Are organizations autopoietic? A call for new debate

Abstract Discussion and debate over the application of autopoiesis to social systems has been enthusiastic since Maturana and Varela's (1980) theory was translated from Spanish into English in the early 1980s. In this paper I will examine the debate so far, in order to propose a new ‘frame’ for discussion based upon the establishment of a working ontology for organizations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.