This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
-1. Organizations as autopoietic systems-2. Organizations as teleonomic systems-3. Business and n... more -1. Organizations as autopoietic systems-2. Organizations as teleonomic systems-3. Business and non-business, profit and nonprofit organizations-4. The permanent organization as cognitive system. Structural coupling-5. The behaviour of the cognitively efficient organization-6. Intellegence, learning, experience-7. Managerial qualities and entrepreunership in business organizations-8. The Web-Based Information Technologies and the structural coupling of production organizations in the Information and Internet Age. The sensory organs-9. The connector effector organs and the processors-10. The internal organs of cognition. Business intelligence and Analytical applications-11. Learning organizations and learning management. Business intelligence-12. The three wheels of change in the organization-13. The change in mental models-References
In this paper I propose a general model to understand (not merely describe) the operating logic o... more In this paper I propose a general model to understand (not merely describe) the operating logic of Business Value-Creating Organizations and, in particular of the capitalistic firm-that is, the business forprofit organization.
Questo lavoro è il primo di una serie di articoli programmati con il fine di presentare a docenti... more Questo lavoro è il primo di una serie di articoli programmati con il fine di presentare a docenti e studenti alcuni argomenti che potrebbero essere utili per approfondire talune tematiche dei corsi di Economia Aziendale o per approfondire alcuni temi tecnici, concetti o teorie. Questo articolo, in particolare, cerca di esaminare la nozione di "Azienda"-tipico della letteratura italiana-come è stata proposta nel pensiero dei Maestri dell'Economia Aziendale. Preliminarmente viene proposta una definizione operativa di "Economia Aziendale", intesa come scienza che indaga la realtà dei comportamenti economici e costruisce modelli descrittivi ed operativi, solitamente perfetti e ideali, per comprendere e spiegare come si sviluppi il comportamento nelle aziende, delle aziende e tra le aziende. Questa definizione conduce al concetto di "azienda" come organizzazione permanente creata per sviluppare i processi economici di produzione e di consumo. Sulla base di queste nozioni, viene presentata una sintesi del pensiero dei Maestri dell'economia Aziendale italiana. This work is the first of a series of articles planned with the aim of presenting to teachers and students some topics that could be useful for deepening certain topics of the Economia Aziendale (Business Administration o Business Economics) courses or to deepen some technical issues, concepts or theories. This article, in particular, tries to examine the notion of "Azienda"-typical of Italian literature-as it has been proposed in the thought of the Masters of Economia Aziendale. Preliminarily, an operational definition of " Economia Aziendale" is proposed, understood as a science that investigates the reality of economic behavior and builds descriptive and operational models, usually perfect and ideal, to understand and explain how behavior develops in companies and between companies (firms). This definition leads to the concept of "company" as a permanent organization created to develop the economic processes of production and consumption. Based on these notions, a synthesis of the thinking of the Masters of Italian business economics is presented.
Questo studio si propone di presentare una teoria semplice-la teoria dei Sistemi di Controllo-che... more Questo studio si propone di presentare una teoria semplice-la teoria dei Sistemi di Controllo-che è in grado di descrivere, interpretare e spiegare la logica di controllo di gestione. Ho presentato la logica dei Sistemi di Controllo senza ricorrere al formalismo matematico, preferendo modelli descrittivi che possono essere considerati prototipi elementari, ma anche generali. Il controllo strategico considera l'impresa come il sistema di controllo mediante il quale gli stakeholder che formano la governance cercano di raggiungere i propri obiettivi istituzionali. La variabile di più elevato livello che l'impresa deve controllare per sopravvivere è redditività, cioè un livello di roi e di roe che consentano all'impresa di produrre valore per gli azionisti e per l'intero sistema degli stakeholder interni ed esterni. This study aims to present a simple theory-the Theory of Control Systems-which is able to describe, interpret and explain the logic of Management control. I have presented the logic of control systems without recourse to formal mathematics, preferring descriptive which can be considered prototypes of elementary, though general, systems which operate in any organizational environment. The macro, or strategic, control views the firm as the Control System by which the stakeholders, which form of governance, seek to achieve their institutional goals. The maximum strategic level variable the firm must control in order to survive is profitability-which is indicated by return on equity, or roe, and return on assets, or roi-since, broadly speaking, the production of value for shareholders depends on these variables. The micro, or operational control of management instead concerns the various functions (supply, production, sales, logistics, personnel, finance, etc.) and the various areas (plants, divisions, departments, individual facilities and/or workers, etc.) and operates by activating first-or second-level operational levers.
