Greetings,
I have been passively reading the wonderful discussions shared
within this community for some time and would like to share the title of a
book I think is seminal to an understanding of systems theory and its
relationship to a biological metaphor. The work is as follows:
Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von. (1933). Modern theories of development:
An introduction theoretical biology (J.H. Woodger, Trans.). London: Oxford
University Press.
Chapter 12 of this work is entitled "Systems Theory." Some
theorists consider Bertalanffy the "Father of Systems Theory."
Hope this is helpful and contributes to the groups knowledge and
work...
Thanks to all for sharing and for your insights.
My areas of interest and study are Leadership, learning
organizations, organizational change, conflict resolution, mediation,
negotiations (peaceful settlements), and multicultural education. I was a
7-12 teacher and then secondary principal for 15 years prior to shifting
my focus to higher education.
-- Gary C. Alexander, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Educational Administration University of Idaho alex2@micron.net alex@uidaho.eduLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>