A Viable System Model: From Small Working Groups to States
A Viable System Model (VSM) is based on systems theory. Its author is Stafford Beer, who developed it in the 1950s as a manager in the steel industry in Sheffield (UK), as a practical tool for solving problems of increasing the efficiency of organizational structures. It was based on the positions and works of William R. Ashby, the development of cybernetics by Norbert Weiner, the mathematics of recursive systems, and the theory of neural networks by Warren McCulloch. Initially Stafford Beer's first models were incomprehensible to most people because they were mathematical, but then the author developed a graphical model that reflects the five subsystems and the complex interactions connecting them. Stafford Beer himself describes the VSM as a holistic model, including the complex interactions of the five identifiable, but not separate, subsystems. So let's look at all the elements of this model and how it works.
So, the key elements of the model under consideration are operations (O), management (M) and environment (E). The operating system consists of three operating blocks, operating subsystems, designated as 1a, 1b, 1c. The management unit consists of four subsystems, designated 2, 3, 4 and 5. There are frequent and complex interactions between the five systems and the environment.
The basic premise of this model is the understanding that operational units or divisions should be as autonomous as possible, i.e. Stafford Beer's model views any organization as a cluster consisting of autonomous operational elements, whose unification is based on mutually supportive interaction aimed at creating a larger and more holistic system, so the key management task is to create the "glue" that makes this possible. Stafford Beer called this function a metasystem and defined it as "The set of subsystems that oversees the operational elements so that they align in what is called a Viable System."
So, the roles of subsystems 2, 3, 4, and 5 are as follows (metaphorum.org):
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Subsystem 2 deals with problems that arise as autonomous and self-organizing operational subsystems interact, which are unavoidable, so subsystem 2 is necessary to effectively balance the interaction of operational elements. According to the VSM model, without subsystem 2, the system would fall apart.
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Subsystem 3 defines ways and directions to maximize the effectiveness of cooperation and interaction between operational units, i.e., it is related to the synergy, it considers the operational units from a metasystemic perspective and provides assurance that together the system works better and more effectively than its individual working elements or subsystems. Stafford Beer characterized this as an "explosion of potential" resulting from cooperation and symbiotic relationships that would not exist without subsystem 3.
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Subsystem 4 ensures that the entire system can adapt to a constantly and rapidly changing, sometimes aggressive environment. Thus, subsystem 4 scans the external environment in which the whole system operates, identifies opportunities and threats, and develops and proposes plans for guiding the whole system, various options and alternatives that the system can follow. Without subsystem 4, the system could not cope with the complexity and uncertainty of the external environment.
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Subsystem five defines and develops the vision and values of the entire system through policies and procedures, it creates the identity of the system, the basic rules. Stafford Beer expressed himself with regard to the fifth subsystem as follows: "The rules come from system 5: not so much by stating them clearly, but by creating the corporate spirit - the atmosphere. Thus, without subsystem 5, the system cannot avoid fragmentation.
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Perhaps the strongest argument in favor of VSM is the fact that after more than 50 years, no one has been able to find a case study that found evidence of the ineffectiveness of VSM, on the contrary, in all its many and varied applications of this model only proves its effectiveness.