Consulting in Context  

The term “systemic” is not protected and is used inflationarily. My understanding of systemic management consulting is based on the concepts of sociological systems theory in the tradition of Niklas Luhmann. This refers to mental figures, methods and tools that take a meta position on the topics of agility and new work. “Systemic” here means that organizations and the people who work in them can be described as having a mutual system-environment dependency. The creation and maintenance of such systems follow a recursive process logic. No phenomenon exists in itself; rather, the connectivity of context variables decides whether structural changes make sense or not, or whether structural changes fit or not.

By agility I mean the application of basic systemic concepts such as recursivity, reflexivity and changing perspectives to organizational structures and processes, to teams and employees. The basis for orientation is the “Agile Manifesto” by Schwaber, Sutherland et al., originally designed for IT projects. al. At the same time, I think it is crucial to consider the social dimension of agility in addition to the technical and organizational aspects. Both dimensions follow different logics that must be understood and integrated so that agility can succeed.

My understanding of New Work: Innovative concepts for combining work and life under the conditions of increasing digitalization. An essential prerequisite is the successful combination of digital and analogue communication tools in the company. This happens in the area of ​​tension between the greatest possible transparency and avoidable data overload. In addition, New Work raises the following topics:

•     flat hierarchies
•     temporal and spatial flexibility
•     innovative corporate culture

New Work is viewed as a strategic competitive advantage due to its significant connection to employee satisfaction.

Positive corporate culture is v. a. depends on transparent communication and individual design options. These always depend on the respective organizational requirements. Internal communication forms a kind of bridging function here. In a narrower sense, IK combines digital and analog instruments for conveying information. Relevant goals are:

• Exchange of relevant information and knowledge on specific tasks in the company
• Promoting a shared view of work (understanding and knowing how my work contributes to achieving goals)
•  Employee retention
•  Building a positive corporate culture

The right mix of IK tools is crucial for success.

The overarching goal is to promote open and transparent exchange, to encourage collaboration in general and teamwork in particular, and to publicly recognize successes (feedback culture).

Changes in organizations must be compatible with existing structures and supported by all employees. Systemic organizational consulting always integrates the technical and social dimensions of change and thereby avoids implementation problems that can easily arise with purely technological solutions without taking the social dimension into account.