Week 5 & 6 Systems Perspective

Ocean’s Eleven is a good visual example of an open system because each individual member apart from being carefully selected by Danny has an independent role to play in order for the heist to be successful. The reason this group might be successful in pulling a heist that Reuben believes to be a crazy idea is the fact that while each member of this group is an expert in their own unique “fields”, coming together to devise this plan they know that they must work together as a unit, playing off each other’s strengths in order to be successful.

Livingston, their communication’s expert is the one that keeps them connected, in constant communication with each other so that everyone else can perform their tasks in a very organic way, very much like the example of how the body functions.

If anyone of them had falter in their tasks, it would have placed the functions and tasks of the rest of the group in danger simply because they depended on each other’s actions to fulfill the plan.

Another good example of an open system in communication and organization would be Gone in 60 seconds. In the same way that Danny gathered a group of experts to pull off an impossible heist, Memphis (Gone in 60 Seconds) jumps in to help his brother Kip when he tries to pull off his own impossible heist. The similarities not only lie in the type of event that brings these individuals together but in the way they perform within that group.

In Gone in 60 Seconds Kip’s “crew”and Memphis “crew” come together and become a bigger system with the common goal of stealing 50 cars in 24 hours. We see a fusion of old and new techniques, expertise and technology and we see members of both groups interact efficiently (although they disagree about each other’s methods) in their attempt to pull off their heist.

But like in Ocean’s Eleven each member of the each respective group understand that in order to be successful in the completion of their goal, they must work together, have an open flow of communication, and feed off each other’s actions. They are all looking towards the health of their groups and not only focusing on their own individual benefits. In this sense I see these both groups exhibiting Open systems theory.