Chester Barnard’s systems-theoretic approach to organisation theory: a reconstruction

Abstract

Chester Barnard’s organisation theory is widely acknowledged to be grounded on a systems-theoretic approach which has however remained largely inchoate. The present paper ventures a hypothetical reconstruction of this approach by identifying the salient parallels between Barnard’s thought and Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems as well as Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophy of organism. While these parallels are by no means perfect, Barnard seems to have anticipated the Luhmannian view of organisations as complexity-reducing systems navigating a precarious outer environment. Drawing on Whitehead, Barnard argued that organisations may succeed with this task insofar as they operate as organismic wholes.

Keywords:

• Chester Barnard
• Niklas Luhmann
• Alfred North Whitehead
• social systems
• sustainability

Acknowledgment

The authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).