I costi di manutenzione e di mantenimento dell'efficienza degli impianti giocano un ruolo importa... more I costi di manutenzione e di mantenimento dell'efficienza degli impianti giocano un ruolo importante per garantire l'economicità delle aziende e delle istituzioni. Gli impianti sottoposti a scarsa manutenzione diventano inefficienti e riducono la qualità progettuale dei prodotti, aumentando i costi, diretti e indiretti, di non conformità del prodotto. Aumentano, parallelamente, anche i costi delle attrezzature e riducono la produttività della "forza lavoro" funzionale agli impianti stessi; lievitano i costi di prevenzione e ispezione dei difetti; e, soprattutto, si accresce il rischio che vengano fabbricati prodotti difettosi che dovranno essere riparati o sostituiti e il rischio che si generino scarti di produzione non "riprocessabili". Macchinari con scarsa manutenzione possono comportare tempi di fermo macchina più o meno prolungati che costringono altre unità produttive, sia a monte che a valle, ad arrestarsi, con conseguenti costi significativi per manodopera improduttiva, mancato rispetto dei termini di consegna, penali, perdita di immagine e persino una perdita di clienti. Per evitare tutti questi inconvenienti non bastano riparazioni ex post per ripristinare la funzionalità di impianti inefficienti. L'azienda invece deve attuare una politica di prevenzione che, per quanto possibile, eviti l'insorgere di difetti o il funzionamento anomalo delle macchine. Nel mondo odierno della produzione altamente informatizzata e automatizzata, con un sempre più ampio uso di macchinari automatici e di robot che funzionano collegati in serie e in parallelo, la moderna manutenzione non è più una reazione episodica a guasti e malfunzionamenti, ma un'attività che deve essere concepita come un nuovo servizio aziendale le cui caratteristiche si estendono sempre più a tutta l'organizzazione. Questa nuova funzione di manutenzione è denominata Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). TPM combina il "metodo occidentale" di manutenzione preventiva con il metodo "giapponese" di Total Quality Management, che coinvolge personale ad ogni livello aziendale. In questo breve studio esaminerò le diverse tipologie di manutenzione e la nuova politica aziendale della "TPM", che prevede che il "controllo" dell'efficienza dei macchinari e degli impianti non sia funzione di un singolo Ufficio specializzato ma venga attuata dall'intera organizzazione. Maintenance and plant efficiency costs play an important role to ensure the economy of companies and institutions. Poorly maintained plants become inefficient and reduce design quality, thereby increasing product non-compliance costs. They also increase equipment costs and reduce the productivity of the functional labor force at the plants themselves; increase the costs of preventing and inspecting defects; and, above all, increase the risk that defective products will be manufactured which will need to be repaired or replaced and that nonreprocessable production waste will be produced. Machinery with
Questo studio si propone di presentare la Combinatory Systems Theory, una semplice teoria che è i... more Questo studio si propone di presentare la Combinatory Systems Theory, una semplice teoria che è in grado di descrivere, interpretare e spiegare molti fenomeni collettivi e loro effetti osservabili. La Teoria dei Sistemi Combinatori è stata recentemente formalizzata dal mio volume Combinatory Systems Theory, edito da Springer nel 2017. Ad esso mi sono in parte ispirato nello svolgimento di questo paper. Un "Sistema Combinatorio" è una "collettività" (pluralità, popolazione, specie, gruppo ecc) di agenti relativamente simili (uomini, animali, batteri e così via) che producono micro comportamenti e micro effetti relativamente analoghi (dinamiche dei loro micro-stati) osservabili (o definibili). Considerati insieme, i micro comportamenti /effetti producono un macro comportamento emergente (dinamica del macro-stato collettivo), che non è incluso in anticipo nel programma operativo del comportamento degli agenti, ma è invece attribuibile alla "collettività" nel suo complesso, considerata come un sistema unitario. Il macro comportamento collettivo, a sua volta, condiziona o dirige i successivi micro comportamenti degli agenti. Questo rapporto reciproco agenti-collettività è definito "micromacro feedback" e rappresenta una condizione necessaria e sufficiente per l'esistenza di un sistema combinatorio in quanto garantisce il mantenimento nel tempo del macro comportamento del sistema e aggiorna costantemente i micro comportamenti; quando il sistema si avvia "per caso", "di necessità esso sviluppa e mantiene nel tempo le sue dinamiche, come se una "mano invisibile", una "Autorità Suprema" regolasse tali dinamiche e producesse gli effetti osservabili e i modelli di comportamento. Di fatto, i Sistemi Combinatori sono in grado di produrre molti fenomeni osservabili quattro dei quali sono: l'accumulo di oggetti, la diffusione oggetti, caratteri e funzionalità, il perseguimento o superamento di un limite e il raggiungimento ed il mantenimento di un ordine tra i micro comportamenti degli agenti. Un quinto rilevante effetto, che comprende gli altri, è la dinamica interdipendente tra il miglioramento individuale perseguito dagli agenti e il progresso collettivo nello stato