>Concerning Meg Wheatley's rational elements of organisations - structure,
>processes and pattern - can anyone explain to me what is meant by
>'pattern'?
>
>Cathy
Cathy,
I just happened to have Capra's "The Web of Life" in my lap as I was
reading through the new LO postings. To follow is a partial quote from
pages 159-160. I, too, would love to hear more conversation regarding
your question. Maybe the list can offer common examples bring the
concepts closer to home for everyone.
John Dicus
==Quote from Capra==
Key criteria of a living system:
1) Pattern of organization:
The configuration of relationships that determines the system's essential
characteristics.
2) Structure:
The physical embodiment of the system's pattern of organization.
3) Life process:
The activity involved in the continual embodiment of the system's pattern
of organization.
"The understanding of pattern then, will be of crucial importance to the
scientific understanding of life. However, for a full understanding of a
living system, the understanding of its pattern of organization, although
critically important, is not enough. We also need to understand the
system's structure. Indeed, we have seen that the study of structure has
been the principal approach in Western science and philosophy and as such
has again and again eclipsed the study of pattern.
"I have come to believe that the key to a comprehensive theory of living
systems lies in the synthesis of those two approaches-the study of pattern
(or form, order, quality) and the study of structure (or substance,
matter, quantity). I shall follow Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela
in their definitions of those two key criteria of a living system -- its
pattern of organization and its structure. The pattern of organization of
any system, living or nonliving, is the configuration of relationships
among the systems's components that determines the system's essential
characteristics. In other words, certain relationships must be present
for something to be recognized as -- say -- a chair, a bicycle, or a tree.
That configuration of relationships that gives a system its essential
characteristics is what we mean by its pattern of organization.
"The structure of a system is the physical embodiment of its pattern of
organization. Whereas the description of the pattern of organization
involves an abstract mapping of relationships, the description of the
structure involves describing the system's actual physical
components-their shapes, chemical compositions, and so forth.
"To illustrate the difference between pattern and structure, let us look
at a well-known nonliving system, a bicycle. In order for something to be
called a bicycle, there must be a number of functional relationships among
components known as frame, pedals, handlebars, wheels, chain, sprocket,
and so on. The complete configuration of these functional relationships
constitutes the bicycle's pattern of organization. All of those
functional relationships must be present to give the system the essential
characteristics of a bicycle.
"The structure of the bicycle is the physical embodiment of its pattern of
organization in terms of components of specific shapes, made of specific
materials. The same pattern "bicycle" can be embodied in many different
structures. The handlebars will be shaped differently for a touring bike,
a racing bike, or a mountain bike; the frame may be heavy and solid or
light and delicate; the tires may be narrow or wide, tubes or solid
rubber. All these combinations and many more will easily be recognized as
different embodiments of the same pattern of relationships that defines a
bicycle.
....since a living system continually regenerates, then....
"This striking property of living systems suggests "process" as a third
criterion for a comprehensive description of the nature of life. The
process of life is the activity involved in the continual embodiment of
the system's pattern of organization. Thus the process criterion is the
link between pattern and structure. ....
"The pattern of organization determines a system's essential
characteristics. In particular it determines whether the system is living
or nonliving."
And on page 220:
"Thus a living system is determined in different ways by its pattern of
organization and its structure. The pattern of organization determines the
system's identity (its essential characteristics); the structure, formed by
a sequence of structural changes, determines the system's behavior. The
behavior of living systems is structure-determined."
==end of quote==
John Dicus | jdicus@ourfuture.com
CornerStone Consulting Associates | http://www.ourfuture.com
Growing Learning Communities Through Whole System Processes
2761 Stiegler Road, Valley City OH 44280
800-773-8017 | 330-725-2728 (fax)
--"John H. Dicus" <jdicus@ourfuture.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>