“In a general way it may be said that to think in terms of systems seems the most appropriate conceptual response so far available when the phenomena under study--at any level and in any domain--display the character of being organized, and when understanding the nature of the interdependencies constitutes the research task. In the behavioral sciences, the first steps in building a systems theory were taken in connection with the analysis of internal processes in organisms, or organizations, when the parts had to be related to the whole.”

—  Fred Emery

Source: The Causal Texture of Organizational Environments (1963), p. 21.

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Fred Emery 15
Australian psychologist 1925–1997

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