generale di una collettività (definito in modi opportuni). This study aims to present the Combinatory Systems Theory, a simple theory which is able to describe, interpret and explain many collective phenomena and their observable effects. The Combinatory Systems Theory was recently formalized by my book Combinatory Systems Theory, published by Springer in 2017. I was partly inspired by it to prepare this paper. A Combinatory System is a "collectivity" (plurality, population, species, group, etc.) of non-organized relatively similar agents (men, animals, bacteria and so on) which produce relatively analogous micro behaviors (changes in micro-states), that lead to observable (or definable) micro effects. Combined together, the micro behaviors/effects produce an emergent macro behavior (changes in the macrostate), which is not included in advance in the operating program of the agents' behavior, but is instead attributed to the "collectivity" as a whole, regarded as a Unitary System (hence the name of Combinatory Systems). This collectivity's macro behavior in turn conditions the subsequent micro behaviors/effects of the agents. This reciprocal agents-collectivity relationship is defined as micro-macro feedback and represents a necessary and sufficient condition for a combinatory system to exist as it guarantees the maintenance over time of the system's macro behavior and continuously updates the micro behavior When the system starts up "by chance", it then maintains its behavior "by necessity", as if an "invisible hand", a Supreme Authority regulated its time path and produced the observable effects and patterns. Combinatory Systems can produce many relevant phenomena four of which are: the accumulation of objects, the spread of features or information, the pursuit or exceeding of a limit, and the attainment and maintenance of an order among the agents' micro behaviors. A very
Business Economics has as its object the observation of productive organizations, or production c... more Business Economics has as its object the observation of productive organizations, or production companies, be they business or nonbusiness, for profit or not for profit organizations and it studies the decision-making and operational processes according to which they coordinate, cooperate or compete , to transform production factors into products destined to satisfy man's needs and aspirations in variety and continuity. The continuous search for coordination between production organizations has the effect of forming an integrated production system (observed at a global level), conceived as a vast production network where the production nodes (observed at the local level) are interrelated through flows of input and output. The Global Production Network, made up of all the production networks that produce goods to meet the needs and aspirations of humanity, constitute the Productive Kosmos. Just to bring out the characteristics of the (global) production network, I found it useful to follow the holonic perspective and for convenience I introduced the term org-on (or orgon) to indicate a production organization conceived as a vital, autonomous holon, if observed as an entity productive, but semi-autonomous if observed as a node of an orgonic network. I will try to demonstrate, in particular, how few simple selfish rules of individual behavior of orgons (well known from Management Science) are at the basis of the variety, mutability, resilience and evolutionary trend of observable Production Networks. I have identified, in particular, 10 "selfish rules of orgons" from whose application three evolutionary dynamics necessarily and inevitably derive, referable to the network as a unit: continuous expansion, elasticity-resilience and continuous improvement of performance. Just to underline their cogency, I have called these rules the "laws of the production networks". Paraphrasing Koestler (1967) it seems that there is a ghost in the Production Machine, whose invisible hand seems to generate a continuous evolutionary adaptation of the production networks to achieve ever higher levels of progress throughout the entire production Kosmos. There is nothing metaphysical in this evolution: it is generated and governed by egoistic orgons and the laws of the Orgonic Networks. L'Economia Aziendale ha come oggetto l'osservazione delle organizzazioni produttive, o aziende di produzione, siano esse business oppure non business, for profit oppure not for profit organizations e studia i processi decisionali e operativi secondo i quali tali aziende si coordinano, cooperano o competono, per trasformare fattori produttivi in produzioni destinate a soddisfare, nella varietà e nella continuità, i bisogni e le aspirazioni dell'uomo. La continua ricerca di coordinazione tra organizzazioni produttive ha come effetto la formazione di un sistema produttivo integrato (osservato a livello globale), concepito come una vasta rete produttiva (network produttivo), dove i nodi produttivi (osservati a livello locale) sono
A very relevant and useful class of systems that Systems Thinking deals with are control systems.... more A very relevant and useful class of systems that Systems Thinking deals with are control systems. This chapter examines the concept, structure and typology of control systems by using the logic and language of Systems Thinking.
