• An organization can be understood as a living social system, that is made up and creates itself by communication. This communication makes a perceptible difference between the system inside and outside as well as between the particular elements of the inside and the system itself.
• By observing as living social system, we may find relevant elements outside as well as inside the organization.

EXAMPLE: As soon as Jim, Lena and Joe decide upon mutually running a start up for App-Development for online ticketing called “AppDev”, we understand “AppDev” as particular entity with specific members (Jim, Lena and Joe) and a particular existence that makes “AppDev” different from every other organization or human being.

• It is well understood, that a change in membership to an organization does not at all affect the existence of the organization itself.

EXAMPLE: Due to other plans, Jim and Lena decide after one year to leave “AppDev”. “AppDev” remains in existence and continues to be an entity with one member (Joe) and the name “AppDev”.

• The relevance of the environments for the organization is given by the fact, that the organization is affected by its environments as well as the organization is affecting the environments: This makes up a complex system, where influences from the outside – like individuals separating or joining the system – as well as changes inside – like changing of functionality or even changing of location of a single entity – may be of influence to the whole system as well as to every single part of it – and likewise to the outside environment: This is what we call “systemic effects”. [Mind: The existence of the organization itself is not impaired by any of the a.m. changes.]

EXAMPLE: According to full order books and increasing workload Jim decides to hire 3 software developers for “AppDev”. This will definitely make a difference to the system, as “AppDev” consisting of 4 people now with 1 founder and 3 employees.

• The communication within the system as well as between the system itself and the relevant environments outside takes place through individual parts of the whole entity that are more or less interrelated and mutually dependent.
• In order to maintain sustainability for the organization in its environment, the communication has to be meaningful and helpful to the organization itself as well as for the environment outside.
• In order to creating meaningful communication, the communication in an organization – as well as with the environments must be aligned, structured and put into a specific order. This is achieved by
  • the purpose,
  • an operating system,
  • the domains,
  • the tasks,
  • the roles
  • and the responsibilities of the parts of the entire system.

EXAMPLE:

• • • The purpose of “AppDev” is, to make online ticketing extremely simple .
    • Jim, Lena and Joe agreed upon running AppDev as a self organized company with specific roles for the 3 founders: This will be of influence for the operating system, they want to use.
    • Each of the founders fulfills a particular domain: Jim´s domain is frontend development, Joe´s is backend development and Lena´s domain is operations, finance and marketing.
    • Each and every domain has specific tasks (with deliverables) and a clear role (an aligned set of needs and expectations) and responsibilities (according to tasks and deliverables).