Autopoiesis in Organisation Theory and Practice (1st ed.)

Citation

Murphy, A. (2011), "Autopoiesis in Organisation Theory and Practice (1st ed.)", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 420-421. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437731111134698

This hardback on the complex but increasingly explored topic of autopoiesis applied in social settings is a very welcome addition to the libraries of academics and management practitioners interested in understanding the workings of human factors in organizations. It brings us further on from complexity and emergence theory and it is also a useful augmentation of recent publications in that theoretical field as well as in the field of systems theory. The book is essentially a collection of 16 papers on theoretical aspects of autopoiesis theory applied to organizational behavior involving 27 authors from 12 countries: Germany, Norway, UK, New Zealand, Austria, Australia, Denmark, The Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland and Belgium.

The introduction by the editors claims that autopoiesis theory has the potential to provide a unifying framework and a discrete epistemology for the study of organizational phenomena in the twenty‐first century – a replacement for general systems theory – despite the reluctance of some to acknowledge its application in the social domain as well as the biological domain. They argue that outopoiesis in organizations is more about organizational closure and self‐referentiality than about self‐production and is therefore appropriate for analysis of social systems and their sub‐systems. The editors draw heavily on Maturana and Varela's assertion that knowledge in organizations is embodied in people who use it to represent the organizational world in large social structures rather than regarding knowledge as an abstract existing apart from human knowers where there is a separation of logic from emotion. The editors posed five key questions about the value of autopoeisis as a paradigm in understanding organizational thinking and invited the authors of the chapters to respond to them in formal papers which represent the 16 chapters of the book. The five questions are:

1. 1.

   Can autopoiesis theory provide a backdrop for a new organizational paradigm?

2. 2.

   Framed within the complexity paradigm, can autopoiesis provide the metalanguage for a new theory of organization and management?

3. 3.

   What might be the role of autopoiesis in the turn towards a focus on practice and transdisciplinarity in organizational thinking?

4. 4.

   How might autopoiesis theory lend further support to the view supporting the networked nature of organizations and organizing?

5. 5.

   Given its holistic nature, can autopoiesis provide a suitable framework for the integration of IT/IS into social organizations?

How a reader approaches a book like this is a personal interest matter. Certainly the introduction is an essential starting point to get both a flavor of the contents, the structure, and the complexity of the analysis demanded by the editors. The introductory chapter, and indeed the volume itself, is not intended as a primer. It assumes a considerable breadth and depth of knowledge already on the part of the reader even though there are really useful tables and overviews of the various traditions and paradigms of organizational theory. Each chapter has its own reference list, which is both useful and efficient for the reader who wishes to dip into particular chapters only.

What is probably the most exciting aspect of this book is that is collects in one place a set of scholarly papers that are essentially discrete but which are similarly structured and indeed which feed into each other nicely. As a contribution to management development it is a most welcome addition to the vast resources already available, and that is a certainly a commendation for any new book! I would certainly recommend it to training organizations and individuals alike.