Chapter 1 presented the principles of systems thinking along with the rules and formal language, ... more Chapter 1 presented the principles of systems thinking along with the rules and formal language, and this discipline uses to represent dynamic systems. This chapter deals with the feedback control problem as a general form of efficient control. By adopting the systems thinking language we shall construct the general logical model of a closed-loop control system, the “Ring,” which allows the process control to take place (Sects. 2.1–2.8). The feedback control system model represents the general foundation for every ordered and stable dynamic in the world, and thus the fundamental instrument by which the world itself maintains its existence. This approach allows us to develop a true “art” of control; a discipline based on systems thinking logic that enables us to observe, understand, and modify the world and our future. I shall define the logical structure of the Ring along with the recursive equations that determine its dynamics. The general logical structure of control systems is integrated with its technical structure, which is made up of four apparatuses or machines—effector, sensor, regulator, and information network—which, in fact, make up the chain of control (Sect. 2.9). The model also includes three types of delays and disturbances—action, detection, and regulation—which characterize the processes carried out by the apparatuses. Other new and important concepts are introduced: (1) the management and governance processes; (2) the interferences between control systems; and (3) different areas of application of the general model.
The emergence of systems thinking was a profound revolution in the history of Western scientific ... more The emergence of systems thinking was a profound revolution in the history of Western scientific thought. The belief that in very complex system the behavior of the whole can be understood entirely from the properties of its parts is central to the Cartesian paradigm. This was Descartes’s celebrated method of analytic thinking, which has been an essential characteristic of modern scientific thought. In the analytic, or reductionist, approach, the parts themselves cannot be analyzed any further, except by reducing them to still smaller parts. Indeed, Western science has been progressing in that way, and at each step there has been a level of fundamental constituents that could not be analyzed any further.
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Since the production has been found to be an economical means for satisfying human wants, this pr... more Since the production has been found to be an economical means for satisfying human wants, this process requires a complex industrial organization together with a large investment in equipments, plants and productive systems. These productive systems are employed to alter the physical environment and create consumer goods. As a result, they are consumed or become obsolete, inadequate, or otherwise candidates for replacement. When replacement is being considered, two assets must be evaluated: the present asset, the defender and its potential replacement, the challenger. Since the success of an industrial organization depends upon profit, replacement should generally occur if an economic advantage will result. Whatever the reason leading to the consideration of replacement, the analysis and decisions must be based upon estimates of what will occur in the future. In this paper we present the Mapi algorithm as a procedure for evaluating investments or for analyzing replacement opportunities.
In recent years, however, outsourcing strategies have undergone a profound evolution, from simple... more In recent years, however, outsourcing strategies have undergone a profound evolution, from simple forms of production contracts made with third parties to agreements that involve functions and activities which, requiring "core competencies", or being part of the "core business", have until now been considered inseparable from the company and not capable of being outsourced.In order to decide on outsourcing and formulate a satisfactory outsourcing contract, it is fundamental to identify the "strategic intent" behind the choice to outsource, since this depends on the organizational culture of the two sides in question, which are often diverse and lead to different evaluations regarding the functions and processes to outsource. Precisely for this reason, the greater the strategic importance assigned to the outsourcing, the more important it is for all parties involved that top management be given the responsibility for managing the outsourcer-outsourcee relationship. The tendency today is to attain "global sourcing" and offshoring; that is, outsourcing that involves outsourcers located in countries other than that of the outsourcee. This tendency to outsource most of the functions and processes can take on an extreme form, which we can define as "extreme outsourcing", and lead to the formation of a virtual organization, a company characterized by the pure business coordination of its businesses, where all the productive and economic processes have been outsourced through the formation of a stable but flexible network.
