Eco-systems, Systems Theory and Recruiting

There are many systems in Nature. Eco-systems combine plant life, water, and animals that live together on a complementary basis. The food chain of predators and prey is another system within the ecosystem.

Professor Russell Ackoff and colleagues at the Wharton School developed a System Theory of management. Ackoff was president of th Operations Research Society of America, a set of very quantitative methods to resolve problems in business operations and he was president of the International Society for the Systems Sciences.

The takeaway of Systems Thinking applied to corporations is that they are are systems of systems. Within these organizations there are department systems which have more or less collaborative functions. Marketing is close to Sales, but more distant to Finance. Within these departments, each section, each team is a system. Organizations are systems of systems of systems.

“The basic managerial idea introduced by systems thinking” wrote Ackoff, “is that to manage a system effectively, you might focus on the interactions of the parts rather than their behavior taken separately”. This means that to improve a system, one makes sure that corrective actions do not center on single elements but ensure that the whole system is improved. Otherwise, there may be serious consequences. Thus, Ackoff gave the example that placing a Rolls-Royce engine in a Hyundai is not going to improve the car, on the contrary, it will render it dysfunctional.

So, wouldn’t it be a main concern with placing a “Talent” in a team system. Are future colleagues of this Talent equally talentuous? Is the Hiring Manager thinking of his charge in terms of a system or does he/she want a Talent at all costs? It might even create the situation where a Talent will be under-valued.

Years ago, I interviewed a Bank manager that seemed to me to be a great Talent. But outside his office his staff struck me as much below standard and I concluded sadly that many of the actions and plans of the Talent might be terribly undermined on their coming out of his department.

On a plus side, after dialoguing with the employer’s Hiring Manager, it may be concluded that what the manager is looking for is not really an Olympic-level talent, but a “lesser” talent which would be much easier for a Recruiting Agency to locate and propose.

What do you think?