Beer's Viable System Research Articles

Communication and information technologies to enable viable organizations

PurposeThis paper attempts to show how the new communication and information technologies and the internet in particular can help in the design of viable organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe paper presents a set of specific software tools based on internet, created for the purpose as given above. The tools are bundled in two packages. The VDMod package supports the application of Beer's viable system model (VSM) and the inclusion of system dynanics simulation models into the VSM model, as well as easy access to other tools such as team syntegrity. The SystemsNet package allows the members of the systems community to communicate with each other and gain swift access to these tools through the internet.FindingsCommunication and information technologies are enablers which help in the design of viable organizations by means of internet‐based software tools. They make the application of systemic approaches such as Beer's VSM and its combined use with System Dynamics (SD), or other methodologies and tools, easier and more readily accessible.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper refers mainly to Organizational Cybernetics and SD and does not take into consideration all other systems‐thinking methodologies.Practical implicationsThis paper reveals the possibility of very easy access to software tools for applying the VSM and its combined use with SD as well as facilitating communication among systems‐thinking field members.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the design of more viable organizations by providing researchers and practitioners of Organizational Cybernetics with the requisite software tools.

A cybernetic framework for viable virtual enterprises

PurposeTo investigate and illustrate the idea of using a cybernetic modelling technique for the diagnosis and design of virtual enterprises (VEs).Design/methodology/approachThe proposed framework is based on the VSM principles and its equivalent problem structuring methodology schema for the design of the information and communication systems together with the coordination structure necessary for a VE to become more efficient and flexible.FindingsWe have investigated the role of VEs as a new organizational structure viewed from the perspective of cybernetics. In particular, the systemic approach followed was used to formulate a generic four‐step architecture for the effective diagnosis and design of VEs, based on the theoretical principles of Stafford Beer's viable systems model (VSM).Research limitations/implicationsThere is considerable scope for further investigation on organizational structures and implications in the creation of effective VEs for many more management field locations, both within the industrial and in other areas of the business world.Practical implicationsA generic and easily applicable conceptual framework for managers who wish to commit themselves to the necessary re‐shaping of the organization they are running, forming new organizational structures based on autonomy and flexibility rather than hierarchy and rigidness.Originality/valueThis paper fulfils an identified need to oversee the full spectrum of VEs and offers a comprehensive and unambiguously defined conceptual framework for their diagnosis and design based on the principles of Beer's VSM.

Using the Viable Systems Model to Structure a System Dynamics Mapping and Modeling Project for the Australian Taxation Office

This paper is a case study of a major System Dynamics (SD) intervention in policy design in the Australian Taxation Office. The project, which lasted two years, tested a number of hypotheses regarding the application of Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Model (VSM) to the structure and process of the project. The paper reports that the success of the VSM within the ATO was qualified by political changes in the external environment.

Towards productive and sustainable forms of interaction in governance

PurposeA central question of governance in our time is how actors in complex, diverse and dynamic contexts can be harmonized, respecting the needs and limitations of their contexts. New technologies enable shaping and modelling interactions to an extent hitherto unknown. They constitute a huge potential to support and integrate interactions and to reshape governance. This paper sets out to explore a concept of interaction applicable to media which captures and addresses the specific characteristics of social systems required to ensure their viability.Design/methodology/approachThe potential of cybernetics and systems theory for both the design and application of media in social contexts is explored. Building on an autopoietic concept of social systems, a notion of governance as a process of interaction is established. Beer's Viable Systems Model (VSM) and Schwaninger's Model of Systemic Control is applied to derive the characteristic elements, configurations and types of interaction required to support balancing actors' images in social systems. Links to political and social science theory are provided.FindingsCybernetic and system theories provide a solid conceptual basis for capturing the complexity, dynamics and diversity of interaction. Identifying and addressing the relevant characteristics of interaction in social systems can be achieved through the application of cybernetic tools and vocabulary. These can be used to specify and secure the necessary and sufficient design principles for media through which the viability of social systems can be promoted.Originality/valueThe paper shows that requirements to the structure of media applied in social contexts can be specified. Analysing interactions in all kind of social systems does provide clues for the development, implementation, and configuration of improved media. When applied properly, these can boost up governing interactions to much more productive and sustainable forms. This turns out to be a remarkable opportunity to promote the governance of social systems.