The kingdom of circular processes. The logical foundations of Systems Thinking.- The arrow that c... more The kingdom of circular processes. The logical foundations of Systems Thinking.- The arrow that constructs the world. The Causal Loop Diagrams technique.- Systems Thinking for the control of phenomena. How to construct a control system.- Systems Thinking applied to Problem Solving. System levers.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
-1. Organizations as autopoietic systems-2. Organizations as teleonomic systems-3. Business and n... more -1. Organizations as autopoietic systems-2. Organizations as teleonomic systems-3. Business and non-business, profit and nonprofit organizations-4. The permanent organization as cognitive system. Structural coupling-5. The behaviour of the cognitively efficient organization-6. Intellegence, learning, experience-7. Managerial qualities and entrepreunership in business organizations-8. The Web-Based Information Technologies and the structural coupling of production organizations in the Information and Internet Age. The sensory organs-9. The connector effector organs and the processors-10. The internal organs of cognition. Business intelligence and Analytical applications-11. Learning organizations and learning management. Business intelligence-12. The three wheels of change in the organization-13. The change in mental models-References
In this paper I propose a general model to understand (not merely describe) the operating logic o... more In this paper I propose a general model to understand (not merely describe) the operating logic of Business Value-Creating Organizations and, in particular of the capitalistic firm-that is, the business forprofit organization.
Questo lavoro è il primo di una serie di articoli programmati con il fine di presentare a docenti... more Questo lavoro è il primo di una serie di articoli programmati con il fine di presentare a docenti e studenti alcuni argomenti che potrebbero essere utili per approfondire talune tematiche dei corsi di Economia Aziendale o per approfondire alcuni temi tecnici, concetti o teorie. Questo articolo, in particolare, cerca di esaminare la nozione di "Azienda"-tipico della letteratura italiana-come è stata proposta nel pensiero dei Maestri dell'Economia Aziendale. Preliminarmente viene proposta una definizione operativa di "Economia Aziendale", intesa come scienza che indaga la realtà dei comportamenti economici e costruisce modelli descrittivi ed operativi, solitamente perfetti e ideali, per comprendere e spiegare come si sviluppi il comportamento nelle aziende, delle aziende e tra le aziende. Questa definizione conduce al concetto di "azienda" come organizzazione permanente creata per sviluppare i processi economici di produzione e di consumo. Sulla base di queste nozioni, viene presentata una sintesi del pensiero dei Maestri dell'economia Aziendale italiana. This work is the first of a series of articles planned with the aim of presenting to teachers and students some topics that could be useful for deepening certain topics of the Economia Aziendale (Business Administration o Business Economics) courses or to deepen some technical issues, concepts or theories. This article, in particular, tries to examine the notion of "Azienda"-typical of Italian literature-as it has been proposed in the thought of the Masters of Economia Aziendale. Preliminarily, an operational definition of " Economia Aziendale" is proposed, understood as a science that investigates the reality of economic behavior and builds descriptive and operational models, usually perfect and ideal, to understand and explain how behavior develops in companies and between companies (firms). This definition leads to the concept of "company" as a permanent organization created to develop the economic processes of production and consumption. Based on these notions, a synthesis of the thinking of the Masters of Italian business economics is presented.
Questo studio si propone di presentare una teoria semplice-la teoria dei Sistemi di Controllo-che... more Questo studio si propone di presentare una teoria semplice-la teoria dei Sistemi di Controllo-che è in grado di descrivere, interpretare e spiegare la logica di controllo di gestione. Ho presentato la logica dei Sistemi di Controllo senza ricorrere al formalismo matematico, preferendo modelli descrittivi che possono essere considerati prototipi elementari, ma anche generali. Il controllo strategico considera l'impresa come il sistema di controllo mediante il quale gli stakeholder che formano la governance cercano di raggiungere i propri obiettivi istituzionali. La variabile di più elevato livello che l'impresa deve controllare per sopravvivere è redditività, cioè un livello di roi e di roe che consentano all'impresa di produrre valore per gli azionisti e per l'intero sistema degli stakeholder interni ed esterni. This study aims to present a simple theory-the Theory of Control Systems-which is able to describe, interpret and explain the logic of Management control. I have presented the logic of control systems without recourse to formal mathematics, preferring descriptive which can be considered prototypes of elementary, though general, systems which operate in any organizational environment. The macro, or strategic, control views the firm as the Control System by which the stakeholders, which form of governance, seek to achieve their institutional goals. The maximum strategic level variable the firm must control in order to survive is profitability-which is indicated by return on equity, or roe, and return on assets, or roi-since, broadly speaking, the production of value for shareholders depends on these variables. The micro, or operational control of management instead concerns the various functions (supply, production, sales, logistics, personnel, finance, etc.) and the various areas (plants, divisions, departments, individual facilities and/or workers, etc.) and operates by activating first-or second-level operational levers.
