How Sydney Theatre Company Displays Open Systems Thinking - Case Study Example

Workshop Name Course Name and Code Date Workshop Through a close analysis of the Sydney Theatre Company (STC), it can be revealed that the top management of the company achieved tremendous success through appropriate designing, adaptation, innovation and sustaining of the organisation. According to my group, they are well aware that the STC is transformation has been made possible a result of teamwork exemplified through the efforts of Cate Blanchet, Patrick McIntyre and Andrew Upton as the Managers. The group members are also well aware that the STC is actually a $30 million enterprise, which has succeeded because of various stakeholders like for instance theatregoers, government funding, philanthropists and loyal subscribers. The group members are also well aware of the fact that the Sydney Theatre Company is a State Theatre Company, which is also a non-profit organization whereby business relationships are given uttermost importance. The group members know that STC is a company, which has embraced both cultural and environmental sustainability in its operations, and thus there is both the adoption of short-term ideas and long-range ideas in the company. From their knowledge, the group members ascertained that the company operates with a view of being able to achieve cultural, social and economic benefits not only to the company but to the community as well. In addition, the group members are well aware of the fact that STC reports its issues through active lobbying, representation and even in media communication and it have invested a lot of the organization’s time in the business plan in which the company has divided its activities into 3 parts namely art, business and the community (Philip, Et al, 1995). According to the group members, they know that Sydney Theatre Company is keen on development and innovation, which are pecked on ideas related to business innovation. In addition, the group members know that STC has diversified and tapped into cross-promotional activities aimed at ensuring greater success of the company. STC, according to the group members, explores various business methodologies, which have immensely contributed, to the company’s success. STC according to the group members is successful because it runs on limited resources and it is also run by fresh and innovative management styles by its leaders. Being a state theatre company, STC wholly believes that they owe their responsibilities both to the audience and to the industry as a whole. The members of the group know that STC takes great pride in both experimentation and development because it is through creative art that thinking is led. Research conducted on the company by the group members made them to realize that the company was not keen on building a company or an organization in their own image but rather, they were interested or keen on establishment of sustainable relationships. The company is also well aware of the fact that it can only succeed through being run as a team and not denuding it of all the necessary stardom influence. Through research conducted by the company, the group ascertained that STG values relationships with other stakeholders because they are vital to the company’s funding base. How Sydney Theatre Company Displays open Systems Thinking Open System thinking refers to a way of thinking regarding dynamic systems o the systems that are known to interact with their various environments. It should be noted that all businesses, including the STC are dynamic systems, which evolve and eventually change in response to various feedback. Open systems thinking is important for Sydney Theatre Company as a business because it presents it with a framework for thinking regarding useful processes like for instance change which is part and parcel of business operation. The Sydney Theatre company displays open systems thinking through various ways. For instance, STC practices open systems thinking thorough the importation of energy by employing capable and qualified employees in the company. Change in open systems also refers to a process towards the adaption of the shifting circumstances. It is through open systems thinking that STC is provided with the tools necessary for thinking about change like for instance explanations and descriptions of general obstacles and patterns. STC also displays Open Systems thinking through integration and coordination of its systems. This is because the successful dynamic changes in the STC as an organization involves or comprises the paying of attention towards the feedback and integration of such information as opposed to the continuation of rigid ideas regarding how changes should occur. STC is a company that is known to change its product line through placing emphasis of the company’s most successful services thus effecting change through the shifting as a response to customer demand information. The Sydney Theatre Company displays open systems thinking in the organization by adopting systems as being cycles of events and through loops and links. Links refers to connections between elements of any given system. For instance, STC as a business is a series of links or a loop, which reinforce each other mutually. In addition, STC practices open Systems through negative entropy, which refers to the principle that “all things move toward an inert or resting state”. A negative change towards entropy indicates that the organization’s systems are more ordered. STC as a company also displays open systems thinking through differentiation. For instance, STC as an organization has system boundaries or separations from the entire environment that they interact with. Since such systems interact with their various environments, their particular boundaries should be actually porous or capable of allowing information to get in and out of the company. The Sydney Theatre Company displays Open systems thinking through Equifinality, which refers to a principle in open systems in which a particular end state can be reached through various potential ways. This is because just like social and biological systems, STC as a company also operates runs quite differently. STC adopts the idea of Equifinality through suggesting that it can achieve similar results using different initial circumstances and through various ways. Indeed, STC applies Equifinality in its business operations by establishing similar competitive advantages, which are based on different substantial competencies. In general, STC displays various characteristics of system thinking like for instance through the throughput and output, through information input, negative feedback and through the coding process. The STC thinking is done through a holistic approach towards analysis, which places emphasis on the way that the organization’s system’s parts interrelate within the contexts of the larger systems. STC displays Open Systems thinking through the thinking, practising and seeing the world in a particular manner and thus how the company sees things greatly influences the way it approaches situations or even undertakes some specific tasks within the organization. While displaying system thinking, STC understands how various components together with their relationships within the organization’s system affect the behaviour and quality of the whole. The STC system has a purpose and an objective and it is known to function based on specific principles of the organization, which is a good example of a human centred system. STC also displays open Systems operations because its system comprises of the people working in the organization, the environment, the processes, organizational structures and even possible hierarchies that prevail in the organization. STC applies open systems thinking through looking at the company from the perspective of its customers. The company’s achieves this through recognition of the nature and amount of demand that is established by the clients and recognition of what is useful and important in service delivery from the client’s view. The STC system is also well designed to ensure that it well responds to the needs of the clients. The importation of energy, the throughput, the output and system circles, being characteristics of open systems thinking displayed by the Sydney Theatre company depict systems as being various cycles of events while negative entropy, input of information, negative feedback and the process of coding are referred as being the safeguards towards the survival of organizations, STC included. In addition, differentiation, integration and coordination are patterns of STC development patterns while Equifinality is regarded as being the guiding principle of the organization.STG creates open system thinking in its business operations by through establishing a relation with the general environment for instance, the environment supplies the resource inputs which include money, the people, materials, information and technology. On the other hand, the organization establishes workflows, which eventually change resources into output during the process of transformation. Lastly, the environment consumes the products through the finished services or goods (Russell, 2010). In conclusion, it should be noted that in order to build and display open systems thinking in STC, it is vital for the company to share information and also collaborate on the various work activities in the whole organization across the various functional specialities and even at various levels of the organization. The organization should also note that decision-making happens in small and constant steps. System thinking in the contemporary society has actually proved to be very useful in the development process like for instance during the implementation of the agile methods. One of the major known tools in system thinking in most organizations is “theory of variation” which aids in the understanding natural variation in the capability of the organization. References Philip P. Et al. (1995). Companion to theatre in Australia. Sydney: Currency Press in association with Cambridge University Press. Russell, L (2010) Systems Thinking for Curious Managers. New York: Triarchy Press. Read More