ABSTRACT
We are at the beginning of a new phase of evolution in both our understanding and practice of how we organize to achieve our purposes. We are still experiencing the aftermath of the last great breakthrough stimulated by the effects of World War II and expressed as an opensystems approach. This shift affected not only the way we think about organizations but also the way we think about ourselves, our relationships to each other, and our worlds. Ironically, though, the shift stopped short of enlightening us about the nature of the “whole,” as we showed in Chapter 1. Much of advanced thinking about organizational systems has focused on the dynamic relationship between the parts of organized entities and their environments with a view to obtaining more control over them. Only in recent years have we started to reach for a more inclusional view that transcends this control-oriented perspective to suggest that wholeness itself is an equal valid end of our organizing efforts.
