“Theory, insofar as it is intended to be systems theory, begins with a difference, the difference between system and environment; if the theory is intended to be something else, it must be based on a different difference.”
Niklas Luhmann
The capa·sphere Manifesto
Performance as an autonomous system, emerging from itself in difference to its environment. A sphere of capabilities. Social through communication, thus appealing for – and stimulated by – the fulfillment of social functions. At the same time ready to resonate with interaction, organization, social movement, as well as consciousness (prudence), physical skill (not only in sport, art, crafts) and machines.
Meaningful due to the difference between performance potentials and their current shaping through the distinction of achievement and misachievement, which in turn becomes operative in the mode of exercising. Structured by expectations regarding this distinction, and learning due to their disappointment. Any structure being temporary: expectations can only be actualized – and changed – during operation.
Exercise as a robust sequence of threefold selections: of achievement (or misachievement) in working through tasks. A stabilized improbability with respect to reliability, enhancement and innovation, generalized in the medium of competence.
The purpose of the program thus outlined is to open up new horizons of the social circumstances of performance from a groundbreaking systems perspective and to harness any observational benefits.
Assumptions
It is the thesis that performance and the competence generalized in it can be understood, on the basis of a theory of self-referential, non-trivial, and complex social systems that are intransparent to themselves and unpredictable for external observers (Niklas Luhmann, Organization and Decision, Cambridge 2018, p. 321), as an autonomous system.
We position this performance system as a ‘foil’ for the specific inter-systemic performance characteristics of functional systems, e.g. what is paid for (or not paid for) in the economy, or what can be described as true (or false) in science. At the same time, we relate the performance system to the respective communications in membership-based interactions, organizations, social movements, and societies. In both respects, we consider performances to be evolutionary improbable, historically differentiated in society due to a specific problem constellation and able to maintain this difference.
For a more detailed observation of the performance system, three perspectives are distinguished: first, its basal operations, second, the related formation of performance structures and processes, and third, its relations to other systems in its environment. In addition, there is the observation of the performance system in its environment with the help of other (meaning-related – and thus obligatory for both psychic and social systems – objective, temporal and social, but also any other – meaningful or not meaningful – e.g. moral, causal, managerial) distinctions.
Research
What follows is a presentation of economic studies on the performance concept that were conducted at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) in several research cohorts. We start with the most recent one.
The fourth cluster of research papers used the extended 2023 version of the performance system concept, while some of the papers added time and meaning as directions of observation. The distinction of operation and observation represents an even more abstract difference theory approach, in which the system-environment difference is merely one option – which is, however, reintegrated by systems theory’s radically operational approach (see Luhmann, Niklas et al., Introduction to Systems Theory, Polity Press 2013, 102).
Collectively, these papers force the insight that a categorical use of the exercise components obstructs access to their instantaneous synthesis in each single operation and rather plays into the hands of a traditional “metaphysics of division” (ibid., 143):
- Aebli, Bruno (2024)
- Cakolli, Leonita (2024)
- Schildknecht, Fabian (2024)
- Schönecker, Patrizia (2024)
- Simon, Matthias (2024)
- Simoni, Kaltrina (2024)
- Tanski, Elena (2024)
- Vogt, Samuel (2024)
- Zhang, Anna (2024)
A third cluster of research papers was also based on the 2023 version of the performance system concept, but expanded in terms of theory and research design to include an in-depth analysis of organization and strategy:
- Mannhart, Karin (2023), Strategische Kompetenzentwicklung aus systemischer Perspektive am Beispiel […], Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG), confidential.
- Tresch, Severin (2023), Leistung als soziales System : untersucht am Beispiel der operativen Leistungssteigerung der UMT 250 Produktion der Schurter AG, Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG). Abstract.
- Wiest, Tom Julius (2023), Strategische Kompetenzentwicklung aus systemischer Perspektive : untersucht am Beispiel […], Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG), confidential.
- Zumstein, Naya (2023), Strategische Kompetenzentwicklung aus systemischer Perspektive : untersucht am Beispiel des Beratungsprojekts ‘Angebotsstärkung’ bei […], Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG), confidential.
The second cluster of scientific papers built on the 2023 version of the performance system concept, which adjusted some key terminology – in particular regarding the components of the exercise operation:
- Caputo, Simone (2023), Leistung als soziales System : untersucht am Beispiel des Workshopentwicklungsprozesses der Digital-Entrepreneurship-Werkstatt und filMINT des Bildungslabs Smartfeld, Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG). Abstract.
- von Willich, Carl-Philipp (2023), Strategische Kompetenzentwicklung aus systemischer Perspektive : untersucht am Beispiel der Einführung klimaneutraler Produkte bei der […], Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG), confidential.
- Zihlmann, Gian Ludwig (2023), Leistung als soziales System : untersucht am Beispiel der Transformation von PvL Partners mit Fokus auf die neue Organisationsstruktur, Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG). Abstract.
The first cluster of scientific papers was based on a 2022 version of the performance system concept:
- Gatz, Daniel (2022), Strategische Kompetenzentwicklung aus systemtheoretischer Perspektive : untersucht am Beispiel der Einführung von Geschäftsmodell-Innovationen bei der […] AG, Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG), confidential.
- Megerle, Lilli K. (2022), Strategische Kompetenzentwicklung aus systemischer Perspektive am Beispiel des Musikfestivals ‘One Of A Million’, Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG). Abstract
- Perriard, Angela (2022), Strategische Kompetenzentwicklung aus systemischer Perspektive : untersucht am Beispiel des Capstone Projekts im betriebswirtschaftlichen Bachelorstudium der Universität St. Gallen, Bachelor thesis, University of St. Gallen (HSG). Abstract. See also the U St. Gallen 2022 Teaching Day presentation.