The Viable System Model (abbreviated as VSM) is a model of organizations that was originally developed by Stafford Beer, part of a theoretical and practical approach to management and organization Beer named Management Cybernetics.
Stafford Beer presented the core of his model in his books in his books Brain of the Firm, The Heart of Enterprise and Diagnosing the System for Organizations. He presents these books as "companion volumes" "under the general headings of The Managerial Cybernetics of Organization" (Stafford Beer, 1985. Diagnosing the System for Organizations, Chicester, John Wiley & Sons, page iii).
Stafford Beer's books, model and his thinking still inspire many scholars and practitioners to date. However decades after the Viable Systems Model was developed it is time for a check up of the model itself: knowledge about neurology, living systems, general systems, and business models have advanced since the model was created. Our societies' challenges are now different from what they used to be decades ago.
To understand the VSM and its uses in context of the knowledge, experience and our expected futures, I propose this VSM Research Program, and this VSM Development Program.
See also:
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