Available online
Description
This programme explores the idea of systems awareness, or how different systems can be identified with a variety of organisational contexts.
This programme explores the idea of systems awareness, or how different systems can be identified with a variety of organisational contexts.
| Module code and title: | T241, Systems behaviour |
|---|---|
| Item code: | T241; 01; 1982 |
| First transmission date: | 02-03-1982 |
| Published: | 1982 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:23:53 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Andrew Millington |
| Contributors: | Norman Foster; Bill Mayon-White |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Architecture; Building industry; Information systems; Legal proceedings; Policing; Princes Gate; Siege; System behaviour |
| Footage description: | The problem of being aware of systems within complex organisations is one of the central ideas of system identification. This programme illustrates how different systems can be perceived in three different contexts. The first example is a building. The insurance Company Willis Faber and Dumas designed an adventurous open plan office building in Ipswich in which the architect, Norman Foster, took a clear view of the purposes of the building. This was reflected in such things as a roof garden which provided thermal insulation, piping which was displayed as sculpture and a light, open concourse. The conventional functions of plumbing and lighting etc., were designed as part of a wider systems function. The roles of both the architect and owner here were central, both being seen as interpreters of the purposes of the building. But for some buildings other people's interpretations may be just as important. A clip from 'Yes Minister' illustrates, comically, of course, but with a serious message behind it - how a civil servant may see a hospital say, as a civil servant employment system rather than a system for curing patients. The example of a murder trial is chosen to show how lawyers can select a system to base their case. The prosecution lawyer may try to cast the defendant as outside the system of society. The defence will make him appear as a weak subsystem within it. The final sequence looks at the siege at Princes Gate in 1980 and discusses how far the TV coverage can be seen as a part of an Information System, an Entertainment system or a system to help the police. |
| Master spool number: | HOU3887 |
| Production number: | FOUT119H |
| Videofinder number: | 2732 |
| Available to public: | no |
