Theories of viability: a comparison

Schwaninger, Markus

doi:10.1002/sres.731

Cited by 43 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The PBOs inability to attain viability was traced to these pathologies. Furthermore, by carrying out this assessment and identifying these pathologies, it can argued that the theory on the VSM's ability to assess organisations alike for viability (Schwaninger, 2006) can be extended to temporary multi-organisational settings as was the case in this study, wherein the VIDM relied on the same tenets as the VSM. However, this particular study does not make any attempt at achieving any generalisations of its findings as the evidence presented herein falls short of the requirements for attaining analytic generalisation through replication logic (Yin, 2009).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

A systems approach to assessing organisational viability in project based organisations

Awuzie

McDermott²

2016

Built Environment Project and Asset Management

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Purpose -Extant literature highlights the increasing inability of project-based organisations (PBOs) to meet infrastructure client's expectations, particularly as it concerns the delivery of socio-economic outcomes during the delivery process. Unclear communication channels and poor processing of information especially as it pertains to client's strategic objectives results in a misalignment of objectives among participating parties. As its central proposition, the purpose of this paper is to hold that unclear communication channels between parties within infrastructure project PBOs affects their degree of internal cohesion hence posing strong challenges to their overall viability. Design/methodology/approach -Applying the Viable Infrastructure Delivery Systems Model (VIDM); a model premised on the tenets of the Viable Systems Model, this qualitative study proceeds to assess a particular PBO within a developing country to understand its communication and control channels and to identify where gaps likely to affect the internal cohesiveness of the PBO, if any, existed. Whereas semi-structured interviews and project/policy documents were used as data collection tools, data were analysed using pre-set themes. Findings -According the study's findings, an absence of a prevalent common identity was observed among the various parties to the PBO. Contractors' capabilities to deliver on time and to budget based on their expertise remained pivotal within the PBO thus abandoning the attainment of the client's pre-defined socio-economic objectives. Cases of faulty and ineffective organisational architecture, functional and communication issues were observed. Research limitations/implications -Based upon these findings, it is recommended that the VIDM be adopted at the commencement of the PBO lifecycle and used at various intervals by project managers and other stakeholders for assessing the levels of organisational viability. Originality/value -The methodology and findings resulting from this study represent information from fieldwork conducted by the author and as such have not been used elsewhere.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

A systems approach to assessing organisational viability in project based organisations

Awuzie

McDermott²

2016

Built Environment Project and Asset Management

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“…Schwaninger (2006) summarizes that point of Beer's crisply and clearly: "A company is viable if and only if it has a dovetailed structure of management units whose functions and inter-relationships are precisely specified." So if this summary of Schwaninger is a valid interpretation of Beer's approach -and we think it is -we should not expect any room for variation concerning viable organizational structures.…”

Section: Please Scroll Down For Articlementioning

confidence: 96%

Issues of organizational cybernetics and viability beyond Beer’s viable systems model

Nechansky¹

2013

International Journal of General Systems

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The paper starts summarizing the claims of Beer's viable systems model to identify five issues any viable organizations has to deal with in an unequivocal hierarchical structure of five interrelated systems. Then the evidence is introduced for additional issues and related viable structures of organizations, which deviate from Beer's model. These issues are: (1) the establishment and (2) evolution of an organization; (3) systems for independent topdown control (like "Six Sigma"); (4) systems for independent bottom-up correction of performance problems (like "Kaizen"), both working outside a hierarchical structure; (5) pull production systems ("Just in Time") and (6) systems for checks and balances of top-level power (like boards and shareholder meetings). Based on that an evolutionary approach to organizational cybernetics is outlined, addressing the establishment of organizations and possible courses of developments, including recent developments in quality and production engineering, as well as problems of setting and changing goal values determining organizational policies.

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“…The VSMISG is based on five principles: autonomy, feedback, recursion, requisite variety, and viability of the VSM. We define these principles in the following sections (Beer, 1981;Lewis, 1997;Schwaninger, 2006).…”

Section: The Principlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Viable System Model for Information Security Governance: Establishing a Baseline of the Current Information Security Operations System

Alqurashi

Wills

Gilbert

2013

Security and Privacy Protection in Information Processing Systems

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The academic literature offers many different frameworks and models of Information Security Governance (ISG). Considerable advancements have been made in identifying the components and principles of ISG. However, the current research has not identified the viability principles and components of ISG that ensure business continuity. This paper proposes a systemic model of ISG using the principles and systems of cybernetics as embodied in Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM). It also establishes a baseline of the current information security operations system by adopting and simulating the BS ISO/IEC 27035 and shows the results of the simulation. Adopting the proposed viable system model of information security governance helps organizations not only in ensuring the effectiveness of internal controls but also in ensuring business continuity.

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Theories of viability: a comparison

Cited by 43 publications

References 13 publications

A systems approach to assessing organisational viability in project based organisations

A systems approach to assessing organisational viability in project based organisations

Issues of organizational cybernetics and viability beyond Beer’s viable systems model

A Viable System Model for Information Security Governance: Establishing a Baseline of the Current Information Security Operations System

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