A Selection of Papers by Piero Mella
Here you can read the abstracts and find the links to a few paper highlights, authored wholly or partially by Piero Mella.
In every organization, gender stereotypes reduce organizational efficiency and waste productive energy: a systems thinking perspective (Open Access)
Kybernetes (2022), 51(13), 156-185.
Purpose
Stereotypes are simplified and widely shared visions held by a social group regarding a place, object, event or recognizable set of people united by certain characteristics or qualities. They are “dangerous” mental models because they are widely disseminated, devious and capable of acting even unconsciously in individuals, social groups and organizations altering the rationality of assessments and choices and producing discrimination and prejudice. Stereotypes acritically extend from a characteristic of a significant percentage of a category to the totality of individuals. The process of generalization triggered by a stereotype produces the error of discrimination and prejudice. There are numerous forms of stereotypes, but this study takes into account gender stereotypes because they act pervasively, often subtly, to reduce “productivity”. People who are aware of being discriminated perceive an unsatisfactory fulfillment of their motivations, which reduces their incentive to improve their performance. Since productivity measures the efficient use of energy from working in production processes, the author believes that wherever gender stereotypes are at play, there is a productive “waste of energy”, an inefficiency in work activity with harmful effects for organizations of all kinds, including families.
Global Warming: Is It (Im)Possible to Stop It? The Systems Thinking Approach.
Energies (2022),15(3), 705.
Abstract
For some time, there has been a slow but gradual rise in the average temperature of the entire globe, a “global warming”, in fact, the result of human and natural processes that have been producing this phenomenon for decades. Since they are not directly perceived by individuals, these processes and their effects have been ignored for a long time, or at least not considered to be immediately harmful and dangerous. Global warming does not depend so much on solar radiation as it does on the greenhouse effect deriving from the continuous emission, by human activities and natural events, of greenhouse gases that accumulate in the atmosphere and form a barrier to the dispersion of heat produced by solar radiation. A good number of models exists to explain how global warming is produced, which are technical in nature and consider the production of greenhouse gases as the most important cause; however, they do not always analyze and justify the reasons for such emissions. Following the logic, language and methods of Senge’s systems thinking, the paper aims to present a general model, the GEAM—qualitative in nature, but rational and coherent—for highlighting the interacting factors that give rise to and maintain global warming. This model constitutes a reference framework to identify possible “strategic areas” within which to identify man-made “artificial” and “natural” factors that can control the phenomenon and to order the countless ideas and interventions that different nations carry out individually to control global warming. The model presented is qualitative in nature and does not allow immediate calculations or forecasts to be performed. However, it could guide in-depth scientific research in generating accurate forecasts and simulation using the tools of systems dynamics. In conclusion, understanding how global warming is created and if and how it could be controlled is the aim of this work. Finally, I want to note that the purpose of this work is not to analyze the technical aspects of the phenomenon of global warming, or to deepen the measures and actions to contrast it, but to provide a “general model of description and understanding” of the phenomenon using logic and language of the Systems Thinking Approach (according to Peter’s Senge and Piero Mella), with the aim of highlighting three fundamental strategic areas for countering the phenomenon and four uncontrollable phenomena, triggered by global warming itself, which can make strategic control difficult. Furthermore, I highlight the role played by the world population, understood both quantitatively as a number and qualitatively as a level of economic development, in the production of global warming. Lastly, I observe how the different strategic actions that nations can, indeed must, implement to stem global warming are systematically interconnected and interacting; however, these interactions can produce unknown effects and consequences that must be carefully researched and evaluated—encouraged, if positive, reduced or eliminated if negative.
A historical instance of urban unsustainability that astounds to this day
Systems Research and Behavioral Science (2021), 38(3), 355-367.
Abstract
The aim of the paper is to present how the interaction between the micro behaviours of individual families and the collective macro behaviour of the city of Pavia produced a unique historical phenomenon that, on the one hand, has amazed Italy and the whole world for its striking number of towers and on the other represents a clear example of urban housing unsustainability in the Middle Ages. In the paper, using a simulation software, the micro and macro effects of the accumulation of towers in the city of Pavia are shown. The study of the behaviour of collectivities has been a very complex subject of analysis and for this reason, a fascinating and interesting one as well. To understand, explain and, to a certain extent, control collective phenomena, the Theory of Combinatory Systems was recently formalized. This theory describes, interprets and simulates the most relevant collective phenomena and their observable effects. With the aid of a simple probabilistic combinatory automaton, we have simulated the dynamics of the formation of the towered town of Pavia, Italy, which is unique in all the world, as can be observed in the historical descriptions or by a visit to this ancient Italian town.
