Abstract
A theory was developed to suggest how local government adapts to a high degree of change in its environment. Borrowing from the dynamic response model of David Easton and Autopoiesis from Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela, the theory proposed that local government is involved in a autopoietic relationship with its council of government that enables the local government to adapt to a turbulent environment and strengthen its self-identity for survival. Using the work of Kurt Motamedi, a plan for operationalizing the model was implemented. The model tested 114 variables in the categories of interdependence, circularity, adaptation, and transformation. Within these categories, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test of differences and the Spearman correlation coefficient was used to measure the areas of formalization of the relationship, communications, resource flow, goal awareness, domain similarity, and consensus. The relationships between two councils of government and their participating local government organizations were tested in Southern California for the presence of autopoiesis. Of the 114 variables tested for both councils, 89 percent of the tests of differences and 87 percent of the correlation coefficients supported the theory. After examination of all results, it was concluded that the relationships with both councils and their local governments were autopoietic and those relationships were mechanisms for adaptation to turbulent environments. It was concluded that further research, developing the model and application of autopoiesis would be beneficial to the public administrator and would contribute to the academic literature base in organizational theory for public institutions. It was hoped that this dissertation would stimulate research to differentiate organizational theory for the public sector from the private to assist the local government practitioner in identifying and developing the tools for managing in turbulent environments.