Publication 1208

Human systems management requires a new mode of inquiry into complex and dynamical human systems. One candidate is autopoietic systems. These are self-renewing, self-repairing, and unity-maintaining autonomous organizations of components capable of interactive linkages. While autopoiesis was originally introduced as representing a new direction in contemporary biology, autopoietic modeling, as outlined in this chapter, carries great potential for making a significant contribution to the development of human systems management, too. Relevance: This paper is based on the seminal 1974 article of Varela, Maturana and Uribe on autopoiesis.