Introducing Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments -- Introducing Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments -- The experimental and social arche of organizations -- The Experimental Arche: Ashby’s Cybernetics -- The Experimental Arche Continued: Von Foerster on Observing Systems -- The Social “arche,” Organizations as Social Systems: Luhmann -- Epilogue to Part I: The Two “Archai” Combined -- Designing Organizations as Social Systems Conducting Experiments -- Beer: Functional Design Principles for Viable Infrastructures -- Specific Design Principles: de Sitter’s Organizational Structures -- Epilogue to Part II: functional and specific design principles -- Poor and Rich Survival -- Poor Survival: Disciplining Organizational Behavior -- Towards Rich Survival: Aristotle -- Organizational Structures Supporting Rich Survival -- Epilogue.

What are organizations? What is their point? How should one design successful organizations? Although these questions have been treated by many authors in many different ways, this book offers a new perspective. In a nutshell, the book combines cybernetics, social systems theory and Aristotle’s ethics to describe organizations as "social systems conducting experiments with their survival" and to formulate principles for their design. In Part I, the authors argue that ‘experimenting’ and ‘social interaction’ are key features of organizations. In order to survive, organizations continuously have to experiment with goals, infrastructures and transformation processes and this experiment is an inherently social activity. In Part II principles are given guiding the design of organizational infrastructures. In Part III Aristotle’s ethics, cybernetics and social systems theory are instrumental to describe and derive design principles required for social responsibility. (1st Ed.)