Organizational Quality: A Systemic Functioning Theory†

Abstract A conceptual framework for evaluating the quality of organizations is developed, based on the view that an organization constitutes a behavioral action system. Applying the general Faceted Action System Theory (FAST) to the case of organizations, 16 organizational functioning modes, as well as their interrelationships, are identified. Organizational quality is defined as the effective functioning in these 16 modes. Principles and procedures of Facet Theory are employed (1) for explicating the axiomatic foundation of “organizations as systems” in terms of elementary content facets (classifications); (2) for sampling observations needed for organizational quality evaluation, by means of a mapping sentence; (3) for testing hypotheses empirically validating the conceptual constructs of organizational functioning modes and their interrelationships, using faceted Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) (faceted Smallest Space Analysis (SSA)); and (4) for suggesting a rationalized procedure (Multiple Scaling by Partial Order Scalogram Analysis by base Coordinates (POSAC)) for compiling the 16 modal scores into an optimal organizational quality profile consisting of the smallest number of scales commensurate with organizational functioning complexity.