Momentum and control: a dynamic of democracy

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show how the application of cybernetic principles to governance and democracy shows dangerous gaps in control due to a lack of appreciation of momentum, requisite variety and scale.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper with examples drawn from the news. Beer's Viable System Model and Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety underpin the arguments.FindingsThe workings of our democracies depend on nineteenth century concepts and are easily overwhelmed by lags, distortions and problems that interfere with a level of feedback that would enable effective control. The elective process, the regulatory process, the boundaries between public and private spheres of action and the threat to our common viability share similar difficulties balancing changing circumstances with limitations on the means to address them. Although some of these issues have been noted before, there has been little appreciation of their interconnection and the consequences of a political system whose dynamics counteract its ideals.Research limitations/implicationsThere is a need for more research into the problems identified here and how they relate for governance to be effective when the pace of events is rapid. A plea is made for sufficient resources to be devoted to the task.Practical implicationsThese are problems we must solve if our societies are to remain viable. Our knowledge in the systems and cybernetics communities could help – but it must be used and it will not be used effectively until it is more widely known and applied.Originality/valueMost current political analysis deals with the problems discussed in piecemeal fashion if it deals with them at all. Drawing a boundary around the situation that is wide enough to include these interconnected issues is needed for effective corrective measures to be applied.

From Cybernetics and VSD to Management and Action

This paper uses Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Diagnosis (VSD) to suggest that the development of a model for actionable theory in organizations would take the form of a three-step process. The first step involves the definition and explanation of an appropriate theory base, the second theory interpretation into a coherent set of action principles and the third contextual action in organizations. We contend that even for a well-informed and widely read manager gleaning the theoretical basis for this process from the recognized Beer trilogy “Brain of the Firm,” “The Heart of the Enterprise” and “Diagnosing the System” is difficult to justify in terms of time, understanding, and action. We maintain that a sound set of action principles emanating from Beer's primary work must be considered before tackling the noted trilogy. We use Beer's initial text “Cybernetics and Management” to trace some fundamental operational research and the interdisciplinary tripartite science of cybernetics. We commence our action model process with some introductory thoughts into operational research, cybernetics, VSD, and contextual action. Our first step toward action involves some primary definitions and principles of cybernetic theory and the prospect of controlling overwhelming variety. Our second step provides our set of coherent potential action principles fundamental to cybernetic theory. The paper is written in a journalistic rather than academic style reflecting the need to couch the interpretation of the theory in a language that the well-informed manager may readily translate into third step contextual practice.

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT REVISITED: LESSONS FROM A CYBERNETIC INTERVENTION IN COLOMBIA

Stafford Beer's Viable System Model offers a tool of great power with direct relevance to environmental problems. This article introduces the model and, through a recent application in the Colombian Environmental Sector, shows how this approach offers new possibilities to diagnose and deal with environmental problems of enormous complexity. It discusses the inadequacies of traditional approaches to environmental management, which tend to be restricted to the use of existing political systems. This example might serve as an inspiration for practitioners looking for new tools to progress towards more adaptive organizations in the environmental sector.

A cybernetic diagnosis of Sri Lanka's 2002‐2003 peace negotiations

PurposeThis paper identifies meta‐level considerations long ignored in Sri Lanka's peace negotiations.Design/methodology/approachVariety absorption being at the heart of manoeuvres by the various parties of the negotiation, Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety informs the diagnosis. Also used are Beer's viable systems model, Maturana's structural coupling and Stokes sociological thinking on identity which encompasses the nature of identity, levels of identity, organisation of identity.FindingsWhilst in Sri Lanka's conflict resolution parlance, identity has been pivotally limited to race, in socio‐cybernetic terms it denotes much more. This leads to the recognition that relationships between structurally coupled entities change as negotiations progress thus calling upon them (and others) to dynamically adapt their identity in their endeavour to retain viability.Practical implicationsThe diagnosis shows the need to design negotiation processes capable of absorbing the variety needed to address the content of negotiations.Originality/valueLinking identity to viability explains why stakeholder relations move through emergent properties/relations and why negotiations between static protagonist, as done in all previous Sri Lankan peace negotiations, are doomed to failure. This work is useful for those who formulate the modalities of Sri Lanka's peace talks and for cyberneticians and people involved in conflict resolution – particularly those bedevilling sovereignty.

