A unified open systems model for explaining organisational change - Information Systems Foundations: Constructing and Criticising - page 133

This may be reflected in the difference in timing and duration of each of their develop-
mental phases. For example, while the duration of each phase in the life cycle, and the
life expectancy, are relatively definite for a particular type of organism, such duration
is very difficult, if not impossible, to specify for organisations. A small business may,
on average, last from several months to a number of years whereas, in contrast, the Roman
Catholic Church has lasted for centuries (Scott, 1998). It may be that the size and form
of the organisation are influential factors in this respect, a proposition that still requires
further empirical investigation.
To be in the region of the homeokinetic plateau, the proper amount of control for a well-
functioning and sustainable living systems must be present, and similarly for organisa-
tions. Too little control will lead to poor integration and a chaotic situation whereas too
much control results in poor adaptation and inflexibility.
The dissipative systems model
The theory of dissipative structure upon which the current discussion is based can be
treated as the open systems model extended with a capability to continuously impose a
revolutionary change or transformation.
The theory of dissipative structure
Pioneered by the Brussels school of thought in the 1970s (Prigogine, 1976; Nicolis and
Prigogine, 1977, 1989; Prigogine and Stengers, 1984), this theory is firmly rooted in
physics and chemistry. Nevertheless, it was later applied to urban spatial evolution
(Allen and Sanglier, 1978, 1979a, 1979b, 1981), organisational change and transformation
(Gemmill and Smith, 1985; Leifer, 1989; Macintosh and Maclean, 1999), changes in small
groups and group dynamics (Smith and Gemmill, 1991), and political revolutions and
change in political systems (Artigiani, 1987a, 1987b; Byeon, 1999).
Dissipative structure in physical systems
The most prominent example of dissipative structure in a physical system is convection
in a liquid (Nicolis and Prigogine, 1977; Jantsch, 1980; Prigogine and Stengers, 1984).
If cooking oil is heated in a shallow pan, the following macroscopic changes occur.
Firstly, while the temperature of liquid is relatively uniform, heat is transmitted through
the body of liquid by means of conduction in which the molecules' heat energy (molecular
vibration) is transmitted to neighbouring molecules via collision without major change
of position. We can say that the system is still in a thermodynamic equilibrium. Next,
as the pan is heated further, the temperature gradient between the upper and lower
portion of the oil in the pan becomes more pronounced and thermal non-equilibrium
increases. At a certain temperature gradient, convection starts and heat is then transferred
by the bulk movement of molecules. Evidently, however, the surrounding environment
at first suppresses the smaller convection streams, but beyond a certain temperature
gradient, the fluctuations are reinforced rather than suppressed. The system moves into
a dynamic regime, switching from conduction to convection, and a new macroscopic
order called 'Benard cells' (i.e. a pattern of regular hexagonal cells that appear on the
surface of liquid) emerges, caused by a macroscopic fluctuation and stabilised by an
exchange of energy with the environment. Such a structure is called a hydrodynamic
dissipative structure, and is a version of spatial structure (Haken, 1980).
Order in a non-equilibrium state
As mentioned earlier, open systems make an effort to avoid a transition into thermody-
namic equilibrium by a continuous exchange of materials and energy with the environ-