探析活系统模型:发展、模型及系统方 法简

斯塔福德·比尔成功汲取系统论、控制论、信息论领域的研究成果，并将这些成果成功引入组织管理之中，成功的创建了活系统模型，本文力求厘清活系统模型的发展脉络，探讨活系统模型的萌芽与创立的历史进程，并在此基础上分析该模型及其系统方法，旨在更全面地了解和研究活系统模型。     

Embodiments of organizational fitness: The Viable System Model (VSM) as a guide

Managers are facing new problems in their quest for organizational fitness. With environments of growing complexity, foresight, adaptability, and learning become critical features for a social system to survive and develop. Established models of organizational control are insufficient to cope with this proliferating complexity. The science of cybernetics provides powerful models to master this key challenge to management. The present article offers a synthesis of Beer's Viable System Model (VSM) and a multilevel concept of organizational fitness, based on recent progress made in the field of planning theory.     

Diagnosis and implementation: How a large cooperative employed a series of proposals for restructuring based upon the Viable Systems Model

Currently cooperatives of more than 11 members are facing organizational crisis: structure is imperative but traditional methods using authority and obedience are anathema. This paper recounts an attempt to use the Viable Systems Model to design an effective organizational structure within the constraints of cooperative working practices. It begins with the diagnosis, describes how the resulting conclusions were received by the cooperative, and gives an account of the resulting organizational structure. The success of the project is assessed.     

Systemic Model for Diagnosis of the Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises from Two Cities from the Countryside of the State of <Emphasis Type="Italic">São Paulo</Emphasis> in Brazil

This article presents a proposal of a systemic model composed for the micro and small companies (MSE) of the region of Ribeirão Preto and the agents which influenced their environment. The proposed model was based on Stafford Beer’s (Diagnosing the system for organizations. Chichester, Wiley, 1985) systemic methodologies VSM (Viable System Model) and on Werner Ulrich’s (1983) CSH (Critical Systems Heuristics). The VSM is a model for the diagnosis of the structure of an organization and of its flows of information through the application of the cybernetics concepts (Narvarte, In El Modelo del Sistema Viable—MSV: experiencias de su aplicación en Chile. Proyecto Cerebro Colectivo del IAS, Santiago, 2001). On the other hand, CSH focus on the context of the social group applied to the systemic vision as a counterpoint to the organizational management view considered by the VSM. MSE of Ribeirão Preto and Sertãozinho had been analyzed as organizations inserted in systems that relate and integrate with other systems concerning the public administration, entities of representation and promotion agencies. The research questions: which are the bonds of interaction among the subsystems in this process and who are the agents involved? The systemic approach not only diagnosed a social group, formed by MSE of Ribeirão Preto and Sertãozinho, public authorities and support entities, but could also delineate answers that aimed the clarification of obscure questions generating financial assistance to the formularization of efficient actions for the development of this system.     

Passing on a family business,or a family business passing on? An application of the Viable System Model

This paper reports the application of the Viable System Model in an attempt to reconstruct a family owned retail motor trader.     

Design Rules for Intranets According to the Viable System Model

The Viable System Model, VSM, by Stafford Beer is a model used for diagnosing and designing organizational structure and communication to facilitate necessary and sufficient conditions for viability. The model has been used for diagnosing different kinds of organizations at different levels where its use highlights existing or missing communication patterns and information flows in different communication channels and relates findings to a viable system. In a previous article, VSM and Intranet have been discussed and examples of advantages of combining the two concepts when designing organizations, has been given. In this article, VSM is combined with Intranet and possible functions in an intranet that support information exchange between different systems are identified and described. The suggested functions identified in this article are finally related to Intranet use modes, and the concepts of Empowerment vs. control.     

An explication of the viable system model for project management

This paper describes how to model proejct management using the Viable System Model. It gives a general overview of the model and explains in detail how to model System 4, Systems 3-2-1, the interactions between System 3 and System 4, and the interactions between management at different levels of recursion.     

Strategy for information systems in the Film Division of Hoechst AG

This paper describes a framework for information systems development, based on the Viable System Model, currently used within the Film Division of Hoechst AG.     

Evolution of Management Cybernetics and Viable System Model

Systemic Practice and Action Research - The Viable System Model have pulled in system specialists’ interests lately. This field could help system analyzers and designers to deal with systems...     

