Images of Organisation and Development of Information Society: Going into Metaphors

摘要

In the evolution of metaphors of organisation an interesting phenomenon can be observed. While the source fields of the first metaphors of machines and organisms were somehow "external" to the organisation, the source fields of subsequent metaphors and especially those of open systems, complex systems, autopoietic systems and learning organisation are overlapping with the concepts of organisation itself (the target field). The main aim of this paper is to study how this evolution and development of the Information Society influence the theory of organisation. The Information Society is characterised as a system with a growing capability of mapping the environment and itself onto its memory. A hypothesis is advanced that this characteristic of the Information Society can be helpful in considering self-reference in the methodology of neoclassical economics, which in turn, may prove helpful in deepening our understanding of the "New Economy".