishing with BC as a case of interdependence between business practice, systems theories and cybernetics and resulting conclusions.Findings – It was not found, although quite some literature was studied and quite some practical experience in business, both as employees and as consulting instructors was collected. It is clear that cybernetics and (general) systems theory were created at about the same time by two di...

INCREASING THE CAPACITY OF COMPANIES TO ABSORB INVENTIONS FROM RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS AND ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO INNOVATE 1

ABSTRACT Europe lacks competitiveness due to lack of innovation. Reasons include a lack of transfer of knowledge from research organizations to businesses European Union (EU) suggests a new approach. We find it lacks holism, although EU requires systems thinking in other documents. We suggest a dialectical system of viewpoints to make the approach requisitely holistic. Liaison offices, university-industry consortia, professional unions, and alumni associations are the four organizational forms which the EU suggests. This suggestion leaves out the issues of values, cultures, ethics, and norms. It also forgets how long periods of time have been necessary and how much time will be needed for an innovative and requisitely holistic change to occur. The feeling of interdependence, i.e., mutual need for each other, is a precondition which requires the practice of a systems approach. The government acting as a big buyer in the modern buyers market might be one way toward a solution, although not a simple one: It requires the government people to change themselves. Education of young people and their mentors for innovating may also help.

On Requisitely Holistic Understanding of Sustainable Development from Business Viewpoints

In the new millennium, and in its global economy, everybody will have to be very competitive and hence innovative. For this reason most humans, economies, and businesses must innovate our understanding of economics in all areas and levels of human activity. The new challenges require a thorough innovation of work, including a requisitely3 holistic consideration of sustainable development (SD). In our contribution we would like to shift attention from a principle-based moralizing about relations between the sustainable development and enterprises to a very practical issue: how to support a more requisitely holistic understanding of SD from business viewpoints. The most important or most frequent issues of a new understanding and implementation of SD include the following: SD requires holism, hence professional and political aspects in synergy, hence systems thinking; SD requires linking of different approaches to problem solving; businesses should no longer forget about SD; ISO, etc., standards are not holistic enough concepts to solve all SD problems; A more requisitely holistic methodology is needed for implementation of SD in business. We offer some new suggestions.

Exploring the use of 25 leading business practices in transitioning market supply chains

Purpose – In the global economy, managers of organizations are constantly innovating with their use of available supply chain management tools. Some tools, like strategic planning and customer segmentation, have gained strong global acceptance while others are less universal. The paper aims to focus the contribution on the organizational factors that predict firm usage of supply chain management tools in two Eastern Europe countries, Slovenia and Croatia, while also comparing them to the global use of similar management tools. Design/methodology/approach – This research provides an empirical analysis of supply chain management tool usage from a survey of 155 firms in Slovenia and 185 firms in Croatia while also comparing these findings to results from a global Bain & Company survey. Findings – The 25 most commonly used supply chain management tools in the Eastern European survey were found to be relatively similar to those used across Europe and North America. However, further analysis of five selected to...

Toward a holistical perception of the content of business ethics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a new requisitely holistic definition of business ethics (BE) as a crucial component of business cybernetics and practice. The present contribution considers a basic problem: how humans use BE to influence their business processes. Therefore, business is/should be investigated from the viewpoint of ethics. Requisite holism of understanding and consideration of BE in business reality is unavoidable; it can (and must) result from findings and considerations of the interdependence between business practice, ethics, and BE.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, qualitative analysis is applied on the basis of the cybernetics (e.g. especially business cybernetics), dialectical systems theory, and ethics theory.Findings – Ethics is a crucial emotional part of human attributes. They can be viewed as the subjective part of the starting points of any human acting/behavior process, including business. Thus, ethics (may) have/has a crucial role in business cyberne...

Requisite holism – precondition of reliable business information

Purpose – This paper aims to suggest a new way toward reliability of contents of business information, on which quality of business critically depends. Contribution considers two problems: how to innovate information support for business with non‐technological innovations? And how can enterprises improve reliability of information for their work?Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, qualitative analysis on the basis of the dialectical systems theory and business cybernetics is applied.Findings – Modern markets require innovated business concepts. They include creation and implementation of requisitely holistic information support. Hence, enterprises need information management innovation. The use of requisite holism (as non‐technical innovation) to increase content‐reliability of business information is discussed. Matching information requirements by business cybernetics based on dialectical systems thinking can diminish errors by providing requisite holism.Research limitations/implications – Resea...

Business cybernetics – provocation number two

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest a more holistic definition and basic guidelines for implementation of specific cybernetics dealing with business systems (BSs) from the viewpoint of managing them. The paper aims to consider three problems: how to develop a general methodology of requisitely holistic thinking for business cybernetics (BC) and its application; how to consider the attributes of BC (e.g. all attributes of BC and their generalization in BSs); and how to recognize and define relations between attributes of BC and their synergies.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, qualitative analysis on the basis of the cybernetics (e.g. especially general cybernetics), BC (different) systems theories, and dialectical systems theory is applied.Findings – BC is shown to be a specific cybernetic dealing with BSs from viewpoint of managing/impacting on them. Thus, BC is trying to complete previous cognitions about possible approaches for managing/impacting on BSs. It covers the basic, in...

Values, environmental concern and economic concern as predictors of enterprise environmental responsiveness

AbstractThis article reports on examination of the relationships between manager’s personal values, their attitudes toward concern for environment, concern for economic results and enterprise environmental responsiveness. Schwartz’s list of values and statements about the environmental and economic concerns is used. We analyzed 1179 managers’ answers from Slovenian enterprises with structural equation modeling. Manager’s concern results: (a) for environment positively and significantly and (b) for economics negatively and insignificantly, in influence on enterprise environmental responsiveness. Two value dimensions significantly influence enterprise environmental responsiveness and one negatively. Environmental concern mediates the effect of three, and concern for economic results mediates the effect of two value dimensions on enterprise’s environmental responsiveness. Generalization can be limited due to the focus on one Central Europe country; future examination is needed. Findings are useful for the de...