System Types, Organizations, and Crisis Management

Posted on Jan 22, 2025 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

Types of Systems

1. Inputs

Inputs are the resources that the external environment provides. They include materials (people, capital, information, techniques, etc.) and the demands of organizational claimant groups (employees, journalists, owners or shareholders, and the community).

Inputs can be:

  • Predictable: Quantifiable according to the needs of the organization, such as capital.
  • Unpredictable: Subjective aspects that cannot be quantified, such as the cultural aspects (feelings, prejudices) that individuals involved in the process bring.

Inputs can be in series, meaning they are the result of previous systems where the question is directly related. They can also be part of a feedback loop, where outputs become inputs of the same system.

2. The Process of Transformation (Processor)

This involves using the inputs to form the product or output efficiently. Such processing requires a hierarchy or subsystems, where the parts constitute the whole. These subsystems interact and relate with each other.

3. Outputs

Outputs are projected into the environment and result from the process of obtaining the desired product or services. They provide answers to all the demands of the claimant groups.

At one end of the schedule, you see a feedback loop, which is the effect experienced by the system on itself. Sometimes, outputs become inputs again, generating an influence of circuit, which causes the system to repeat the same process. The influence of change and resistance forces the search for a different process.

Communication

Communication is essential for two reasons:

  1. It links the different subsystems that make up the organization.
  2. It binds the organization with the external environment.

Organizations

Elements

  • Objectives: Future states that guide directionality and intentionality, and the available means.
  • Resources: The means used to develop organizational activities.

Crisis

Organizations experience declines that can lead to their death or disappearance.

Reasons

  • Internal to the Organization: Death of a partner or proprietor, a decision by the partners or owners, the culmination of the social contract, the achievement of goals, loss of capital, or bankruptcy.
  • External to the Organization: Economic factors, lack of technology, lack of adaptation to change, competition, changes in demand for products or services, or labor issues.

Both in companies and countries, development is based on a certain strength. When emerging from a crisis, it is necessary to assess available resources and try to overcome the equilibrium point. This may require developing new alternatives and strong leadership.

Controlling the Crisis: Three Stages

  1. Freezing
  2. Growth
  3. Development

Two common errors are made:

  1. Thinking that the process ends with freezing the situation, skipping the development stage when there are no strengths and resources.
  2. Avoiding depression in the organization before a change process.

Crisis processes are often associated with financial loss and deficits. The causes are usually found in strategic errors, failures or lack of reaction to changes and challenges in the context, unmanaged conflicts, weak competition, etc. This leads to poor administration, uncontrollable external factors, or both.