I costi di manutenzione e di mantenimento dell'efficienza degli impianti giocano un ruolo importa... more I costi di manutenzione e di mantenimento dell'efficienza degli impianti giocano un ruolo importante per garantire l'economicità delle aziende e delle istituzioni. Gli impianti sottoposti a scarsa manutenzione diventano inefficienti e riducono la qualità progettuale dei prodotti, aumentando i costi, diretti e indiretti, di non conformità del prodotto. Aumentano, parallelamente, anche i costi delle attrezzature e riducono la produttività della "forza lavoro" funzionale agli impianti stessi; lievitano i costi di prevenzione e ispezione dei difetti; e, soprattutto, si accresce il rischio che vengano fabbricati prodotti difettosi che dovranno essere riparati o sostituiti e il rischio che si generino scarti di produzione non "riprocessabili". Macchinari con scarsa manutenzione possono comportare tempi di fermo macchina più o meno prolungati che costringono altre unità produttive, sia a monte che a valle, ad arrestarsi, con conseguenti costi significativi per manodopera improduttiva, mancato rispetto dei termini di consegna, penali, perdita di immagine e persino una perdita di clienti. Per evitare tutti questi inconvenienti non bastano riparazioni ex post per ripristinare la funzionalità di impianti inefficienti. L'azienda invece deve attuare una politica di prevenzione che, per quanto possibile, eviti l'insorgere di difetti o il funzionamento anomalo delle macchine. Nel mondo odierno della produzione altamente informatizzata e automatizzata, con un sempre più ampio uso di macchinari automatici e di robot che funzionano collegati in serie e in parallelo, la moderna manutenzione non è più una reazione episodica a guasti e malfunzionamenti, ma un'attività che deve essere concepita come un nuovo servizio aziendale le cui caratteristiche si estendono sempre più a tutta l'organizzazione. Questa nuova funzione di manutenzione è denominata Total Productive Maintenance (TPM). TPM combina il "metodo occidentale" di manutenzione preventiva con il metodo "giapponese" di Total Quality Management, che coinvolge personale ad ogni livello aziendale. In questo breve studio esaminerò le diverse tipologie di manutenzione e la nuova politica aziendale della "TPM", che prevede che il "controllo" dell'efficienza dei macchinari e degli impianti non sia funzione di un singolo Ufficio specializzato ma venga attuata dall'intera organizzazione. Maintenance and plant efficiency costs play an important role to ensure the economy of companies and institutions. Poorly maintained plants become inefficient and reduce design quality, thereby increasing product non-compliance costs. They also increase equipment costs and reduce the productivity of the functional labor force at the plants themselves; increase the costs of preventing and inspecting defects; and, above all, increase the risk that defective products will be manufactured which will need to be repaired or replaced and that nonreprocessable production waste will be produced. Machinery with
Questo studio si propone di presentare la Combinatory Systems Theory, una semplice teoria che è i... more Questo studio si propone di presentare la Combinatory Systems Theory, una semplice teoria che è in grado di descrivere, interpretare e spiegare molti fenomeni collettivi e loro effetti osservabili. La Teoria dei Sistemi Combinatori è stata recentemente formalizzata dal mio volume Combinatory Systems Theory, edito da Springer nel 2017. Ad esso mi sono in parte ispirato nello svolgimento di questo paper. Un "Sistema Combinatorio" è una "collettività" (pluralità, popolazione, specie, gruppo ecc) di agenti relativamente simili (uomini, animali, batteri e così via) che producono micro comportamenti e micro effetti relativamente analoghi (dinamiche dei loro micro-stati) osservabili (o definibili). Considerati insieme, i micro comportamenti /effetti producono un macro comportamento emergente (dinamica del macro-stato collettivo), che non è incluso in anticipo nel programma operativo del comportamento degli agenti, ma è invece attribuibile alla "collettività" nel suo complesso, considerata come un sistema unitario. Il macro comportamento collettivo, a sua volta, condiziona o dirige i successivi micro comportamenti degli agenti. Questo rapporto reciproco agenti-collettività è definito "micromacro feedback" e rappresenta una condizione necessaria e sufficiente per l'esistenza di un sistema combinatorio in quanto garantisce il mantenimento nel tempo del macro comportamento del sistema e aggiorna costantemente i micro comportamenti; quando il sistema si avvia "per caso", "di necessità esso sviluppa e mantiene nel tempo le sue dinamiche, come se una "mano invisibile", una "Autorità Suprema" regolasse tali dinamiche e producesse gli effetti osservabili e i modelli di comportamento. Di fatto, i Sistemi Combinatori sono in grado di produrre molti fenomeni osservabili quattro dei quali sono: l'accumulo di oggetti, la diffusione oggetti, caratteri e funzionalità, il perseguimento o superamento di un limite e il raggiungimento ed il mantenimento di un ordine tra i micro comportamenti degli agenti. Un quinto rilevante effetto, che comprende gli altri, è la dinamica interdipendente tra il miglioramento individuale perseguito dagli agenti e il progresso collettivo nello stato generale