Organizations as learning systems : 'living composition' as an enabling infrastructure / Marjatta Maula.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-227).

Introduction -- Learning and evolving organization -- Underlying structures and dynamics -- Organization as a system -- How to apply the principles of self-production to organizations -- The living compostition model -- Strategic components of a living organization -- Two major knowledge flows -- 'sensing' and 'memory' -- Four parallel knowledge processes -- Introduction to the cases -- Arthur Andersen (business consulting) -- Arthur D. Little (Europe) -- Ernst and Young (management consulting) -- The KaosPilots and KaosManagement -- Summary of applying the living composition model to case organizations -- Improving living organizations -- Conclusions.

"This book analyzes and interprets the idea of self-production (autopoiesis) in the context of organizations. The main contribution of this book is the living composition, the model of living organizations. It is a new and original interpretation of the theory of living, self-producing systems (autopoiesis theory). Living composition is defined here as strategic components and their relationships. A living organization is thereby a self-producing system that is composed of ten different non-physical strategic components that are continually produced by the organization itself."--Jacket.