A LITTLE BOOK OF f-LAWS common sins of management by Dr Russel Ackoff

The lower the rank of managers, the more they know about fewer things. The higher the rank of managers, the less they know about many things

Hoe lager de rang van de managers, des te meer

ze weten over minder dingen. Hoe hoger

de rang van managers, hoe minder ze weten

over veel dingen

De relatie tussen managers en ondergeschikten is

complementaire: noch weet waarom de ander doet wat

ze doen, noch kan dat hun schelen. Dit laat een groot zwart gat

achter waarin de belangrijkste kwesties en

communicatie vallen, verloren gaan en voor altijd verdwijnen.

Managers maken bergen uit mol heuvels; ondergeschikten

maken mol heuvels uit bergen.

The relationship between executives and subordinates is

complementary: neither knows why the other does what

they do, nor cares about it. This leaves a large black hole

between them into which most important issues and

communications fall, lost and, like Clementine, gone

forever

Operating policy filters

1. Peoples cognitive limitations
2. Operating goals, awards and incentives
3. Information, measurement and communication systems
4. Organisational and geographical structure
5. Tradition, culture, folklore and leadership

Equifinality

Equifinality is the principle that in open systems a given end state can be reached by many potential means. The term is due to Ludwig von Bertalanffy, the founder of General Systems Theory. He prefers this term, in contrast to "goal", in describing complex systems' similar or convergent behavior. It emphasizes that the same end state may be achieved via many different paths or trajectories. In closed systems, a direct cause-and-effect relationship exists between the initial condition and the final state of the system: When a computer's 'on' switch is pushed, the system powers up. Open systems (such as biological and social systems), however, operate quite differently. The idea of equifinality suggests that similar results may be achieved with different initial conditions and in many different ways.  This phenomenon has also been referred to as isotelesis[2] (Greek: ἴσος /isos/ "equal", τέλεσις /telesis/ "the intelligent direction of effort toward the achievement of an end.") when in games involving superrationality

In economics and business, a network effect (also called network externality or demand-side economies of scale) is the effect that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product to other people. When network effect is present, the value of a product or service is dependent on the number of others using it

The chariot (organization)

Organizations design communications process among their members as a means to control performance at specific level of efficiency (Scott 2003)

Organization establish different types of authority relationships at different scales of operations that constrain their members access to information(March 1995)

Self organization requires sufficient structure to hold and exchange information, but sufficent flexibility to adapt to news conditions (Kauffmann 1993)

Emergency response personnel depend upon timele communcation with external agents to inform their actions in dynamic environments (Comfort and Sunger 2001)

Organization operating in hierarchical environments reduce their capacity for coordination i uncertain conditions by structuring information processes that limits access to information among their members (garber 2002)

Organizations operating without constraints on communication or access to information tends to form-scale free networks that perform more efficiently.

General systems theory

General system theory was originally proposed by biologist ludwig van Bertalanffy in 1928. Since Discartes the "scientific method" had progressed under two related assumptions.

A system would be broken down in to individual components so that each component could be analysed as an independent entity, and the component could be added in linear fashion to describe the totality of the system.

Systems can be either controlled or not controlled (cybernetics) or uncontrolled. In controlled systems information is sensed and changes are effected in response to the system. Kuhn refers to this as the Detectors, Selectors and Effectors function of the systems. The detectors is concerned with the communications of information between systems. The selectors is defined by the rules that the system uses to make decisions, and the effectors is the mean by which transactions are made between systems. Communication between systems, Communications are transaction are the only inter systems interactions.

All organizational and social interaction involve communication and for transactions

Kuhn's Models stresses that the role decision is to move the system towards equilibrium. Communication and transaction provides the vehicle for a system to achieve equilibrium.

A subculture can be defined only relative to the current forms of attention. When society is viewed as a system, culture is seen as pattern in the system. Social analysis is the study of communication, learned patterns common to relatively large group of people.

The study of the systems can follow two general approached. A cross-sectional approach deals with the interactions between two systems while a developmental approach deals with the changes in a system over time.

There are three general approaches for evaluating subsystems. A holistic approach us to examine the system as a complete functioning unit. A reductionist approach looks downwards and examine the subsystem within the system. The functionalism approach looks upwards from the system to examine the role it plays in the large system.

Descartes and Locke both believed that words were composed of smaller building blocks. Both thought that one could strip away all the terms of ambiguity and be left with clarity of comprehension.

Related fields of system theory are information theory and cybernetics. This group of theories can help us understand a wide variety of physical, biological, social and behavioural process, including communication (Infante 1997)