Organizational Behavior Subsystems

For us to better understand organizations and how their actions influence and affect human behavior, it is vital for us to understand the concepts of subsystems and lenses. Each of these functional areas can provide us with ways for us to begin understanding and perceiving and organization. They allow the understanding of how, within an organization, functional areas are tied to the subsystems of a system model.
Subsystems
The first functional areas I will discuss are the subsystems of the open model. It is understood that the basics of organizational behavior revolve around input > transformation > output. We bring in the good, transform it, and then output the good. What may not be as well understood is that there are many subsystems within that transformation that make the output successful. There are five areas of this subsystem with one of them, the managerial subsystem encompassing the remaining four. The managerial subsystem includes all leadership functions of the organization. The four areas encompassed by the managerial subsystem are: Goals and Values, Psychosocial, Technical, and Structural. (See FIGURE 15-2.)
Each subsystem is made up of many different functions reacting together to accomplish something. If one subsystem slows down, begins to fail or fall apart, the remaining subsystems are affected, and across the organization output is affected. Below is a short list of the functional areas of each subsystem:
• Goals and Values: Comprises philosophy, overall goals, culture, individual goals, and group goals.
• Psychosocial: Comprises human resources, leadership, attitudes, motivation, group dynamics, communication, perceptions, and interpersonal relations.
• Technical: Comprises techniques, knowledge, facilities, and equipment.
• Structural: Comprises tasks, work groups, work flow, authority, information flow, procedures, and rules.
Each of these subsystems has multiple, essential functions within that play a vital role in