Re-interpreting Organization Design in the Light of Enacted Cognition Theory

摘要

This paper discusses how the concept of organization design can be made more relevant if treated as a process of social cognition. It is argued that Varela's enactive cognition approach throws new light on organization design given the way it views the relationship between the system and its environment. In highlighting that any cognitive entity develops its own internal perspective and that it is that perspective which mediates the relationship between the system and its environment, the notion of environmental contingency loses much of its sense. Using this approach as the main intellectual backdrop, as well as the principles behind the social construction of organization, a new systemic model of organization design is put forward. It features a cycle of four key organizational elements (strategic choice, domains of interaction, identity formation and shared meanings) shaped by two types of design rules (procedural/generative and practice based). These elements are interpreted in terms of the key features of enactivism (embodiment, sensemaking, experience, emergence and autonomy) and discussed in the light of extant literature on organization design.