Entrepreneurial Dynamics and Clusters Formation. The Combinatory Systems View.
Economia Aziendale Online, 12(1), 99-124.
Abstract
I propose an interpretation of business dynamics in terms of the spatial co-localization of firms in a circumscribed area in order to form clusters of various types. I interpret clustering by adopting the methodology of combinatory systems: that is, systems formed by collectivities of agents that, by combining their micro behaviour, give rise to a macro behaviour and a macro effect that refers to the collectivity considered as a whole. Due to the presence of an internal feedback the macro behaviours direct or condition the subsequent micro behaviours, even though they derive from these. There are two business dynamics that lead to the formation of clusters: the exogenous dynamics, where the outside entrepreneurs locate their firms in a given area, and the endogenous dynamics, where there are new entrepreneurs generated from within a pre-existing cluster. The firm is considered as an intelligent cognitive system that evaluates its own fitness on the basis of a system of performance indicators; it estimates the effective or potential fitness for various possible areas of intervention and on the basis of the fitness levels assigns an index of attractiveness to the area. I argue that if an area has advantages in terms of fitness, then clusters will form there as a result of the co-localizations of firms that assign these areas a high attractiveness index. If the attractiveness landscapes appear flat, because no element stands out from the other areas to favour fitness, then if by chance an initial core of firms co-localize in the area, and their presence produces economic advantages in terms of economic efficiency or profitability with respect to other areas, these acquire the force of attraction and a combinatory system forms that by necessity increases the cluster. This process lasts as long as recombining factors maintain or increase the perceived advantages.
Matching Revenues and Costs: The Counter-Intuitive Rationality of Direct Costing
International Journal of Business and Management, 15(1), pp.202-222.
Abstract
This study investigates the consequences of adopting two simple sets of rules the manager can consider as perfectly rational and follow in his decisions regarding price, volume and mix of the various products. The first set follows the full (absorption) costing method logic, while the second is based on the direct (variable, marginal) costing method logic. It shows that costing systems adopting the full-costing method can lead management to make non-rational decisions regarding the setting of prices, acceptance of orders, make or buy choices and, above all, determination of the optimal production mix through programming and budgeting. On the other hand, using the direct costing method allows the manager to achieve rational results during the decision-making and planning phases, even if these often appear counter-intuitive when compared with the results achieved using the full costing method, which seem to conform to naïve intuition. The risk in the latter case is even more serious when we are dealing with multi-production firms operating under conditions of limited production capacity regarding one or more factors, as occurs most of the time. The demonstration of the thesis of the superiority of direct costing method rules in management decisions related to the problem of the matching costs and revenues is carried out with numerical evidence, formulating a set of decision problems that are solved by comparing the results obtained both with the full costing method rules and with the direct costing method rules.
The ghost in the production machine: the laws of production networks
Kybernetes (2019), 48(6), 1301-1329.
[Outstanding Paper of the year]
Purpose
Any kind of production flow is obtained not from individual production organizations but from a more or less widespread Production Network of interconnected production modules located in different places and times. All of these modules are, consciously or not, necessarily connected, interacting and cooperating in a coordinated way to combine and arrange, step by step, the factors, materials, components, manpower, machines and equipment to obtain flows of products’ final goods, in particular’ and to sell these where there is a demand for them. The purpose of this paper is to determine, in logical and formal terms, the minimum conditions that bring about the formation of production networks and to discover the laws that explain their dynamics over time.
Obstacles to Managing Dynamic Systems. The Systems Thinking Approach.
International Journal of Business and Social Science, (2019), 10(8), 24,41.
