Refutation of Kira & van Eijnatten's critique of the Emery's open systems theory

Abstract This paper refutes the paper “Socially sustainable work organizations: a chaordic systems approach” by Mari Kira & Frans van Eijnatten. These authors make some serious criticisms of sociotechnical systems theory but in so doing misrepresent the work of Fred and Merrelyn Emery, two of the main developers of sociotechnical systems and open systems theory more generally. Each of their criticisms is contrasted with the original work of the Emerys and their colleagues. Kira & van Eijnatten also claim that sociotechnical systems theory and practice cannot achieve many of the great benefits to be expected from their own chaordic approach. Again the abundant evidence shows that their claims and criticisms lack credibility. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.