Replying to Leo Minnigh in LO25557 --
Leo suggested that something might be missing from my definition of
structure (i.e., elements, connections and relationships) and went on to
suggest that that something might be the environment or surroundings.
I'll quickly grant that a grasp of the surroundings or environment of a
system are essential to understanding that system (especially its
processes). I've also wrestled with this issue long enough that I've
concluded that that's what I call a boundary issue. My own weak
understanding of the universe is that everything is connected to
everything else -- literally. I perceive a boundary between my body and
my surroundings but that boundary is mainly a matter of my perceptual
mechanisms. The atoms making up my body and those making up the space in
which my body appears to me to be situated and to be moving about are not
as cleanly separated and separable as my senses tell me.
In any event, my point here is to agree with Leo regarding the importance
of boundaries but to also point out that they don't really exist. We set
them, we establish them, we impose them. When I trace a production
process at a company, it always goes forward into interactions with
"customers" and backward into interactions with "suppliers." These labels
don't really identify distinct entities (except legally), but they do
identify boundaries that we establish, set and impose. Where we draw the
lines is a choice we make, not a "reality" that we discover or uncover.
--Fred Nickols
The Distance Consulting Company "Assistance at A Distance" http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm nickols@att.net (609) 490-0095
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