ABSTRACT
If an organization or system were described as ‘closed’ it would mean that there were no interactions across its boundaries. It is not easy to think of an example of such an organization but by scratching my head very hard I came up with the idea of a group of people lost in space. Their well-equipped space station allows them to grow their own food, they recycle all their waste to produce the materials they need. They are out of contact with any civilization and too far from any star to draw energy from its light. They have their own on-board energy supply. No ‘real’ organization is truly closed. Sadly, the laws of thermodynamics mean their self-sufficient voyage is doomed; their energy source will eventually need renewal. For all intents and purposes, virtually all organizations can be considered open, with continual (and usually extensive) exchanges across their boundaries. Organizations exchange people, energy, information, expertise, equipment, money, goods and services with their environments. One can view an organization as a transformation process, transforming inputs into outputs. For example, a school can be viewed as an organization to take raw pupils and transform them into socialized, educated and useful members of society. One could formulate different views of the education process, such as a process to equip people to lead a fulfilling life, but the main point I want to make is that exchanges across an organization’s boundary are essential for the organization to exist and achieve its purposes. In this section we look in more detail at how the environment influences an organization and its transformation process.
