Sydney Theatre Company - Open Systems Thinking - Assignment Example

Group Workshop Report 1500 words CASE STUDY: Sydney Theatre Company What were your conclusions about the Sydney Theatre Company? 500 words The first conclusion about the company concerns its approach towards attaining sustainability in the business environment in which it operates. It can be seen that this has been the focus of the new management in the recent past. Since the company is a non-profit organisation and its operations are constantly characterised by insufficient resources, there is the obvious need of making the company sustainable. This applies to all types of resources in the company, including human resources and finances. It has been the focus of the management to develop a strong sponsorship base as well as growing its income sources as a means of ensuring that the operations of the company are sustainable in the future. This therefore means that judging from the current state of operations in the company, present and future sustainability is an objective that is more or less realised. The second conclusion is about the way in which the company seeks to balance its business model in the current environment. As a state-funded corporation, the company seeks to hire conventional business managers who can apply the profit-making business model in the not-for-profit objectives of the company. Related to this is the emphasis the company puts in hiring managers that are competent and ready to implement this business model. The third conclusion about the company is that it derives its strength from its ability to adapt to the changing business environment. Since there are constant changes in the theatre business, the company has managed to stay ahead by constantly developing new ways to leverage on its operations. For instance, seeking to grow its market to the scene in the United States and Europe through shows means that the company is adapting to changes that require companies to develop new markets apart from their domestic ones. Also, by developing plays that target the general audience, as well as developing ties with different institutions and individuals in the society, the company has developed a sense of adaptability and differentiation in the market. The last observation is about the future of the company. Generally, it can be concluded that the company’s future is secure. This becomes clear when several factors are taken into consideration. For instance, the company has been able to turn in an excess of revenue over expenditure in the recent past. This has come after a series of measures to increase the income sources of the company. With its prospects in the near future, the company is likely to maintain a healthy balance sheet. Also, the role of human resource management in the transformation of the company cannot be overemphasised. The focus, zeal, dedication and expertise of the top management of the company have played a major part in transforming its fortunes. With this kind of employees, the company is likely to maintain its good performance. This will be reflected in all the different activities that form the core processes of the company’s operations. In what ways does the Sydney Theatre Company display open systems thinking? Ensure that the Report refers to the Katz and Kahn (1978) reading about open systems thinking. 1000 words According to Katz and Kahn, open social systems have ten key characteristics which separate them from closed social systems. This theory can be applied on different types of organisations as a means of describing their activities, mode of operation and general outlook for the future. There are several ways in which Sydney Theatre Company displays open systems thinking. These correspond to the ten key characteristics of open systems as described by Katz and Kahn (Jackson, 2000, p. 65). To begin with, it is important to note that the operations of Sydney Theatre Company, as it is, satisfy the conditions necessary for the organisation to be described as a closed system. According to Amagoh (2008), a closed system can be described as a system having a state of equilibrium that is independent of time (p. 4). This means that all the processes taking place within such a system are independent of any kind of input from the external environment. The operations of Sydney Theatre Company are not so. It can be seen that throughout the process of carrying out its core activities, the company depends on input from different quarters as a necessary part of its operations. This corresponds to the concept of a high dependence on the input from external players and that of the immediate physical environment as being an integral part of open systems (Miner, 2011, p. 168). The first way in which Sydney Theatre Company displays open systems thinking is through the process of importation of energy or resources. As an open system, the company faces the need to constantly acquire resources from its external environment so that it can run its operations. Funding, human resources, marketing and other materials are some of the resources which the company is in constant need of throughout its cycles of operation. Since its operations change in terms of size and the demand for particular plays, the amount of energy required as input into the system also fluctuates to reflect these changes. It has already been stated that different resources are secured from the external environment as a necessary step in facilitating the processes of the company. Once the resources are secured, they change ownership and become part of the company. Because of this, the company is able to utilise them in appropriate ways during the second and subsequent stages of its operations. Another way in which Sydney Theatre Company displays open systems thinking is the manner in which the resources acquired from the external environment are transformed into different products for the public. This corresponds to the second key characteristic of open system which