In the routine of daily activities, and the eagerness to obtain quantitative results, organizations run the risk of becoming absorbed in reductionist notions concerning their task environments (internal and external). This position has counterproductive effects on the learning and renovation capacities of the own organizations, reducing their success and permanence possibilities. The properties and tools of the systemic approach provide information about relevant issues and problems that, in countless cases, are unnoticed by administration and management schemes of rationalist character. Different arguments holding this thesis are exposed through the analysis of several topics and examples.