Systems
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structuring of power (including distributing power, storing power, and
using power). By power, it is meant to control the access to something that is
useful to others. Much has been said about gaining power, applying power,
retaining power, and using power, all of which apply quite aptly to people
and organizations, organizational effectiveness, and countering the effects
of changing organizations. Consider an organization that is rich in material wealth. They judiciously use their wealth to work with others through
loans of various types of resources and joint ventures that utilize this
wealth. The company develops partnerships, creates a strong interest for
others to do business with them, and promotes a goodwill that earns respect
from their peers and solicitors. Contrast this company with another company that has resources that are equal in value and importance to potential
solicitors and partners, but has not engaged in partnerships or allowed
access. The company that extends access to its material wealth exerts power,
whereas the company that hoards has expressed no interest in allowing
access, nor engages in any way to use those resources. These two companies
stand contraposed to a company that has material wealth and uses it to
engage a select few or feigns a threatening demeanor to those in disfavor.
Providing access to power (which is not a new theme for consideration) lies
at the heart of the design and architecture of a system of systems, and therefore, is essential to the integration strategy and outcome. Recognizing there
are different kinds of power (economic power is recognizable in political
arenas, but may not be equivalent to social power or knowledge power),
access to power is the common link for planning integration. Architecturally,
the access may be person to person or by agreement through some automated trusted agent.
Power structures (the essential elements of an organization that protect,
store, support, and manage* desirable resources) form the key elements that
make the valuable resources a sought-after commodity. These essential elements may be formal as is the case with set policies and procedures or they
may be informal (Land 1985), on a person-to-person or person-to-machine
basis. For an integrated system of systems, those valuable resources are
EMMI, the users of the valuable resources are subsystems (objects), and the
power structures regulate access. This discussion concerning access to power
and power structures presumes that the systems engineering has provided
an acceptable level of reliability, maintainability, stability, boundedness, and
predictability. Mahoney and Weitzel (Mahoney and Weitzel 1969) determined
that reliability was one of the most critical requirements of organizational
effectiveness for both general business and research and development organizations. Reliability of access to valuable resources is particularly important
for system of systems.
* “To manage” is to “plan,” “organize,” “direct,” “control,” “communicate,” and “team-build”
those essential elements.