Diagnosis of Organizational Soft Problems in a Peruvian Financial Institution by Systemic Thinking

Managing financial institutions in an underdeveloped economic context has become a real challenge nowadays. In order to reach the organization’s planned goals, they have to deal with structural, behavioral and informational problems. From the systemic point of view, this situation gets even worse when the company does not present organizational boundaries and a cohesive identification for their stakeholders. Thus, European countries have some special financial lines in order to help the development of micro credit in Latin communities in an attempt to help the local economy. However, institutions like Caixa dos Andes in Peru present management problems when dealing with this complexity. Based on this, how can the systemic eye help in the diagnosis of soft problems of a Peruvian financial company? This study aims to diagnose soft problems of a Peruvian financial company based on soft variables like identity, communication and autonomy and also intends to identify possible ways to redesign its basic framework. The (VSM––Viable System Model) method from Beer (1967), applied in this diagnostic study, was used in a practical way as a management tool for organizations’ analysis and planning. By describing the VSM’s five systems, the creation of a systemic vision or a total vision is possible, showing the organization’s complexity from the inside. Some company’s soft problems like double control, inefficient use of physical and human resources, low information flows, slowness, etc. The VSM presented an organizational diagnosis indicating effective solutions that do integrate its five systems.     

Managing Complexity—The Path Toward Intelligent Organizations

Coping with complexity is at the heart of management and leadership in the turbulent environments faced by the organizations and societies of our day. The systems approach provides transdisciplinary theories and tools for dealing with this challenge more effectively than efforts merely based on disciplinary insights or pragmatic recipes. In this paper, a concept of "intelligent organizations" is introduced. A framework for the design of intelligent organizations is proposed that links three organizational cybernetic models: the Model for Systemic Control, the Viable System Model, and the Team Syntegrity model.² The proposition is that a combined use of these models, guided by the integrative conceptual framework, enables a more effective response to complex situations than merely pragmatic approaches to "integrative management." Provisional empirical evidence gathered from applied research indicates that the proposed framework is capable of enhancing such superior potential for effective response. As such, it promises to meet the specific needs of the new types of organizations that have already begun to emerge in the knowledge societies.     

An Organizational Cybernetics Framework for Designing a Viable Higher Education System

Systemic Practice and Action Research - The Viable System Model (VSM) is an Organizational Cybernetics framework mainly used to handle systems complexity. The fundamental role of the VSM is to...     

Managing construction risks of AP1000 nuclear power plants in China

Large and complex construction projects face risk from various sources and the successful completion of such projects depends on effective risk management.This study investigates the risk faced by Chinese firms participating in constructing AP1000 nuclear power plants in China.AP1000 nuclear reactors are new,Generation III+ reactors designed by Westinghouse and to be built first in China.The semi-structured interview approach is used to elicit information from experts involved in the AP1000 projects in China.Based on the interviews,various sources of risk are identified.In addition to general risks that megaprojects normally face,there are unique risks that arise from various sources such as technological,political,organizational,and individual personnel risks.Risk management strategies are proposed to manage general and unique risks identified in the study.The findings of this study would be helpful for Chinese companies involved in the construction of AP1000 nuclear power plants to mitigate the risks associated with the projects.     

Collaborative Implementation Network Structures: Cultural Tourism Implementation in an English Seaside Context

Strategic policy has to be implemented within complex operating environments where organisations have to perform within an inter-dependent production process in a dynamic mix of competition and cooperation. This suggests that network structures need to be in place that allow for both collaboration and competition whilst mitigating against structural fragmentation. The aim of this research was to further the understanding of control and communication mechanisms and collaboration in policy implementation networks and focus upon problems of structural fragmentation in these complex policy environments. This research used a systems approach to develop a methodological framework based on Beer’s Viable System Model, work by Espejo and Social Network Analysis. The research was set in a tourism ‘cluster’ in an English seaside context, which is that part of the Yorkshire coast covered by the Scarborough Borough Council local authority, where a more culturally focussed tourism product was being introduced.     

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.     

