All systems and subsystems are interrelated and interdependent. This fact has important implications both for organizations and for systems analysts who seek to help them better achieve their
goals. When any element of a system is changed or eliminated, the rest of the system’s elements
and subsystems are also significantly affected.
For example, suppose managers of an organization decide not to hire administrative assistants any longer and to replace their functions with networked PCs. This decision has the
potential to significantly affect not only the administrative assistants and the managers but also
all the organization’s members who built up communications networks with the now-departed
assistants.
All systems process inputs from their environments. By definition, processes change or
transform inputs into outputs. Whenever you examine a system, check to see what is being
changed or processed. If nothing is changed, you may not be identifying a process. Typical processes in systems include verifying, updating, and printing.
Another aspect of organizations as systems is that all systems are contained by boundaries separating them from their environments. Organizational boundaries exist on a continuum
ranging from extremely permeable to almost impermeable. To continue to adapt and survive,
organizations must be able first to import people, raw materials, and information through their
boundaries (inputs) and then to exchange their finished products, services, or information with
the outside world (outputs).