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Systemic Barriers to Managing Change: Is Autopoiesis an Appropriate Metaphor?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Alma M. Whiteley
Alma M. Whiteley*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Business, Curtin University of Technology, PERTH WA 6000, Tel: +61 8 9266 7714, Fax: +61 8 9266 3368, Email: A.Whiteley@info.curtin.edu.au
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Abstract

The paper reports on a study into the usefulness of autopoiesis as a metaphor for reflective thinking about organisations contemplating change. Autopoietic systems display qualities of evolutionary invariance, self organisation to perpetuate the system's status quo, self referential activities and attempts to organise aspects of the environment to suit the system's needs. Systemic characteristics include a desire to return to equilibrium and to be resistant to evolutionary change. Autopoiesis can be used as a metaphor for gaining insights and seeing with fresh eyes some of the perhaps hidden, institutionalised concepts that inform contemporary management strategies. The need for a metaphorical image emerges from the difficulty in reflecting on organisational activities while using historically derived language and symbols. The autopoiesis metaphor was integrated into an exploratory research project with human resource managers as respondents. Tentative findings were that this is a useful metaphor for use in organisational diagnosis. Given this, a more comprehensive study would seem to be worthwhile.

Keywords

• Evolutionary Change• Laneuage and Metaphor• Autopoiesis• Institutionalisation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , March 1999 , pp. 38 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 1999

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