The Effect of system interaction on the strategic Management of organizations using the Jordanian Ministry of Labour as a Case Study

The academic treatment of management entities as a set of systems, and of systems within systems, which co-operate and react with each other is arguably still in its early stages. Interactions between systems are bound to happen; these interactions are a source of opportunity to businesses but they also present a challenge in modelling, implementing and deriving useful inferences. Since the paradigm "Systems of Systems" is in its comparative infancy, with differing opinions in the academic literature as to its precise definitions, this current work has concentrated on investigating and developing a comprehensive analysis of the underlying management systems which exist inside a complex real-life structure, the Ministry of Labour within the Hashemite Republic of Jordan. This in turn has provided an effective and correct understanding of the underlying systems and of the full System Interaction structure. The present study aims in understanding the impact of system interaction on the strategic management of organizations in relation to the Ministry of Labour in Jordan. The civil service of the Kingdom of Jordan is widely praised for its maturity and abilities. Even though obviously management system units existed and interacted long before the idea of analysing this interaction by the theories of Systems of Systems was conceived, it was the unsatisfactory predictions produced by earlier work that led to the demand for this complex development. It was anticipated that this work would confirm the assumption that the Jordan bureaucracy would have developed complicated interactions. However, it has been discovered that the various divisions of the Ministry of Labour were not as integrated as expected. The research has used both quantitative as well qualitative analysis as the means for collecting data and information. A series of interviews and survey questionnaires were used for the collection of primary data. This research has attempted to model system interactions, whether planned or unplanned, that mirror social and technical disciplines such as management science or computer science. It tries to encompass and integrate concepts such as interaction, interface, message, task interdependence, coordination, collaboration, modularity, coupling, and cohesion. This thesis summarizes the need to develop a theory of system interactions. Elements for describing a system interaction include rights, responsibilities, trigger points, desired outcome, generic activities, interaction states, risk factors, by-products, constraints and evaluation. The running example of the Ministry of Labour illustrates a number of different system interactions. Finally, the conclusion suggests potential applications and directions for further development.