"Most of our beliefs about complex organizations follow from one or the other of two distinct strategies. The closed-system strategy seeks certainty by incorporating only those variables positively associated with goal achievement and subjecting them to a monolithic control network. The open-system strategy shifts attention from goal achievement to survival and incorporates uncertainty by recognizing organizational interdependence with environment. A newer tradition enables us to conceive of the organization as an open system, indeterminate and faced with uncertainty, but subject to criteria of rationality and hence needing certainty."
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Academics from the United StatesPeople from IndianapolisBusiness theorists from the United StatesSociologists from the United StatesPeople from Illinois
Original Language: English
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p. 13 (in 2011 edition)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_D._Thompson
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James D. Thompson
James David Thompson (January 11, 1920 in Indianapolis – September 1, 1973) was an American sociologist, and Professor of Sociology at , especially known for his book Organizations in Action, published in 1967.
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