Abstract
The world is a dynamic system composed of a system of dynamic systems of different sizes, nested at multiple levels and interfering with each other: environmental, social, political, economic systems, ecosystems, organizations, companies, groups,parties and interacting individuals. Systems Thinking is a methodological approach that offers tools for understanding and, most importantly, controllingdynamic systems of any kind in any field, building models to understand, simulate andabove all“control”the incessant movementsand continual transformations and evolution dynamic systems. In many situations, no matter how much time and energy managers dedicate to this task, the control of dynamic systems is not possible or is impeded by certain conditions that make it nearly “impossible to control” the dynamic world with all its dynamic processes and interconnections. By describing brief “metaphors”, this study will present six of the conditions that make it “difficult, if not impossible, to perceive dynamics”, thus impedingmanagersfrom “understanding” and “controlling” the world.Some processes are so slow that managersare not able to perceive their dynamics; by the time they become aware of their effects it is too late to control them, and we end up like a boiled frog (first metaphor). At other times, processes are so fast, explosive and exponential that by the time managersbecome aware of them there is no time to undertake any control (second metaphor ofthe water lilies). Some processes derive from the concatenation of many loops, which are contained in other loops. When, in a far-off land, a butterfly flutters its wings, it can unleash a chain of vortices which, gradually gaining in strength, can set off a storm in another part of the world (third metaphor). At times, some variables depend on the myopic behaviour of many agents who prefer to repeat behavior that produces short-term, individual and local advantages, thus ignoring the long-term, collective and global disadvantages such behavior inexorably produces (fourth metaphor). The monodirectional view(fifth metaphor) blocks managersfrom understanding the interactions and dynamics of events. Systems Thinking encounters an often-insurmountable obstacle in structural complexity of non-trivial dynamic systems (sixth metaphor).
Quantitative and Qualitative Dynamics of Interacting Populations
Systems Research and Behavioral ScienceVolume (2018), 35(4), pp. 427-457.
Abstract
This research paper deals with the vast topic of population dynamics from both a quantitative view, the change in the number of individuals in a population, and a qualitative one, the variation or change in the phenotypes in evolutionary processes. In a broader sense, what regards the populations is also applicable to species. Quantitative dynamics are studied not only in an isolated population but also in the more interesting case of two or more populations interconnected in a simple trophic food chain in a prey–predator model, in the broadest sense of the term, thereby forming an ecosystem. However, the paper introduces the concept of ‘population control’. Two or more interconnected prey–predator populations regulate, in turn, their dynamics, even though unconsciously, exercising a control that has been defined as ‘natural’ and ‘endogenous’. The concept of ‘external’ control is also introduced, which is carried out by man through interventions aimed at increasing or reducing the size of one or more interconnected populations to arrive at minimum limits (populations of species in danger of extinction) or maximum ones (populations of invasive species) held to be advantageous to and congruous with the ecosystem. Also highlighted is the connection between qualitative and quantitative dynamics, in the sense that every mutation in the individuals of a population which increases the potency of the defence apparatus in prey, or the hunting apparatus in predators, necessarily modifies the rates of fecundity or extinction of that population, which necessarily affects the quantitative dynamics of all the interconnected populations. Taking as a basis, the Volterra–Lotka equations, Excel and Powersim simulations are presented for specific examples in which population dynamics is treated under the assumption of unlimited resources or resources that are limited but reproducible or limited until depletion. The case of environmental catastrophes that externally modify the dynamics of one or more populations is also touched upon.
Improving managers’ intelligence through Systems Thinking
Kybernetes (2019), 48(1), 58–78.
Purpose
Accepting the assumption that our intelligence depends on the ability to construct models which may allow us to acquire, update and transmit our knowledge, this paper aims to highlight the role of Systems Thinking in developing the “intelligence” of managers for all types and sizes of organization.
The ghost in the production machine: the laws of production networks
Kybernetes (2019), 48(6), 1301-1329.
[Outstanding Paper of the year]
Purpose
Any kind of production flow is obtained not from individual production organizations but from a more or less widespread Production Network of interconnected production modules located in different places and times.
How Myopia Archetypes Lead to Non-Sustainability
Sustainability (2018), 10(1), 21-44.
