@article{Gabriele_2010, title={THE HARD FACTS OF SOFT SOCIAL SYSTEMS: BOULDING’S TYPOLOGY AND THE ROUNDTABLE FOR NEW THEORY AND PRACTICE}, volume={54}, url={https://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings54th/article/view/1393}, abstractNote={<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:DocumentProperties> <o:Template>Normal</o:Template> <o:Revision>0</o:Revision> <o:TotalTime>0</o:TotalTime> <o:Pages>1</o:Pages> <o:Words>485</o:Words> <o:Characters>2768</o:Characters> <o:Company>Chapman University/GEMS:GabrieleEducMatlsSys</o:Company> <o:Lines>23</o:Lines> <o:Paragraphs>5</o:Paragraphs> <o:CharactersWithSpaces>3399</o:CharactersWithSpaces> <o:Version>11.773</o:Version> </o:DocumentProperties> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG /> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:DoNotShowRevisions /> <w:DoNotPrintRevisions /> <w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery> <w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</w:DisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery> <w:UseMarginsForDrawingGridOrigin /> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> &lt;!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-parent:""; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --&gt; <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;">This paper outlines a new theory and a new practice with the goal of improved descriptions of and prescription for schools and social systems.<span>&nbsp; </span>The theory, gleaned out of Boulding&rsquo;s nine-level typology of system complexity, is named TPO for the three key domains of schools (<em>technical, personal </em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;">and<em> organizational)</em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;">.<span>&nbsp; </span>Informative for instructional designers and school and organization change efforts, it is also a theory for non-specialists (<em>things, people, and outcomes</em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;">). The need for such a theory is great, given the variety of decision-makers, and the failure of well-intentioned reform efforts. Things, people, and outcomes, the key parts of a social system, have very different properties. First, <em>things</em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;"> (technical) in a social system are of three kinds--Level 1: frameworks<span>&nbsp; </span>(e.g., buildings, books and equipment); Level 2: clockworks (e.g., school routines, schedules and calendars); and Level 3: thermostat-like systems (e.g., school goals which people--students and educators--self-regulate to attain.) The skillful design of Level 3 systems results is adjustment capacities.<span>&nbsp; </span>Level 1, 2, and 3<em> things</em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;"> are predictable and designable.&nbsp; Second, <em>people</em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;"> (personal) in a social system are not designable. While things like thermostats self-regulate to <em>externally</em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;"> prescribed criteria, living systems self-regulate to <em>internally</em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;"> prescribed criteria (Level 4: open; e.g., cell).<span>&nbsp; </span>Living systems (Levels 4-7) act to meet their own basic needs first, then, in people, higher needs&mdash;generally predictable by Maslow&rsquo;s hierarchy of human needs: survival, safety, belonging, achievement, self-actualization and transcendence. People&rsquo;s behavior decreases in predictability due to inherent individual differences (Level 5: blueprint; e.g., plant); differing immediate perceptions from among competing stimuli (Level 6: image-aware; e.g., animal), and their own long term reflections, prior knowledge, choices, and abilities (Level 7: symbol processing; e.g., human).&nbsp; The third part of a social system is labeled <em>outcomes </em></span><span style="font-family: Times; color: #111111;">(organizational).<span>&nbsp; </span>Outcomes depend on people&rsquo;s behavior. If things (T) of the systems are designed and arranged to allow people (P) to easily meet their basic needs, outcomes (O) will be desirable.<span>&nbsp; </span>This principle is not a question of ethics, but a question of physics. It is natural, biological, and scientific law that people will behave to meet their individual and personal needs (Level 7: human) before their social system or organization&rsquo;s needs (Levels 8 and 9). Level 8 systems (social) are optional. Level 7 functioning is mandatory. A person can transfer schools (Level 8), but cannot transfer bodies (Level 7).<span>&nbsp; </span>The new practice, observed in the ISSS Morning RoundTable over the last ten years, corresponds to the goals of systemic renewal and the TPO theory. The ISSS RoundTable is a version of the GEMS RoundTable, which has been formally studied in 4<sup>th</sup> Grade classrooms. Two of these teachers continue with it today. </span><span style="font-family: Times;">The RoundTable is an excellent example of a TPO practice because of its effective design, arrangement and use of<em> things</em></span><span style="font-family: Times;"> (T), to maximize opportunities for learning for the participants or <em>people</em></span><span style="font-family: Times;"> (P).<span>&nbsp; </span>Furthermore, the result is a system with the excellent adjustment capacities needed for best outcomes (O). </span></p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times; color: #111111;"></span><!--EndFragment-->}, number={1}, journal={Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the ISSS - 2010, Waterloo, Canada}, author={Gabriele, Susan Farr}, year={2010}, month={Aug.} }