a holonic viewing of organisations

EUM – O – Organizational Diagnostics 

What are the primary differences between a human being and an organization when viewed from a holonic framework of ‘living systems’( Holonic - a being or involving something that is simultaneously a self-contained entity and a part of a larger system)

As one discusses it more closely, the similarities are many. On closer reflection, one will at best identify nuances of differences, the chief one being that ‘humans are born, and organisations are created, the latter having intentionality’. Perhaps in humans, Volition, Personal agency and Consciousness are more visible as held by the individual, whereas accountability is more diffused in organisations and held by multiple role holders. Clearly, there are more similarities than differences, one gets to understand on deeper interrogation. 

EUM – I, makes the case that man is a system within his own rights. Several parts, both internal and external organs allow him the facilities to ‘Think, Feel and Act’. EUM – I posits that our inner theatre ( a drama of our thoughts, feelings, and sensations) is not a static entity, a noun that can be examined. Indeed, humans are ‘fluid states’ of being and becoming, and one’s behaviour and beliefs is a dynamic movement between multiple ‘states’. All individuals carry an internally coherent set of needs, wants, drives, values, orientations and worldviews. 

EUM essentially then views the multiplicities/facets that lie within its interplay (the grand Leela within) and the dynamics of the relatedness of the Self with the Situation, in its ‘parts’ with the ‘whole’, with its light and its shadows, between what is engaged and what is denied, in what it sees as its uniqueness, and what it sees as its commonness with the others. It is in this framework, that human beings can truly be ‘this’ and ‘that’ and more.

EUM – O, takes the next big leap. It posits that the organisation is a collective of ‘individuals’ and in that respect is a holonic representation that goes through similar dynamics and inter-play. EUM -O takes inputs from a cohort of organisation team members, and its diagnostics throws up a working hypothesis of the organisational identity, similar to that of EUM -I, that offers insights to Identity. 

The organisational identity is not a ‘monolith’, but a constellation of five facets, described as Universes. 

1.    While for an individual, the universe is belonginess and protection, in the case of organisation, one looks at the ‘CLAN’, to provide this safety to its members.

2.    From exercise of one’s own strength and desires, for individuals, organisations offer an ARENAto showcase strengths and energy of their team members. 

3.    For roles and boundaries for self, Organisations offer systems rules and guardrails to allow clarity, predictability to its members – named as CLOCKWORK

4.    From an individual orientation towards performance and achievement, organisations provide a NETWORKfor the human collective to support goals, aspirations and beneficial relationships, both within and outside the system.

5.    Finally, Individuals seek meaningfulness and intimacy and in that the Organisation provides an ECOLOGICALcollective, for pursuit of dreams, ideals and humanistic values to its team members.    

EUM – O, then most effectively and in a unique way allows for an examination of its source of:

a)     Pride

b)    Comfort

c)     Conflicts

d)    Burdens

e)    Resignations / or Possible Evocations

Apart from this, it allows for working through key tensions/ pulls of ‘not exact opposites’ but aspects that create pulls in co-holding these multiple facets. 

EUM – I and EUM – O is the brainchild and painstaking work of Ashok Malhotra, and a work of art, built thoughtfully over several decades. His most recent book ‘Indian Managers and Organisation, Boons and Burdens’, is based on the research of his seminal study of the Indian Manager who has to negotiate on one hand his ‘Indian-ness’ and on the other organisations that have their roots in western civilizations. Through data captured through vast samples of EUM I and EUM-O instruments, Ashok offers a deep look at the Indian Leader as he navigates his Self with Situations – the grand dance. In this he examines the resonance and dissonance of Indian leadership.

For Senior Leaders in organization wishing to gain deep insights into their organization and the gestalt of the ‘system as held in the mind’, EUM – I and EUM -O tools are awesome organizational diagnostic tools to engage with and to begin dialogue. I would recommend this most strongly to senior C-Suite to work though, as they break away, as one often does during a team offsite, to contemplate and reflect on the drama of the ‘living organization.’

Only then, will one truly discern that the ‘observed phenomena is the observer itself’. That there are multiple truths and all parts of the elephant as described is only ‘partially true’ but a holonic of something larger. In this, the invisible, withheld, disowned, and inarticulate find visibility, get acted, owned and voiced.