Abstract
Much of the literature on sustainability has tried to define the “virtuous behaviour” of “agents” (man and his social and economic organizations) so that it respects the “sustainability constraint.” This paper provides a “mirror-image” approach, based on the idea that it is above all necessary to understand why men and organizations tend to develop, at times unconsciously and dishonestly, damaging behaviour that turns into non-sustainability. In other words, to orient man toward sustainable behaviour it is indispensable to understand the “reasons” for the behaviour that produces non-sustainable effects. Regarding sustainability problems, we shall introduce the hypothesis that non-sustainable behaviour is not irrational in an absolute sense but derives from the action of three connected “behavioural archetypes” that accurately describe the “natural” behaviour of individuals in pursuing their aims: behaving in a way that will provide evident short-term advantages, both individual and local, while ignoring the disadvantages and harm such behaviour produces in the long run, at the collective and global level. To solve the problem, we shall try to identify the “levers” that weaken the archetypes and reverse their effects, thereby requiring sacrifices which are unacceptable to some. The paper presents four emblematic cases of non-sustainable behaviour and demonstrates that sustainability must become a fundamental strategic driver.
The unexpected cybernetics life of collectivities: the combinatory systems approach
Kybernetes (2017), 46(7), 1086–1111.
[Outstanding Paper of the year]
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to show how simple “collectivities” of non-interconnected similar agents, which the author has termed “combinatory systems” and which produce analogous micro behaviors, reveal very interesting forms of micro and macro behaviors and effects attributable to a cybernetic mechanism the author shall call “micro-macro feedback”. On the one hand, the macro behavior of the system as a whole derives from the “combination” of the analogous micro behaviors or effects of the agents, and on the other hand, the macro behavior determines, conditions or directs the subsequent micro behavior, thereby creating observable effects and patterns in the collectivity.
Intelligence and Stupidity—The Educational Power of Cipolla’s Test and of the “Social Wheel”
Creative Education (2017), 8(15), 2515-2534.
Abstract
This paper will present the model Carlo Cipolla developed in his worldwide best-selling essay on “The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity” along with the framework of social behaviors it contains. Cipolla did not intend to explore intelligence but to focus primarily in his analysis on stupidity, two characteristics of the social behavior that man, as an individual or group agent, can reveal when he interacts in social groups and organizations of all types and sizes. More generally, Cipolla put forth a simple framework that classified the behavior of the man/actor in a social or organized group based on the advantages and disadvantages such behavior brought to the actor and the group of which he is a part. According to the author, all group individual behavior can be qualified according to two parameters: 1) advantages or disadvantages to the actor, and 2) advantages or disadvantages for “others”. The combination of these parameters produces the four individual types: 1) Intelligent people, 2) Helpless/Naive people, 3) the Bandit and 4) the Stupid person. This general outline is so simple that it represents a powerful and effective educational tool to make people aware of how they can be guided when they interact with other individuals. Therefore, Cipolla’s book is used in schools, universities and training courses for managers to send an educational message: behave intelligently and avoid stupidity, because “the Stupid person is more dangerous than the Bandit”. This study seeks to demonstrate that when a third parameter is introduced—The volition or lack thereof of the actor to cause advantages to others—four other types of individual can be added to Cipolla’s original typology: 1) the Able or Capable person, 2) the Hero, 3) the Incapable person, and 4) the Egoist. These eight types can be represented in a circular model that I have termed the Social Wheel, which increases the educational power of Cipolla’s idea. The paper will show that “the Incapable person is more dangerous than the Stupid one”.
The Holonic View of Organizations and Firms
Systems Research and Behavioral Science (2017), 34(3), 354-374.
Abstract
In the world of organizations, firms, management and control, in general, a silent conceptual movement has been under way for less than 50 years now, beginning in 1967, when Arthur Koestler formally introduced the concepts of holon, holarchy (a hierarchical structure of holons) and holonic network (a reticular structure of holons). Thirty years later, Ken Wilber tried to generalize the holonic perspective. The new holonic perspective forces us to observe the surrounding universe (at a physical and biological level, and in the real or formal sense) by taking into account the whole/part (holarchies) and the before/after (holonic networks) relationships: any observable unit is at the same time a whole—composed of smaller parts—and part of a larger whole. In order to clarify the holonic vison and the ideas behind holons, holarchies and holonic networks, this study will examine some significant uses of these concepts and, in particular, the main sources of inspiration for those production systems referred to as the holonic manufacturing systems, comparing these to those defined as bionic and fractal manufacturing systems. Some forms of inter-organizational networks, as well as holonic and virtual organizations, have also been considered.
