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Organization and Decision
Translated into English for the first time, Luhmann's modern classic, Organization and Decision, explores how organizations work; how they should be designed, steered, and controlled; and how they order and structure society. Luhmann argues that organization is order, yet indeterminate. In this book, he shows how this paradox enables organizations to embed themselves within society without losing autonomy. In developing his autopoietic perspective on organizations, Luhmann applies his general theory of social systems by conceptualizing organizations as selfreproducing systems of decision communications. His innovative and interdisciplinary approach to the material (spanning organization studies, management and sociology) is integral to any study of organizations. This new translation, edited by one of the world's leading experts on Luhmann, enables researchers and graduate students across the English-speaking world to access Luhmann's ideas more readily.
418 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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About the author
Niklas Luhmann
221 books275 followersNiklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, and a prominent thinker in systems theory, who is increasingly recognized as one of the most important social theorists of the 20th century.
Luhmann wrote prolifically, with more than 70 books and nearly 400 scholarly articles published on a variety of subjects, including law, economy, politics, art, religion, ecology, mass media, and love. While his theories have yet to make a major mark in American sociology, his theory is currently well known and popular in German sociology and has also been rather intensively received in Japan and Eastern Europe, including Russia. His relatively low profile elsewhere is partly due to the fact that translating his work is a difficult task, since his writing presents a challenge even to readers of German, including many sociologists. (p. xxvii Social System 1995)
Much of Luhmann's work directly deals with the operations of the legal system and his autopoietic theory of law is regarded as one of the more influential contributions to the sociology of law and socio-legal studies.
Luhmann is probably best known to North Americans for his debate with the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas over the potential of social systems theory. Like his one-time mentor Talcott Parsons, Luhmann is an advocate of "grand theory," although neither in the sense of philosophical foundationalism nor in the sense of "meta-narrative" as often invoked in the critical works of post-modernist writers. Rather, Luhmann's work tracks closer to complexity theory broadly speaking, in that it aims to address any aspect of social life within a universal theoretical framework - of which the diversity of subjects he wrote about is an indication. Luhmann's theory is sometimes dismissed as highly abstract and complex, particularly within the Anglophone world, whereas his work has had a more lasting influence on scholars from German-speaking countries, Scandinavia and Italy.
Luhmann himself described his theory as "labyrinth-like" or "non-linear" and claimed he was deliberately keeping his prose enigmatic to prevent it from being understood "too quickly", which would only produce simplistic misunderstandings.
Luhmann wrote prolifically, with more than 70 books and nearly 400 scholarly articles published on a variety of subjects, including law, economy, politics, art, religion, ecology, mass media, and love. While his theories have yet to make a major mark in American sociology, his theory is currently well known and popular in German sociology and has also been rather intensively received in Japan and Eastern Europe, including Russia. His relatively low profile elsewhere is partly due to the fact that translating his work is a difficult task, since his writing presents a challenge even to readers of German, including many sociologists. (p. xxvii Social System 1995)
Much of Luhmann's work directly deals with the operations of the legal system and his autopoietic theory of law is regarded as one of the more influential contributions to the sociology of law and socio-legal studies.
Luhmann is probably best known to North Americans for his debate with the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas over the potential of social systems theory. Like his one-time mentor Talcott Parsons, Luhmann is an advocate of "grand theory," although neither in the sense of philosophical foundationalism nor in the sense of "meta-narrative" as often invoked in the critical works of post-modernist writers. Rather, Luhmann's work tracks closer to complexity theory broadly speaking, in that it aims to address any aspect of social life within a universal theoretical framework - of which the diversity of subjects he wrote about is an indication. Luhmann's theory is sometimes dismissed as highly abstract and complex, particularly within the Anglophone world, whereas his work has had a more lasting influence on scholars from German-speaking countries, Scandinavia and Italy.
Luhmann himself described his theory as "labyrinth-like" or "non-linear" and claimed he was deliberately keeping his prose enigmatic to prevent it from being understood "too quickly", which would only produce simplistic misunderstandings.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 13, 2025
Niklas Luhmann’s Organisation und Entscheidung (Organization and Decision) reframes organizations not as static entities or mere collections of individuals, but as dynamic systems constituted by decisions. In Luhmann’s systems theory, organizations are networks of decision communications that generate their own structures through recursive reference to previous decisions. This perspective moves away from the idea of organizations as “machines” and emphasizes their self-referential, adaptive nature.