di una collettività (definito in modi opportuni). This study aims to present the Combinatory Systems Theory, a simple theory which is able to describe, interpret and explain many collective phenomena and their observable effects. The Combinatory Systems Theory was recently formalized by my book Combinatory Systems Theory, published by Springer in 2017. I was partly inspired by it to prepare this paper. A Combinatory System is a "collectivity" (plurality, population, species, group, etc.) of non-organized relatively similar agents (men, animals, bacteria and so on) which produce relatively analogous micro behaviors (changes in micro-states), that lead to observable (or definable) micro effects. Combined together, the micro behaviors/effects produce an emergent macro behavior (changes in the macrostate), which is not included in advance in the operating program of the agents' behavior, but is instead attributed to the "collectivity" as a whole, regarded as a Unitary System (hence the name of Combinatory Systems). This collectivity's macro behavior in turn conditions the subsequent micro behaviors/effects of the agents. This reciprocal agents-collectivity relationship is defined as micro-macro feedback and represents a necessary and sufficient condition for a combinatory system to exist as it guarantees the maintenance over time of the system's macro behavior and continuously updates the micro behavior When the system starts up "by chance", it then maintains its behavior "by necessity", as if an "invisible hand", a Supreme Authority regulated its time path and produced the observable effects and patterns. Combinatory Systems can produce many relevant phenomena four of which are: the accumulation of objects, the spread of features or information, the pursuit or exceeding of a limit, and the attainment and maintenance of an order among the agents' micro behaviors. A very
Business Economics has as its object the observation of productive organizations, or production c... more Business Economics has as its object the observation of productive organizations, or production companies, be they business or nonbusiness, for profit or not for profit organizations and it studies the decision-making and operational processes according to which they coordinate, cooperate or compete , to transform production factors into products destined to satisfy man's needs and aspirations in variety and continuity. The continuous search for coordination between production organizations has the effect of forming an integrated production system (observed at a global level), conceived as a vast production network where the production nodes (observed at the local level) are interrelated through flows of input and output. The Global Production Network, made up of all the production networks that produce goods to meet the needs and aspirations of humanity, constitute the Productive Kosmos. Just to bring out the characteristics of the (global) production network, I found it useful to follow the holonic perspective and for convenience I introduced the term org-on (or orgon) to indicate a production organization conceived as a vital, autonomous holon, if observed as an entity productive, but semi-autonomous if observed as a node of an orgonic network. I will try to demonstrate, in particular, how few simple selfish rules of individual behavior of orgons (well known from Management Science) are at the basis of the variety, mutability, resilience and evolutionary trend of observable Production Networks. I have identified, in particular, 10 "selfish rules of orgons" from whose application three evolutionary dynamics necessarily and inevitably derive, referable to the network as a unit: continuous expansion, elasticity-resilience and continuous improvement of performance. Just to underline their cogency, I have called these rules the "laws of the production networks". Paraphrasing Koestler (1967) it seems that there is a ghost in the Production Machine, whose invisible hand seems to generate a continuous evolutionary adaptation of the production networks to achieve ever higher levels of progress throughout the entire production Kosmos. There is nothing metaphysical in this evolution: it is generated and governed by egoistic orgons and the laws of the Orgonic Networks. L'Economia Aziendale ha come oggetto l'osservazione delle organizzazioni produttive, o aziende di produzione, siano esse business oppure non business, for profit oppure not for profit organizations e studia i processi decisionali e operativi secondo i quali tali aziende si coordinano, cooperano o competono, per trasformare fattori produttivi in produzioni destinate a soddisfare, nella varietà e nella continuità, i bisogni e le aspirazioni dell'uomo. La continua ricerca di coordinazione tra organizzazioni produttive ha come effetto la formazione di un sistema produttivo integrato (osservato a livello globale), concepito come una vasta rete produttiva (network produttivo), dove i nodi produttivi (osservati a livello locale) sono
A very relevant and useful class of systems that Systems Thinking deals with are control systems.... more A very relevant and useful class of systems that Systems Thinking deals with are control systems. This chapter examines the concept, structure and typology of control systems by using the logic and language of Systems Thinking.