examines how resources are transformed through the throughput of energy (Magalhaes, 2004, p. 74). This entails a process in which the resources are transformed in the course of the processes of the organisation (Jackson, 2000, p. 66). There are several ways in which transformation takes place at the Sydney Theatre Company. For instance, the financial resources collected in the form of donations, sponsorships and state contributions are used to develop new plays for exhibition. This way, the resources obtained are transformed by the management team of the company into different forms and products. Apart from financial resources, transformation of resources within the company also takes the form of arranging different plays for exhibition. This is an important transformative step in the processes of the company’s operations since it affects the overall performance of the company. Another way in which Sydney Theatre Company displays open systems thinking lies in the way the management of the company pays much attention to the output processes of the company. According to Landy and Conte (2004), output in open systems means the process by which the resources that have been transformed are transferred back to the external environment (p. 65). For the case of the Sydney Theatre Company, output is achieved when the plays that have been developed are finally staged for public viewing. In this process, the finished product in the form of a play is a product of the initial resources which were procured from the external environment, transformed through the processes of the company and now introduced back into the external environment as a finished product. It is also important to note that the output phase extends into other events such as the reaction of the public over a product (Cole, 2004, p. 83). For the case of the Sydney Theatre Company, this is exemplified in the form of reviews from the public about the plays that are staged by the company. Another way in which the organisation displays open systems is the manner in which the entire company can be viewed as a system that is made of up cycles of events. According to Corlett (n.d.), open systems are made up of a series of activities that occur in particular patterns over the course of time (p. 4). These patterns are reflected in the processes of importation of resources, transformation and transfer of the resources to the external environment (Bastedo, 2004, p. 2). Viewed from this perspective, the activities of Sydney Theatre Company can be said to conform to this cyclical flow of events model. The making of a play requires an input of different kinds of resources. These resources are transformed into a play that is released to the external environment. With the reaction of the public, the process of making the next film commences, thus requiring an input of resources from the external environment once more. Also, Millett (n.d.) observes that the process of releasing products to the public in open systems constitutes a depletion of resources that are owned by the system (p. 8). What this implies is that in order for the cycle to be maintained, there is need for the depleted resources to be replenished. This is done through the process of negative entropy that seeks to replace resources as a way of sustaining the system (Cole, 2004, p. 82). The operations at Sydney Theatre Company are similar to this process. Once resources are consumed through financial and operational costs, the management of the company seeks ways in which further resources can be attained. By replacing consumed resources, the company is able to maintain its operations over the course of time. The last key way in which Sydney Theatre Company exhibits open systems thinking lies in how the nature of the company’s activities has changed over time. This corresponds to differentiation and specialisation under the open systems theory (Haaslam, 2004, p. 84). In the course of time, the nature of operations and general strategy of the company has focused on addressing its special needs. This is reflected in the need to focus on expanding its audience and the focus of the management on producing plays that appeal to the general audience. In conclusion, there are several ways in which Sydney Theatre Company displays open systems. The operations, focus and cycle of events correspond to some of the key characteristics of open systems. References Amagoh, F. (2008). Perspectives on organisational change: Systems and complexity theories. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 13(3): 1 – 12. Retrieved 25 November 2013, from: http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=10&cad=rja&ved=0CIQBEBYwCQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.innovation.cc%2Fscholarly-style%2Famagoh3dec2008jag2rev1.pdf&ei=h_WSUrOaM8OwygOruICIAg&usg=AFQjCNGeDkn3XSNS8Ih7We1Sr5JX2DOmLQ&sig2=vl3yBOC5FeyVfZGac2Fb5g&bvm=bv.56643336,d.bGQ Bastedo, M. N. (2004). Open systems theory. 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Landy, F. J. & Conte, J. M. (2004). Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organisational Psychology. London: Wiley-Blackwell. Magalhaes, R. (2004). Organisational Knowledge and Technology: An Action-Oriented Perspective on Organisation and Information Systems. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing. Millett, B. (n.d). Understanding organisations: The dominance of systems theory. International Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 1(1): 1 – 12. Retrieved 25 November 2013, from: http://www.google.co.ke/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CEEQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usq.edu.au%2Fextrafiles%2Fbusiness%2Fjournals%2Fhrmjournal%2Finternationalarticles%2Fdomofsystemstheorymillett.pdf&ei=h_WSUrOaM8OwygOruICIAg&usg=AFQjCNG-GAErMXy5Aug7qeQEcEIiWH15gA&sig2=bDsv3SuiQBoTMSyS6RLeGQ&bvm=bv.56643336,d.bGQ Miner, J. B. (2011). International Theory Development and the Role of the Unconscious. New York: M. E. Sharpe. Read More