Abstract
Luhmann’s general theory of autopoietic (i.e. self-reproducing) social systems (1995), which includes his more specific theory of organizations as social systems (2000), is well-known among scholars in management and organization studies for being rich and insightful—but hard to digest, at the same time. Its difficult comprehensibility is primarily due to two ‘language barriers’: First, Luhmann tends to employ a rather hermetic theory language; in other words, his approach involves defining everyday terms like communication, decision, action, and so on in very peculiar and theory-specific ways. Consequently, students of his works need to learn the theory of social systems as if it were a foreign language, including its idiosyncratic ‘theory vocabulary’. Second, key works of Luhmann’s theory still lack a translation from German into other international languages. For instance, Luhmann’s late monograph on organization theory (Organisation und Entscheidung that was published posthumously in 2000) has not been translated into English language yet.
Stefan Kühl’s (2013) recent book Organizations: A Systems Approach aims to tackle both of these language barriers: First, it provides us with an easy-to-read introduction to Luhmann’s theory of organization that is targeted primarily at university students as well as practitioners. Given this focus, the book helps overcome Luhmann’s hermetic language use and compiles main insights of his framework in better digestible ways. Second, it represents another attempt of ‘translating’ Luhmann’s theory of organizations from German into English language (next to Seidl and Becker (2005), for instance), thus making his approach better accessible to an international readership. In the same context, it is important to note that Kühl’s (2011) book itself is a translation from an introductory book that had been published in German language before.
Kühl’s (2013) book is well written and follows a systematic structure. In the first main chapter after the introduction, Kühl sketches Luhmann’s approach along three central features of organizations: (1) membership, (2) goals, and (3) hierarchies. Yet, Kühl swiftly guides us away from a simplistic view of organization where goals and sub-goals would directly lead, in a rational, linear, and deductive fashion, to decisions on hierarchical positions and the recruitment of organizational members, respectively. Instead, and in one line of thinking with March and Simon (1958), Kühl suggests understanding organizations as being characterized by much more complex and non-linear relations between memberships, goals, and hierarchies. Accordingly, in this chapter, he illuminates various ways in which organizations struggle in accomplishing members’ conformity with organizational goals (e.g. monetary incentives, threat of violence or exclusion, identification, attractiveness of activities, collegiality, etc.). Importantly, he argues that particularly because the boundaries between members and non-members tend to become increasingly blurred in today’s age of networked organizations, decisions on the inclusion or exclusion of members become even more salient for the constitution of organizations as social systems.
In the second main chapter, Kühl distinguishes between three main ‘aspects’ of organizations, each of which he illustrates with a metaphor: (1) the formal aspect (i.e. the machine-like depiction of organizations as a structured system of functionally interrelated components), (2) the informal aspect (i.e. the more dynamic and joyful, game-like side of organization), and (3) the display aspect (i.e. the façade-like side of organizations that is primarily established for impression management vis-a-vis external audiences). Again, Kühl is concerned with revealing the subtleties of the three aspects’ interaction. For instance, he redescribes the difference of formality and informality of organizations as a distinction between decided and undecided decision premises. On the one hand, organizations tend to make formal decisions on structures, communication channels, and personnel (e.g. recruitment, work tasks, or promotion) that serve as important preconditions (or premises) for follow-up decisions. On the other hand, the informality of organizational culture arises especially from the fact that it is based on premises that cannot become subject to formal decision-making but nevertheless play a major role in organizational settings. Hence, Luhmann’s framework (in Kühl’s interpretation) can provide us with crucial explanations on why organizational efforts of ‘managing’ organizational culture are doomed to fail, as they tend to irreversibly transform the (game-like) informality into (machine-like) formality of the organization. The display aspect or function of organizations, in turn, tends to put exactly the informality of organizations to the fore—in order to create an impression of ‘authenticity’. However, as Kühl furthermore highlights (pp. 165–166), this staging of informality and authenticity requires careful preparation, thus ultimately fostering the formal aspect of organization.
The book closes with a short conclusion chapter as well as with an ‘annex’ in which Kühl (in strong coherence with the self-recursivity of systems theory thinking) reflects upon the contingencies that were inherent to creation of his book (e.g. by outlining alternative paths and related topics that have been left out). In general, throughout the book, Kühl eases the comprehensibility of Luhmann’s framework by providing helpful examples from practice along the way. In this regard, the book seems to benefit from the author’s dual career as a university professor and management consultant and his ability to translate back and forth between the abstract-theoretical and the more concrete-practical realm.
Kühl’s (2013) book is valuable in making readers familiar with key concepts and ideas of Luhmann’s understanding of organizations and without requiring readers to have extensive prior knowledge of his approach. In that respect, it can be a useful entry point into Luhmann’s work, especially for undergraduate students. Kühl (2013) summarizes his ambition as follows: ‘If this brief introduction leaves its readers with greater curiosity than before, the book will have fulfilled its purpose’ (p. 177). However, in my view, Kühl’s book seems to insufficiently assist readers in fostering this curiosity. This could have been accomplished by providing links to a larger context of recent works that draw on Luhmann’s organization theory.
In particular, I can recommend the following additional readings that can very well complement Kühl’s introductory book: First, Seidl and Becker’s volume on ‘Luhmann and Organization Studies’ (2005) as well as their Special Issue of Organization on the same topic (2006) provide readers with a rich bouquet of works that can help us to learn more about Luhmann’s conceptualization of organizations. Second, Brummans et al.’s (2014) chapter in the Sage Handbook of Organizational Communication vividly shows that Luhmann’s theory of organizations has recently been acknowledged internationally as being part of a larger body of works that are grounded in the assumption of a ‘communicative constitution of organization’ (CCO). Its inclusion in the CCO perspective as a broader theoretical endeavor offers fascinating cross-links to neighboring approaches such as actor–network theory or structuration theory. Third, Ahrne and Brunsson (2011), while following Luhmann’s line of thinking, have opened up the debate whether membership, goals, or hierarchies (the three features that Kühl defines as most essential) are indeed indispensable features of organization or whether we can find organizational phenomena that lack one or more of those (what Ahrne and Brunsson refer to as ‘partial organization’). Finally, another recent piece grounded in Luhmann’s approach, Christensen et al.’s article on ‘aspirational talk’ (2013), is provocative in that it challenges the way we may think of what Kühl calls the ‘display aspect’ of organization. More specifically, the authors argue that organizational hypocrisy (i.e. creating a façade of informality and authenticity while being carefully orchestrated) can, in turn, serve as an important resource of organizational and social change. To conclude, Kühl’s book on Luhmann’s theory of organizations can be a valuable resource especially for teaching purposes. However, ideally, it is read not as a stand-alone piece but as an entry point into a larger body of works in organization theory that are inspired by Luhmann’s theoretical foundations.