Chapter 1 presented the principles of systems thinking along with the rules and formal language, ... more Chapter 1 presented the principles of systems thinking along with the rules and formal language, and this discipline uses to represent dynamic systems. This chapter deals with the feedback control problem as a general form of efficient control. By adopting the systems thinking language we shall construct the general logical model of a closed-loop control system, the “Ring,” which allows the process control to take place (Sects. 2.1–2.8). The feedback control system model represents the general foundation for every ordered and stable dynamic in the world, and thus the fundamental instrument by which the world itself maintains its existence. This approach allows us to develop a true “art” of control; a discipline based on systems thinking logic that enables us to observe, understand, and modify the world and our future. I shall define the logical structure of the Ring along with the recursive equations that determine its dynamics. The general logical structure of control systems is integrated with its technical structure, which is made up of four apparatuses or machines—effector, sensor, regulator, and information network—which, in fact, make up the chain of control (Sect. 2.9). The model also includes three types of delays and disturbances—action, detection, and regulation—which characterize the processes carried out by the apparatuses. Other new and important concepts are introduced: (1) the management and governance processes; (2) the interferences between control systems; and (3) different areas of application of the general model.
The emergence of systems thinking was a profound revolution in the history of Western scientific ... more The emergence of systems thinking was a profound revolution in the history of Western scientific thought. The belief that in very complex system the behavior of the whole can be understood entirely from the properties of its parts is central to the Cartesian paradigm. This was Descartes’s celebrated method of analytic thinking, which has been an essential characteristic of modern scientific thought. In the analytic, or reductionist, approach, the parts themselves cannot be analyzed any further, except by reducing them to still smaller parts. Indeed, Western science has been progressing in that way, and at each step there has been a level of fundamental constituents that could not be analyzed any further.
DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Jul 1, 2010
Since the production has been found to be an economical means for satisfying human wants, this pr... more Since the production has been found to be an economical means for satisfying human wants, this process requires a complex industrial organization together with a large investment in equipments, plants and productive systems. These productive systems are employed to alter the physical environment and create consumer goods. As a result, they are consumed or become obsolete, inadequate, or otherwise candidates for replacement. When replacement is being considered, two assets must be evaluated: the present asset, the defender and its potential replacement, the challenger. Since the success of an industrial organization depends upon profit, replacement should generally occur if an economic advantage will result. Whatever the reason leading to the consideration of replacement, the analysis and decisions must be based upon estimates of what will occur in the future. In this paper we present the Mapi algorithm as a procedure for evaluating investments or for analyzing replacement opportunities.
In recent years, however, outsourcing strategies have undergone a profound evolution, from simple... more In recent years, however, outsourcing strategies have undergone a profound evolution, from simple forms of production contracts made with third parties to agreements that involve functions and activities which, requiring "core competencies", or being part of the "core business", have until now been considered inseparable from the company and not capable of being outsourced.In order to decide on outsourcing and formulate a satisfactory outsourcing contract, it is fundamental to identify the "strategic intent" behind the choice to outsource, since this depends on the organizational culture of the two sides in question, which are often diverse and lead to different evaluations regarding the functions and processes to outsource. Precisely for this reason, the greater the strategic importance assigned to the outsourcing, the more important it is for all parties involved that top management be given the responsibility for managing the outsourcer-outsourcee relationship. The tendency today is to attain "global sourcing" and offshoring; that is, outsourcing that involves outsourcers located in countries other than that of the outsourcee. This tendency to outsource most of the functions and processes can take on an extreme form, which we can define as "extreme outsourcing", and lead to the formation of a virtual organization, a company characterized by the pure business coordination of its businesses, where all the productive and economic processes have been outsourced through the formation of a stable but flexible network.
The kingdom of circular processes. The logical foundations of Systems Thinking.- The arrow that c... more The kingdom of circular processes. The logical foundations of Systems Thinking.- The arrow that constructs the world. The Causal Loop Diagrams technique.- Systems Thinking for the control of phenomena. How to construct a control system.- Systems Thinking applied to Problem Solving. System levers.
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