Search

This paper argues the merits of general systems theory as a paedagogic vehicle for management courses in universities. The general validity of cybernetic concepts is examined and the use of this methodology in an undergraduate Business Administration course is discussed. Various disciplines claim management as part of their own field. Engineers, brought rational analysis to bear in production problems at the turn of the century, psychologists and sociologists began to dominate the field twenty-five years later; since the early fifties decisions based on purely economic criteria, arrived at through linear programming have been widely mistaken for management. No specialisation can of itself achieve the co-ordination necessary to make outputs worth more than the sum total of the inputs used. Equally, specialisation lacks by definition what is needed to integrate always divergent and often mutually exclusive objectives pursued by an organisation and its constituent members respectively. People stand to benefit in several ways from rooting courses firmly in systems theory, viz, it stretches the students' mind to better purpose than other forms of management education within our experience, the subject integration made possible not only saves time but induces an element of innovation and entrepreneurial thought, and others.