According to Spector (2012), “a system is a collection of related and interacting components, some concrete and some abstract, which comprise a meaningful whole. A system has boundaries, although these are not always precisely defined.” In my most recent professional role, I worked as the Instructional and Training Coordinator for a College Success program for first year university students. In this open hierarchical system (or rather subsystem within the larger university system), the major components were thirty class sections of about 800 total students, thirty instructors, thirty student assistants, an office support staff, various curriculum content specialists across campus, and myself as the coordinator/project manager. In addition, other less tangible system components included the communication that flowed between the various persons, behaviors exhibited by each person over time, and individual and collective decisions made. To understand the relative complexity of even a small system like this one of around 900 identified human components, one can apply the formula for potential communication channels: n (n-1) / 2, which gives us around 404,550 potential communication channels! Needless to say, a large amount of communication that flowed throughout this system was both positive and negative feedback – highly necessary for stabilizing the system. Moreover, many of the relationships between the components were non-linear with the nature of communication, behavior, and decisions influenced by the surrounding environment, whether it be immediate or total. In terms of its immediate environment, there existed a larger system called the First Year Experience program, a Division of Student Affairs suprasystem, and an even larger university-wide suprasystem that all influenced the many relationships within the system. Finally, one could also expand the total environment of the original “College Success program” system even further to include the city, county, and state, with their many laws, policies, climate conditions, relative levels of safety, etc.
Day: September 6, 2020
According to Spector (2012), “a system is a collection of related and interacting components, some concrete and some abstract, which comprise a meaningful whole. A system has boundaries, although these are not always precisely defined.” In my most recent professional role, I worked as the Instructional and Training Coordinator for a College Success program for first year university students. In this open hierarchical system (or rather subsystem within the larger university system), the major components were thirty class sections of about 800 total students, thirty instructors, thirty student assistants, an office support staff, various curriculum content specialists across campus, and myself as the coordinator/project manager. In addition, other less tangible system components included the communication that flowed between the various persons, behaviors exhibited by each person over time, and individual and collective decisions made. To understand the relative complexity of even a small system like this one of around 900 identified human components, one can apply the formula for potential communication channels: n (n-1) / 2, which gives us around 404,550 potential communication channels! Needless to say, a large amount of communication that flowed throughout this system was both positive and negative feedback – highly necessary for stabilizing the system. Moreover, many of the relationships between the components were non-linear with the nature of communication, behavior, and decisions influenced by the surrounding environment, whether it be immediate or total. In terms of its immediate environment, there existed a larger system called the First Year Experience program, a Division of Student Affairs suprasystem, and an even larger university-wide suprasystem that all influenced the many relationships within the system. Finally, one could also expand the total environment of the original “College Success program” system even further to include the city, county, and state, with their many laws, policies, climate conditions, relative levels of safety, etc.