For HRM students, the book offers several key insights:
1. Decision-Centric View of Management
• HR practices (recruitment, training, performance appraisal) can be understood as decision processes that both reflect and shape organizational structures.
• HR managers do not merely implement policy—they participate in the continuous reproduction of the organization through decisions that reference and reshape prior ones.
2. Complexity and Contingency
• Luhmann underlines the inherent complexity and uncertainty of decision-making. For HR, this means recognizing that policies cannot eliminate ambiguity; they only structure it in manageable ways.
• This helps future HR professionals appreciate the limits of control and the need for adaptive, learning-oriented approaches.
3. Autopoiesis and Organizational Boundaries
• The organization defines itself by what decisions it accepts as “its own,” which has direct implications for HR boundaries: who counts as a member, what constitutes acceptable behavior, and how norms are maintained.
• HR’s role in defining and communicating these boundaries is crucial for cohesion and identity.
4. Implications for Change Management
• Change is not the simple implementation of new procedures but the alteration of the decision-making network itself.
• HR professionals must therefore frame change initiatives as new decision patterns, ensuring that these are connected to the organization’s existing logic to increase adoption.
Why It Matters for HRM Education
Luhmann’s theory equips HRM students with a systemic, non-linear understanding of organizations, helping them move beyond instrumental models. It emphasizes:
• Seeing HR as an active participant in shaping organizational reality.
• Recognizing the recursive nature of HR decisions and policies.
• Accepting uncertainty as an inherent condition of organizational life.
Unfortunately, the book is currently available in German and English but not in French, which limits its accessibility to students. We can only hope for a high-quality French translation in the future, which would make this influential work more widely usable in HRM education.
For HRM students, the book offers several key insights:
1. Decision-Centric View of Management
• HR practices (recruitment, training, performance appraisal) can be understood as decision processes that both reflect and shape organizational structures.
• HR managers do not merely implement policy—they participate in the continuous reproduction of the organization through decisions that reference and reshape prior ones.
2. Complexity and Contingency
• Luhmann underlines the inherent complexity and uncertainty of decision-making. For HR, this means recognizing that policies cannot eliminate ambiguity; they only structure it in manageable ways.
• This helps future HR professionals appreciate the limits of control and the need for adaptive, learning-oriented approaches.
3. Autopoiesis and Organizational Boundaries
• The organization defines itself by what decisions it accepts as “its own,” which has direct implications for HR boundaries: who counts as a member, what constitutes acceptable behavior, and how norms are maintained.
• HR’s role in defining and communicating these boundaries is crucial for cohesion and identity.
4. Implications for Change Management
• Change is not the simple implementation of new procedures but the alteration of the decision-making network itself.
• HR professionals must therefore frame change initiatives as new decision patterns, ensuring that these are connected to the organization’s existing logic to increase adoption.
Why It Matters for HRM Education
Luhmann’s theory equips HRM students with a systemic, non-linear understanding of organizations, helping them move beyond instrumental models. It emphasizes:
• Seeing HR as an active participant in shaping organizational reality.
• Recognizing the recursive nature of HR decisions and policies.
• Accepting uncertainty as an inherent condition of organizational life.
Unfortunately, the book is currently available in German and English but not in French, which limits its accessibility to students. We can only hope for a high-quality French translation in the future, which would make this influential work more widely usable in HRM education.
February 9, 2024
un libro corto debido a una condensación de elementos teóricos; por lo tanto, difícil de leer para un neófito (como yo). No obstante, una vez superada esta barrera, la claridad y operatividad de los conceptos desarrollados son de inmensa ayuda en la comprensión y estudio de las organizaciones sociales.
July 4, 2018
Libro estremamente complesso e di non facile digeribilità (per il linguaggio, oltre che per la mole) ma affascinante e profondo nell'analizzare il tema decisionale rispetto alle organizzazioni.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews