Abstract
General Systems Theory (GST) is reviewed as a paradigm for modeling business applications. The theory has been used and abused for over sixty years, oftentimes the subject of scholarly articles written by authors who felt the need to write, especially as GST was the current ‘flavor of the day’, but who hadn’t reviewed the basic literature to learn what the GST concept actually entailed. The GST concept is reviewed, from its original documents, and the history is explored. A section is devoted to reviewing some of the literature that has been published in scholarly journals or books over the decades, and the general trend of ascribing much greater complexity to the application of GST to business and management is noted. This article presents a paradigm that is based in the simplicity of the original concept of general systems theory as offered by Ludwig von Bertalanffy, and using the time-honored concepts of business organization and management that have been studied, researched, applied, and taught for many years. The marriage of the business concepts with the explanatory power of the general systems theory provides a model that is easy to understand, teach, and apply.
Recommended Citation
O'Rourke, Vincent
(2010)
"Using General Systems Theory as a Business Application Paradigm,"
Journal of the North American Management Society: Vol. 5:
No.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/jnams/vol5/iss1/3