Stafford Beer’s Viable Systems Model: Foundation for Business Agility

As we plunge ahead in our world of real-time markets and unexpected events, we say we need agility to deal with what happens (financial meltdown, piracy on the high seas, swine flu, what next?). But do we know what business agility actually is and how to achieve it?

A man named Stafford Beer devised the viable systems model which provides an answer to that question. The viable systems model looks at a company as if it is literally a living thing and describes how it should be structured to operate most effectively in its environment (hint – viable systems don’t use traditional pyramid shaped organization charts). Stafford Beer was a practitioner of what he called “management cybernetics” or the science of effective organization. Two of his books – Brain of the Firm and The Heart of Enterprise – explain the model and provide examples of how to put it to use to achieve agility.

[ I do lively presentations on this and related topics - mhugos@yahoo.com ]

Model for an Agile Organization

The viable systems model views any situation as being composed of three parts: 1) the environment; 2) the operations performed by an organization in this environment; and 3) the metasystem activities of coordination, planning, and goal setting done by the organization. This is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1
 

Next, the model identifies five subsystems that make up the operations and the metasystem of any viable system. These subsystems are referred to as systems 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 (see Figure 2). Let’s take a closer look at each of these subsystems.

Figure 2
 

System 1 is the collection of operating units that carry out the primary activities of the organization. System 1 is composed of all the units that actually do something. This is analogous to the muscles and organs in the human body.

System 2 is like the autonomic nervous system that monitors the interactions of the muscles and organs. This is the system that has responsibility for resolving conflicts between operating units and for maintaining stability.

System 3 is the system that looks across the entire body of muscles and organs and optimizes their collective operations for the benefit of the whole body. This system too performs functions that are analogous to those of the autonomic nervous system. In addition, system 3 is responsible for finding ways to generate synergies between operating units.

System 4 is like our conscious nervous system. It looks out at the environment, collects information, and makes predictions and forecasts about the environment. It also picks strategies and makes plans for best adapting to the environment.

System 5 is analogous to our higher brain functions. It defines the system’s identity and its overall vision or reason for being. This system decides on operating policies and guidelines that the system will follow.

What the Viable Systems Model Means

The model states that in order for a system to be a viable system it must be able to create, implement, and regulate its own operating policies. This means a viable system needs to have the five systems described above. If a system cannot create, implement, and regulate its own policies then it is a component part of some other system because such a system all by itself would not have the ability to sustain itself over time.

It also emphasizes that the individual operating units (the system 1s of an organization) need to be as autonomous as possible. They need to be free to devise and execute their own operations within pre-defined performance

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