Ludwig Von Bertalanffy

History Ludwig V. Bertalanffy was born in September 19, 1901, and grew up in the little village of Atzgersdorf nearVienna. He wasknown as unrivaled of the fo lows of general systems theory(GST). Von Bertalanffy grew up in Austria and subsequently worked in Vienna, London, Canada and the USA. In 1972, he died from a suddenheart attack. Theory ( Open System ) Ludwig create open system theory between 1930 and 1956. By the early 1960s, theoretical psychologists applied the theory to government activityal structures such as governments, universities and businesses.Any time an individual organization uses resources from its surroundingsincluding personnelin its production, its system is open to outside forces. System Characteristics When a business regularly interacts with its environment, and exchanges and processes feedback, it is an open system organizational structure. Open systems bewilder open, or porous, boundaries that allow feedback exchanges from inside and outside the busi ness.The controllers of open systems pay attention to their external environment, internal environment and customer needs and reactions. Open systems tend to overdress more than one way to accomplish goals or reach similar results with different conditions and operationswhat von Bertalanffy called equifinality . This is in direct contrast to closed systems that function under the assumption that there is only one way to achieve a result a direct relationship between cause and effect. Open Systems in BusinessBusinesses depend on employees, suppliers, customers and even the competition for research, development and profit. Because the business doesnt have control of all the environmental forces, it relies on predictions and contingencies to cope with unannounced input. For example, an influenza epidemic can affect suppliers, personnel and even customers, causing lost production and lost profit. Benefits Open system organizational structures promote impressive problem solving by c larifying the big picture.Continuous feedback and response results in better understanding, by leadership and management, of the organizations structure within the environment and the interactive dynamics between them. That opens the door for better communication and more feedback. When the system and subsystems have enough feedback, the results can produce more clearly enjoin planning, intelligent design, useful products and necessary services.