一个用于地方财政经济的决策支持系统

本文介绍了作者近两年来为财政局综合计划部门设计研制的一种实用性决策支持系统．该系统由数据库子系统，经济分析子系统，灰色模型预测子系统，经济计量模型子系统组成，已成功地用于地方财政经济以及宏观国民经济状况的分析和预测，我们用这个系统分别建立了东北某两个大城市的综合财政数据库，在此数据库的支持下，配合经济计量模型，灰色系统模型，时间序列模型和系统动力学模型．系统地完成了针对不同地区特点的多个应用课题的研究，获得良好的反映．     

The Viable System Model and Its Application to Complex Organizations

Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model is the best known of the many cybernetic models he constructed over a career spanning more than 50 years. He explored the necessary conditions for viability in any complex system whether an organism, an organization or a country. Although the model was first applied in his work in the steel industry, many further applications were made during his later work as a consultant. The best known of these was when he was invited by President Salvadore Allende of Chile in 1970 to model the social economy of that country. That experiment was brutally cut short in 1973 by the CIA assisted coup during which Allende was killed and Pinochet’s dictatorship installed. The model itself draws on mathematics, psychology, biology, neurophysiology, communication theory, anthropology and philosophy. It was first expressed in mathematical terms in ‘The Cybernetic Factory’; next it was described in neurophysiological terms in Brain of the firm; and finally according to logic and graphic presentation in Heart of Enterprise and Diagnosing the System for Organizations. This last version is the one that is most accessible. It enables people to address organizational issues in a way that skirts the usual categories and organization charts and gets down to the actual necessary functions, no matter who is performing them. With this model people can get a boost as they diagnose or design an organizations. One aspect is to discover what the organization’s critical variables are and to find or install the homeostats that will show that they are maintaining equilibrium. Within that context, the model will help you ascertain that the principle functions and communications channels are in place and can function effectively. A crucial aspect of the VSM is that it is recursive; that is that the same relationships can be traced from the shop floor to the corporation or from the village to the country. Two examples will be discussed: a small business and the Chilean work from the 1970s. It is hoped that this will encourage people to imagine a world that works much better than it does now and where management is not defeated by complexity. A version of this paper was delivered as the first Stafford Beer Memorial Lecture on July 8, 2007 at the World Multiconference on Systems, Cybernetics and Informatics in Orlando Florida.     

Complexity and change: Reflections upon the cybernetic intervention in Chile, 1970–1973

Social change depends on communications. The more effective the communication mechanisms between the participants in a situation are, the more likely it is that they will contribute, to the best of their abilities, to the discovery and production of desirable change. Hence the relevance of studying, and improving, the cybernetics of problem situations. Effectiveness in this case is defined by the degree to which the complexity of the situation is matched by the complexity of the regulatory mechanisms in use. However, if this proposition is going to be useful, it is necessary to have approaches to work out the matching. This paper discusses a cybernetic methodology, relying on Beer's Viable System Model, which enables a deeper understanding of, and capacity to deal with, situational and regulatory complexities. Finally, these ideas are used to reflect upon the cybernetic intervention in the Chile of the early 1970's.     

The business team standard: A means of improving the effectiveness of individual businesses in a multibusiness corporation

The paper describes a project carried out within a major chemicals corporation to improve the performance of the individual businesses. This was to be done by clarifying some of the organisational uncertainties in its structure and improving the way that specialists form coalitions to address market challenges together. The approach used was based on “systems thinking”, which is an intellectual framework of knowledge that attempts to view organisations as wholes and which studies the processes of change in any part in the context of the whole organisation. Some of the important concepts of systems thinking are explored as they might be applied within a business organisation. Specifically the tool used was the Viable System Model of Stafford Beer, which the authors interpreted and developed into a set of statements (“a Standard”) which describe best practice in such organisations. Managers have used this to explore possible gaps in their organisations and, with this understanding, find ways to improve performance.     

The classical system-organizational insights into what made Periclean Athens great

Periclean Athens represents one of the most remarkable social systems in the world's history in terms of innovative output in almost all fields of thought and endeavour. This paper presents a discussion on some of the findings of a research project analyzing the Athenian sociopolitical organization from a systems perspective. The Viable Systems Model was used by the authors as a framework for examining the reorganization of Athens' sociopolitical structure by Cleisthenes in 508/7 BC; this structure was to provide the basis for Classical Athenian democracy. The analysis provides fresh insight for those with an interest in organization theory or classical history.