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● Internal Context. It can be argued that a large enough
bounded system (lots of actors/agents, such as an IBM or an
army or a big bureaucracy) can have an internal context. In

this Guide, we will restrict the term context to the external case
so as to avoid confusion of terminology.

Levels in the General Context

In terms of this Guide, the general context is not a system, critically, it
is not goal-focused. It simply is!

That said, the context from a human interaction perspective, does
display multiple levels of integration akin to the inherent hierarchy in

a bounded system. Examples of levels of integration in a context
are individuals, family, community, country, and so on. Such levels are
termed micro, mezzo (intermediate), and macro. Just like a bounded
system, you can think of these levels as inevitable inherent structures

within which and across which agents operate. The number of levels
being a function of the size and spread of the context.

Each level of integration has its own character:

A fascinating insight into the impact of the reality
of levels of integration occurred when this writer
was doing his Ph.D. in Management. The thesis

was a cross-level study linking personality and
achievement orientation to the business culture
preferences of aspiring entrepreneurs.

Personality is part of micro-psychology, culture is
a macro phenomenon. The student, in this case,
was an expert in the dynamic macro behavior of
organizations and a long time published author

on the strategic transformation of organizations.
The thesis assessors were all micro psychologists
and had to be appeased with a thesis written in a

form that matched their expectations. It turns out

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