Ethics builds reputation
International Journal of Markets and Business Systems (2015), 1(1), 38-52.
Abstract
The objective of this study is to point out how behavioural ethics and reputation are linked and represent the conditions of existence for the corporate system, understood as a long-lasting organisation of individuals or institutions which produces outcomes for the external stakeholders. We think that ethics are pivotal in determining the success or failure of an organisation. They affect a company's reputation and help to define a business model that will thrive even in adversity. To show this link two theories are used: the firm interpreted as a social, or socio-technical, system, open to exchanges with the environment, and the firm as an open system, in its conditions of teleonomy, observed according to the model of the organisation as an efficient system of transformation (MOEST). Precisely because firms exist and operate within a given environment, ethics must signify organisational conduct, and the daily respect of human values allows the firm to achieve a coherent organisational reputation.
The Pillars of Learning. Understanding, Studying and Explaining.
Creative Education (2014), 5 (17), 1615-1628.
Abstract
This paper is based on the hypothesis that intelligent persons have a high capacity to understand and learn effectively, because processes involving study and explanation allow them to develop the capacity to construct a system of coherent models that can be quickly updated. The first part of the paper will highlight the logic and power of systemic understanding and learning that is founded in Systems Thinking. It is clear that understanding and learning represent different mental activities: We understand when we form a coherent model of a concept, but we learn only when that model becomes stable and permanent; when it is memorized so that we can repeat and apply it. There is no learning without studying. For this reason, the second part of the paper proposes ten steps for studying effectively (which permits understanding) and efficiently (using minimum effort). But how do we attain understanding? Often we reach understanding through personal experience; in most cases, however, we are helped by a professor, a teacher or a textbook that provides us with an explanation. The explanation process represents the topic of the third part of the paper, where the author considers the five most important structures of the explanation process—the common, classical, procedural, systemic and teleological structures. In this sense, Understanding, Studying and Explaining can be considered the three pillars on which are based learning and knowledge.
Beyond feedback control: the interactive use of performance management systems. Implications for process innovation in Italian healthcare organizations.
The International journal of health planning and management (2013), 29(1), e1-e30.
Summary
This paper shows how the use of performance management systems affects managers’ perception of satisfaction, the effectiveness of the control system and the performance related to process innovation. An exploratory empirical research has been conducted on 85 managers operating in Italian healthcare organizations. Empirical findings put forward that the interactive—as opposed to diagnostic—use of performance management systems enhances managerial satisfaction with the control system and managerial perception of effectiveness. The present study then showed that it is not the control itself that is an obstacle to innovation in organizations in general (and in health organizations in particular) but the diagnostic use of the control mechanisms, which impedes the interaction between the control personnel and those subject to the control. Finally, this paper addresses managerial implications and further research avenues.
The wheels of change in organizations
International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management (2012), 11(6), 247-266.
Abstract
In a changing world, change management processes become physiological, for individuals, social groups, or organizations. However, what are the basic characteristics of the change? What are the effects of these characteristics? What are the cognitive limits that impede the perception of change? When the change is perceived and interpreted, how will the organization deal with the change process? This study seeks to answer these questions by referring to organizations more so than to individuals. Three fundamental characteristics of current change will be identified, for simplicity’s sake called: 1) acceleration, 2) interdependence, and 3) the prevalence of the symbol. For each of these, the consequences for awareness of and adjustments to the change will be presented. The more complex the change is, the more necessary it is to have models to perceive and interpret it. Unfortunately, there are a number of cognitive limits that impede an understanding of the change, the most evident of which are: a) the lack of systemic thinking, b) the inability to perceive sudden changes, c) the inability to observe changes which are too slow, and d) the tendency toward one-way observation. Faced with the complexity of change, which is increasingly viewed as an equilibrium-impeding disturbance, the ability of organizations and social systems to survive for a long period of time depends on the ability to produce a countervailing change of the vital processes in order to achieve new equilibrium states. From this perspective, three forms of change in organizations will be considered that involve: 1) operational programmes; 2) organizational structures; and 3) culture, and cognitive, and behavioural models. A model is proposed that integrates these three forms and highlights their “motor wheels”.