Autopoiesis in Organization Theory and Practice

Rodrigo Magalhaes|Ron Sanchez

Emerald

This book can be opened with

Hardback

9781848558328

02 November 2009

$178.99

Description
Contents

"Autopoiesis in Organization Theory and Practice" considers the potential of autopoiesis theory to provide a new unifying framework for the study of organizations as systems and of organizational phenomena as emergent phenomena. The papers in this volume integrate open systems theory with the pioneering work of Maturana and Varela (1980, 1992) on autopoiesis in biological systems. Viewing organizations as living systems opens a powerful new perspective for describing, explaining, and even predicting organizational phenomena across the full spectrum of organizations and environments, from stable to highly dynamic. This collection of papers brings into focus both the great potential and the important challenges facing organizational thinkers in building new organization theory and deriving new principles for management practice based on autopoiesis theory. The topics include the fundamental features of autopoiesis theory, the key conceptual issues surrounding the use of autopoiesis concepts in representing and analyzing organizations as living systems, and the practical applications of autopoiesis theory in designing organizations and managing organizational processes.

Chapter 1 Autopoiesis Theory and Organization: An Overview. Chapter 2 Outlining the Terrain of Autopoietic Theory. Chapter 3 Overcoming Autopoiesis: An Enactive Detour on the Way from Life to Society. Chapter 4 Innovation and Organization: An Overview from the Perspective of Luhmann's Autopoiesis. Chapter 5 Autopoiesis and Organizations: A Biological View of Social System Change and Methods for Their Study. Chapter 6 Autopoiesis and Critical Social Systems Theory. Chapter 7 Productive Misunderstandings between Organization Science and Organization Practice: The Science–Practice Relation from the Perspective of Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Autopoietic Systems. Chapter 8 Plugging the Theoretical Gaps: How Autopoietic Theory Can Contribute to Process-Based Organizational Research. Chapter 9 An Autopoietic Understanding of “Innovative Organization”. Chapter 10 Information in Organizations: Rethinking the Autopoietic Account. Chapter 11 Autopoiesis and the Evolution of Information Systems. Chapter 12 The Autopoiesis of Organizational Knowledge, Learning, and Memory. Chapter 13 Autopoiesis: Building a Bridge between Knowledge Management and Complexity. Chapter 14 Autopoiesis as the Foundation for Knowledge Management. Chapter 15 Autonomous Cooperation — A Way to Implement Autopoietic Characteristics into Complex Adaptive Logistic Systems?. Chapter 16 The Autopoiesis of Decisions in School Organizations: Conditions and Consequences. List of Contributors. Advanced Series in Management. Autopoiesis in Organization Theory and Practice. Copyright page.