Autopietic decisions approach: a governance research network case study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the autopoietic decisions approach (<Greek: autos=self, poiein=to produce) means self-(re)production and to know the constitution of the governance in the organization of a research network. Design/methodology/approach – The approach selected was Luhmann's Social System Theory, an autopoietic decisions system. A historical case study was reconstructed in which information was recollected by in-depth interviews and a survey. The network results, the extensive communications submitted by the members of two network congresses (2006 and 2010) were analyzed by networks analysis techniques. Findings – The approach and model developed were useful to identify the decision premises, which have been the constitutional structure of the research network. Practical implications – Development of a governance approach useful to a research network organization which retro-feeds the quality movement guidelines. Originality/value – The quality movement proposes a systematic regulatory approach, via the ISO9000 standard family. This approach has not sufficed for institutions of higher education. One of the reasons is that it favors the “management of things” from a processes standpoint, which conforms to the General Systems Theory. However, the core of higher education is not “things” but rather the “people” participating in it – particularly professors, students, and the university community – who are participating in the creation, teaching, association, and diffusion of knowledge. The unsolved problem refers to governance.