This article examines open systems thinking as a new lens for the field's researchers to use when exploring written business communication. The transfer or conduit model that the field has traditionally used to describe how communication occurs has, of course, determined what the field knows. An open systems model provides a new way of looking at the field, a lens that integrates concepts
Ron DulekThe University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa k host of organizational researchers contend that business is in the x\ midst of a revolution equal in importance to the industrial revolution (Drucker, 1988(Drucker, ,1993Handy, 1996;Wheatley, 1992). Forces causing the revolution include massive changes in technology, a global marketplace, and constant, intense internal and external competition that has taken the notion of operating efficiency to a new level of meaning. In response to these changes, managerial roles have changed dramatically, organizational structures have become more flexible, and workers'job tasks have, of necessity, become more fluid. In short, many managers, particularly senior-level leaders, find themselves in a unique business context that Vaill (1989) describes as a "permanent white-water environment" (p. 2). Change and turbulence are the norm.Management theory has quickly responded to these radical changes in the business environment. Many of the mechanistic dictums that guided management theory in a relatively stable manufacturing environment are no longer viewed as applicable to service Eind technology-based enterprises. Thus, Chandler's (1962) strategy-structure thesis (strategy changes precede and lead to changes in structure), French and Raven's model of power (1959), and Herzberg's (1968) theory of motivation have been modified by theories such as boundary spanning (Boyett, 1995), business eco-systems (Moore, 1996), empowerment and intrinsic task motivation (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990), and learning organizations (Senge, 1990). Unfortunateiy, the same degree of responsiveness to changes in the business environment has not characterized business communication theory, particuiariy research in written business communication. As Cross, David, Graham, and Thraiis (1996) point out, "much research in business communication has been conducted according to an objectivist, or empiricist, narrative" (p. 106). The epistemological assumption behind this view is that the externai worid is stabie, objective, and abie to be divided into smaii, quantifiabie units for study. As a resuit, research designs faii to account for the compiex organizationai contexts managers operate in and thus faii to provide knowiedge usefui for researchers or business peopie.This articie expiores a deeper, richer, more compiex theoreticai framework than that usualiy empioyed within business communication research. Tiiis framework, iabeied open systems thinking, can provide a new iens for the fieid's researchers to use when examining how communities of workers perform their communication tasks, particularly written communication, within vari...