The Viable System Model

Part 1 Concepts: the viable system model - its provenance, development, methodology and pathology, Stafford Beer; the need for formal development of the VSM, Ron Anderton; the VSM and Ashby's law as illuminants of historical management thought, Fred Waelchli; the VSM revisited, Raul Espejo. Part 2 Applications of the VSM: P.M.manufacturers - the VSM as a diagnostic tool, Raul Espejo; the organization of a fortress factory, R.A.Foss; application of the VSM to the trade training network in New Zealand, G.A.Britton and H.McCallion; application of the VSM to commercial broadcasting in the United States, Allenna Leonard; the evolution of a management cybernetics process, Stafford Beer; developing organizational competence in a business, Bengt A.Holmberg; strategic planning and management reorganization at an academic medical center - use of the VSM in guiding diagnosis and design, Michael U.Ben-Eli. Part 3 Methodology and epistemology: national government - disseminater regulation in real time or "how to run a country", Stafford Beer; a cybernetic method to study organizations, Raul Espejo; outside and then - an interpretative approach to the VSM, Roger J.Harnden. Part 4 Critical views: evaluation the managerial significance of the VSM, M.C.Jackson; the VSM - an ongoing conversation, Raul Espejo and Roger J.Harnden.