Metasystem transitions in human organizations: a route towards global sustainability

AbstractThis article deals with the problem of understanding the relations between viability and sustainability in the context of social metasystem transitions occurring in a global environment. To this aim the subject of Organizational Synergetics is introduced. A refinement of Stafford Beer's viable system model is proposed and the distinction is made between local sustainability and global sustainability, the latter seen as an undecidable property of the global system comprising both the system in focus and its environment. Finally, based on the concept of a viable holonic network, a strategy and a general heuristics for attaining global sustainability are proposed.

Peirce and Beer

This paper considers the philosophical background of Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Diagnosis (VSD) as profoundly influenced by Charles Peirce. In a general sense, our work discusses the VSD theory base in the development of a model for actionable theory in organizations. This paper examines VSD theory in the Beer trilogy ‘Brain of the Firm,’ ‘The Heart of the Enterprise’ and ‘Diagnosing the System’ and we propose that a sound set of VSD action principles can be derived from this trilogy. We contend that the philosophical background underpinning these principles is important. Using Beer’s ‘Decision and Control,’ we consider that philosophical background and link Operational Research and the interdisciplinary learning within Cybernetics to modern general systems theory. We explore Beer’s viewpoint on the Peirce depiction of four main methods of fixing belief; tenacity, authority, a priori and finally the scientific to assist in that expansion. We consider how knowledge of Beer’s perspective on making sense of the world is important in the linkage of VSD theory to the managerial problem arena. We relate the Peirce methods to previously reported problem solving exercises involving the VSD ideology, which we will develop individually at a later date. This paper reflects our desire to express the interpretation of VSD theory in a language that the well-informed manager may readily translate into the third step of testing theory in practice.

Organisational viability as a factor in sustainable development of technology

This article looks at the impact that the viability of organisations that own and manage technological systems has on the sustainability of that technology. Specifically, it looks at the role that organisational viability through time plays in linking technology to its operating environment and stakeholders to ensure sustainability. Using three case studies, the authors show how a lack of organisational viability led to technological unsustainability in established industries. Organisational viability is assessed using Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) and this is also used to address the problems of organisational viability through redesigning the system to ensure sustainability.

From Cybernetics and VSD to Management and Action

This paper uses Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Diagnosis (VSD) to suggest that the development of a model for actionable theory in organizations would take the form of a three-step process. The first step involves the definition and explanation of an appropriate theory base, the second theory interpretation into a coherent set of action principles and the third contextual action in organizations. We contend that even for a well-informed and widely read manager gleaning the theoretical basis for this process from the recognized Beer trilogy “Brain of the Firm,” “The Heart of the Enterprise” and “Diagnosing the System” is difficult to justify in terms of time, understanding, and action. We maintain that a sound set of action principles emanating from Beer's primary work must be considered before tackling the noted trilogy. We use Beer's initial text “Cybernetics and Management” to trace some fundamental operational research and the interdisciplinary tripartite science of cybernetics. We commence our action model process with some introductory thoughts into operational research, cybernetics, VSD, and contextual action. Our first step toward action involves some primary definitions and principles of cybernetic theory and the prospect of controlling overwhelming variety. Our second step provides our set of coherent potential action principles fundamental to cybernetic theory. The paper is written in a journalistic rather than academic style reflecting the need to couch the interpretation of the theory in a language that the well-informed manager may readily translate into third step contextual practice.

The Viable Systems Model Applied to a Smart Network: The Case of the UK Electricity Market

We investigate the concept of Smart Business Networks by using Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) to analyse how such a network mitigates the affect of emergent, and therefore unforecastable, demands upon the networked businesses. We examine the requirements for network smartness, highlight some significant properties of one Smart Network and use our case analysis and concepts from systems theory to suggest some general properties such as natural stability and distributed capability. We have found that smartness is distributed and shared behavioural process standards can act to stabilise complex systems. This is important because it mitigates emergent behaviour within increasingly complex business networks. The contributions of our article apply both to academics and business practitioners and are in its illustration and investigation of one Smart Business Network including how the smart capability functions at a strategic, business process and technical level; and the use of Beer's VSM to analyse an electricity market.

