Holistic Principle (Approach)

Holistic approach is an integrated (holistic) view of the system, in our case, organization. System properties can’t be determined only by the properties of its parts. On the contrary, a whole affects the structure and operation of its parts.

This principle was first said by Aristotle in “Metaphysics”: “The whole is more than the sum of its parts.”

Use of the holistic approach in practice: We therefore examine the organization as a whole, not only its subsystems (parts). The principle of emergence applies. The phenomena at subsystem level don’t correspond to the phenomena at the level of the whole.