Although organizations are made up of parts or subsystems,
they are themselves subsystems within larger systems. Just as the
human heart is a subsystem within the body's physiological sys
tem, the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas
at Austin is a subsystem within the UT-Austin system. If we focus
our attention on UT-Austin as the system, then we also recognize
that it functions as part of the larger suprasystem of the University
ofTexas canipuses (which include Austin, Dallas, EI Paso, and San
Antonio, among others). So not only are there systems but there
are subsystems and suprasystems. The classification of these three
depends on the unit of analysis. If we focus our attention on the
Graduate School of Business and make it the system, then UT
Austin becomes the suprasystem, and departments within the
graduate school, such as accounting and management, become the
subsystems.