ABSTRACT
If there is one consistent theme running through formal explanations of human organizations and prescriptions for their management developed over the past century, it seems to be this: organizations are the means that humans design in order to undertake the joint action required to achieve a given purpose. The formulations of scientific management in the early years of the twentieth century defined management as the tasks of organizing, planning and controlling. Prescriptions for the competent accomplishment of those tasks were given in terms of rational analysis of task requirements and human motivations to perform them. Success was equated with accurate prediction and the removal of uncertainty and conflict, so sustaining states of equilibrium. The development of systems theories applied to organizations over the second half of the twentieth century led to an enormous increase in the sophistication of thinking about management. However, the consistent theme continued. Organizations were thought to consist of interrelated subsystems, forming a system that interacted with its environment. The functions of management were understood to be:
● Designing subsystems and systems of joint activity having the capacity to adapt to the environment in a self-regulating manner.
