Cybernetics and Organization Theory: Epistemology or Technique?

Abstract

Based on the view that theorizing is metaphorical, this paper examines the impact of cybernetic imagery on the study of organizations. Imagery treating organizations as "black boxes," "thermostats," "decision-makers," "morphogenic systems," "learning systems," and the concept of "organizational ecology" is explored. Developing the distinction between "cybernetics as technique" and "cybernetics as epistemology, " it is suggested that organization theory has for the most part used cybernetics in the former sense. The paper develops the view that the major challenge cybernetics poses conventional organization theory rests in its epistemological implications. Systematically developed, these have fundamental consequences for the way we view organizations and their mode of operation.