Edited by James Sokolowski, Saturday, 8 Jun 2019, 18:59
"Any viable system contains and is contained in a viable system."
Stafford Beer devised the Viable System Model, based on his theory that a system is only viable by virtue of its sub-system themselves being viable.
Overview of the Model
The model consists of 5 sub-systems and an environment.
Operations - the set of activities the organisation which provides value to the environment.
Coordination - the set of protocols that coordinate operations so that different operations do not cause problems for each other.
Delivery - the management activities associated with allocating resources for the operations.
Development - the management activities associated with understanding the environment and future trends.
Policy - the balancing activities to ensure the organisation works as a system, especially balancing the decision-making between the two Delivery and Development systems.
The two most critical tensions in the VSM are:
the tensions between the autonomy of the parts versus the cohesion of the whole.
the tensions between the current and future needs.
Two fundamental concepts in VSM are:
Wholeness - Attributes the systems has as a whole which the sub-systems do not have as components.
Emergence - Attributes that emerge as necessary to manage immediate risks/opportunities in the environment.
Too much autonomy and no cohesion and the system's 'wholeness' is lost. Too much cohesion and no autonomy and emergent attributes fail to capitalise on the environmental risks and opportunities that immediately occur.
Using the VSM as a diagnostic tool, involves assembling key features into the perfect ideal situation. This 'ideal' is then compared to the perceived reality of the current VSM structure. The differences that are noticed guide action to move the perceived situation towards the ideal.
Stafford Beer - Father of the Viable System Model
"Any viable system contains and is contained in a viable system."
Stafford Beer devised the Viable System Model, based on his theory that a system is only viable by virtue of its sub-system themselves being viable.
Overview of the Model
The model consists of 5 sub-systems and an environment.
The two most critical tensions in the VSM are:
Two fundamental concepts in VSM are:
Too much autonomy and no cohesion and the system's 'wholeness' is lost. Too much cohesion and no autonomy and emergent attributes fail to capitalise on the environmental risks and opportunities that immediately occur.
Using the VSM as a diagnostic tool, involves assembling key features into the perfect ideal situation. This 'ideal' is then compared to the perceived reality of the current VSM structure. The differences that are noticed guide action to move the perceived situation towards the ideal.