A self‐organizing network for the systems community

The number of approaches, researchers and practitioners in Systems Thinking has been growing over the last decades and particularly in recent years. This wide and deep evolution within the systems community that is a sign of vitality has also increased the communication difficulties among its components. If the systems community wants to overcome these difficulties and help cross fertilisation, adequate structures are needed to facilitate the communication processes. In this work, we present a communication and exchange of information system specifically designed for this aim. It tries to use the possibilities offered by Internet to create a systems thinkers/practitioners virtual community with the capacity to facilitate the creation of as many new partial communities as the members of the systems community wish. The design of the network system is based on Beer's viable system model and his recursive conception of viable systems.

City planning

Urban development in fast‐growing cities is one of the huge challenges of our time, and several projects of technical cooperation are dedicated to this issue. The aim of this paper is to help project managers to enhance their capability of dealing effectively with the formidable complexities inherent in this kind of project. For this purpose, we explore the potential of Organizational Cybernetics and Social Systems Theory in a relatively new area of application. We have developed a set of conceptual tools that are helpful in coping with dynamic complexity in change and development projects. These tools have in common an inherent logic deriving to a great extent from Stafford Beer's Viable System Model and the St Gall framework for systemic management. The application of the tools is illustrated by a state‐of‐the‐art case study from the realm of Technical Co‐operation – the revision of the Urban Master Plan for the City of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. However, the toolkit is in principle also applicable to any complex project of change or development.

Fighting for science

What deliverables did Stafford Beer envision when he developed his “science of effective organisation”? This paper answers this question as: the organisations that use the distinctions of Beer's viable system model. Such organisations are part of daily life, but develop to become knowledge by continuously striving to identify experiences that falsify their existence. They will be irreducible in the sense that any acceptable model of the organisation will be the organisation itself. The notion of knowledge involved is made explicit in the paper as a tribute to Stafford Beer's pioneering work. It allowed Stafford Beer to introduce and develop insights that began to be developed by others only much later.

Models of Governance - A Viable Systems Perspective

This paper suggests a framework for examining governance issues spanning the corporate, public and nonprofit sectors that draws on existing frames-in-use, and that reflects the systemic communality apparent within varied attempts to describe and effect change in governance. The paper surveys alternative conceptualisations of governance that have surfaced in the academic and practitioner literature and draws attention to the cybernetic and systemic features of diverse views of governance. Beer's viable systems framework is used to reinterpret alternative views of governance and to suggest a means of diagnosing the completeness/coherence of governance systems.

Managing viable knowledge

AbstractIn this paper, Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) is applied to knowledge management. Based on the VSM, domains of knowledge are identified that an organization should possess to maintain its viability. The logic of the VSM is also used to support the diagnosis, design and implementation of the knowledge processes that should make and keep organizationally viable knowledge available. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A sketch for humane operational research in a technological society

This article is based on my presidential address to the Swedish Operational Research Society 1996 Conference. It starts with a statement affirming the critical need to incorporate virtues and norms in the management and operation of our institutions. With the help of multimodal systems thinking and Stafford Beer's Viable Systems Model, it builds a framework that allows the transfer of such things as faith, love, and wisdom into the operation of our social systems and their management. The article concludes with the placing of operational research and management theory within this framework and with a challenge to all operational researchers to work for new modeling techniques that will contribute to a more virtuous and humane society.

Requirements for effective participation in self-constructed organizations

This is an article about effective participation in organizations. It offers insights about the interplay between individual action and organization structure. It is argued that our actions produce these structures at the same time that these structures create the space for our actions in a never ending regression. Effective participation requires that all of us are involved in the invention and formation of self-constructed action spaces. This is in contrast to participation in organizations where a few create the context for the most, that is, where the organizational context of our actions is constructed (for us) rather than self-constructed. Organizations emerging from effective participation are called recursive organizations. The idea of recursive organizations is further developed using Beer's Viable System Model. This is a model of the communicational requirements to self-construct our action spaces and to align them with those of others. The argument is focused on our participation in team work and the requirements for us to develop organizational citizenship, cohesion and effective performance. These are all requirements to have an effective organization.