Systems Management - Essay Example

SYSTEM MANAGEMENT Systems Management There is a different between a system and a system management. A system is a collection of related components which work as a unit to perform a certain activity. On the other hand, a system management is a new way of understanding challenges in organizations or system. It seeks to replace the traditional way of thinking where one person, aspect or dimension is seen as a cause of a problem. System management appreciates the fact that a problem can not be caused by either an individual or a department in an organization.

It is, therefore, a wholesome view where the characteristics of one individual or department do not influencing the whole organization operations. Whatever problem an organization is facing is part of a larger system and in order to solve such a problem, the focus is shifted to the whole system. In addition, within the context of system management, how an organization is organized, influences and is influenced by the behavior of workers. The organization of an institution explain why in real world, two succeeding managers may be faced by the same problems or have similar styles of management (Anderson & Johnson, 1997).

Currently, managers are faced with dynamic, interdependent, and complex problems in managing a system. Such challenges are devastating and due to their uncertainty, a manger may be tempted to simplify the challenge by working with one problem. According to system management formulating solutions can generate a lot of problems to other components of the system because it is not a holistic approach. Managers, therefore, need to recognize the relationship within a system and also with its environment (Anderson & Johnson, 1997).

Managers ought to understand and analyze the nature of organizations, as an integrated and complex system made up of both human and non-human sub systems. These sub systems need to work together for the whole sub system to function successfully. A company, for example, can be a whole system made up of several sub systems. For this company to run, policies, processes, laws, code of conduct, corporate social responsibility, among other basic units have to be formulated. The manager should have the knowledge that these basic units have boundaries which make them different from one another.

The basic units within a big system, therefore, determine whether a system is open or closed. It can be an open system if external laws affect the company. On the other hand, a system can be closed if it governs its own affairs with minimal interference from the government (Anderson & Johnson, 1997). The world is composed of different systems, with it being the largest system. The boundaries of these systems are determined by particular purposes. For example, due to thirst for knowledge in the current world, we have an education system (Anderson & Johnson, 1997).

However, systems can be selected and defined at various levels and work together with each other. For example, the accountability system, the finance system, the decision-making system among others A system manager needs to be aware that he or she is part of the system and too, all the people. People, therefore, contribute to their own problems because systems work for them and they work in them. By carefully looking at all systems, human beings have contributed to the problems that they face and ironically provided solutions.

Human beings need to realize that, maybe a problem challenging us today, might have been a solution that was implemented in the past. Apart from people being part of the system, the culture an organization holds is a crucial component of managing a system (Anderson & Johnson, 1997). For example, if an organization’s decisions have for long been made by one or two people, it might take a lot of time for them to be made in a participatory manner. In today’s system management, a participatory decision making process is encouraged so that employee’s ideas are an input to decision making process.

Failure to involve the employees, leads to a decision being rejected which is a cause of system failure. System managers need to be good team players to promote effective exchange of inputs to the decision making process. An organization as an entity, unexpectedly suffers systematic failures. The failure may be in the whole system or a crucial component where there is a breakdown between and within system components. The components being noted must work hand in hand for overall success (Anderson & Johnson, 1997).

However, Causes of systematic breakdown may include unachievable able goals, failure to assign duties and responsibilities clearly, and inadequate feedback, among others. The basic reason for establishing and managing any system is to achieve a certain goal (Anderson & Johnson, 1997). A system requires a performance management system. The management system may be built on such feature such as reviews, goal setting, monitoring and evaluation, rewards, and incentives. The purpose of a performance management is to concentrate on what motivates the workers and what binds the systems together rather than just visible performance.

In conclusion, systems can confuse, block, overpower and fail leadership in an organization. Often, a major leadership failure within or across an organization is known as systematic failure. It is interesting to learn that we human beings are crucial aspects of most systems, since they work for people and people work in them. The fact that people maybe suffering because of their own problems is disheartening, and they collectively need to think and rethink before acting. Reference Anderson, V.

, & Johnson, L. (1997). Systems thinking basics: From concepts to causal loops. Cambridge, Mass: Pegasus Communications.