An introduction to the Viable System Model. A holistic approach to design organizations.

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VIABLE SYSTEM MODEL – PART 1
INTRODUCTION
Many theories, developed to explain the behaviour of organisations, think in one way or
another in a linear cause-and-effect way: A causes B, and B leads to C. Even a complex
model such as Systems Dynamics (developed by professor Jay Forrester) tries to create
an understanding of nonlinear behaviour of complex systems over time through a
network of linear cause-and-effect loops.
However, the real life might be much more complex than that. The A’s, B’s, and C’s of
these models are inseparably interconnected to multitude of variables; therefore, for
these models to have any meaningful outcome, they have to capture all the intricate, and
many times obscure relations. Any kind of simplification will cause the model not able to
describe the real system.
The Viable System Model, in contrast, embraces a holistic approach to organisations (and
systems), providing a theory to identify and explain what a Viable System should look like.
In this endeavour, professor Stafford Beer utilises different western organisational
theories as well as eastern philosophies, and provides a new approach in complete
contrast with our traditionally deep-engraved hierarchical way of thinking.

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THE FOUNDATION OF THE MODEL
To design a Viable Organisation why re-inventing the wheel when we have access to the
most viable system of all: Human Beings?
Humans have successfully evolved and adapted to their ever changing environments and
have presented a considerable degree of viability. We can learn a great deal by studying
this system to see how the brain of this system controls and manages the human body in
direct interaction with this harsh environment.
“Science has sought the ultimate source of energy in the physics of the
sun itself . . . the hydrogen-helium fusion. Science now seeks the
ultimate source of control, in the cybernetics of natural processes . . .
the brain itself.”
- Cybernetics and Management, Beer, 1959
This study of human brain has been Stafford Beer’s inspiration to develop the Viable
System Model, leading him to identify the following inter-related systems governing the
human body:
• System 1 – All the organs and doers: parts of the body that perform an operation.
• System 2 – The Sympathetic Nervous System, maintaining the human body
homeostasis and regulating the interaction of organs ensuring the stability of the
body.

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• System 3 – The Base Brain: overseeing muscles and organs, optimising the internal
operations.
• System 4 – The Mid Brain: the connection of the brain to the external environment
through sensory systems. Responsible for projecting, anticipating, and future
planning.
• System 5 – Higher Brain: the identity of the human being.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODEL
Three major questions drive this endeavour:
• Can we build a ‘model’ to describe an ‘organisation’ regardless of the type and
functions it is performing?
• How to identify the underlying principles that describe the dynamics of any type of
organisation?
• And, what are the prerequisites to ensure the organisation is viable?
The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle,
proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on
Earth to form a synergistic self-regulating, complex system that helps
to maintain and perpetuate the conditions for life on the planet.
- Wikipedia

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Every organisation is formed to manage a process in an environment:
• A bank manages the process of financial services for its clients in its environment.
• A hospital manages the delivery of health services to the society it’s operating in.
Therefore, for any organisation we can identify three main elements:
• an environment,
• in which a process is happening;
• for which, there is a management in place.

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Complexity
The existence of the environment and the process seems obvious to some extent;
however, what is the main responsibility of the ‘management’ in any organisation?
In a traditional sense, the management is there to manage money, people, material, and
equipment. Now that we are developing a model, is there a uniform basic ‘thing’ that we
could identify, which is the same in every management process?
If there is only one way to go, then, ‘management’ would be pointless! The more we have
options to choose from, the more we need to decide and manage. The role of any
management function is to deal with the complexity and manage a complex situation.
The more complex a situation gets, the harder it is to manage, and the bigger becomes
the organisation around it.
Variety
For everything we try to manage, we need something to measure it with; and for the
complexity we need a measure to understand the size of a given complex situation. In
Cybernetics it is called variety: the number of possible distinct states of a system.
The more complex a system gets, the more its variety becomes (and vice versa). Now,
here comes the complicated part:

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à To manage a process with a certain amount of variety, we need a management
function with at least the same amount of variety.
This convoluted concept, which is known as Requisite Variety (first introduced by William
Ross Ashby) plays a fundamental role in systems approach to engineering and
management.
To explain this, consider an environment you live in (e.g. your room), where you need to
‘control’ the temperature so that you feel comfortable in that environment.
If it is winter time and the temperature has only two states for you (comfortable and
uncomfortable), then all you need is a control device (thermostat) with the variety of 2:
to turn ‘on’ and ‘off’ the flow of warm air to your room. This way you can keep the
temperature of the room in a comfortable range.
On the other hand, if you are more energy conscious, you may want to reduce the energy
consumption when you are out of that room: For example, reduce the load of the heating
system when you are not using the room.
In this situation, the environment has more than 2 varieties, and you need a device with
appropriate number of varieties to control accordingly. You need to be able to tell in
what temperature the room should be in specific time ranges: sleep time, morning time,
out of room, before coming back, coming back, etc.
You can further increase the level of complexity by differentiating between working days
and weekends; hence more variety to manage, and a more complex thermostat.

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Variety in the Model
Going back to our basic model of the management-process-environment, it is obvious
that the variety of the environment (total number of possible states) is much greater than
that of the process; and the variety of the process is, in turn, considerably bigger than the
possible distinct states that the management can handle.
This is where we encounter our first problem designing our organisation: How can we
handle such a great number of varieties in and outside of the organisation?
Simple. By increasing or decreasing the variety, of course!
If the variety of the management is less than that of the process, the logical solution for it
to be able to control and manage the whole variety of the process is to amplify its

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variety. Meanwhile, attenuating (decreasing) the variety that is flowing from the process
towards the management.
As an example of the attenuation: instead of creating an information overflow for the
management team, let’s give them a simplified and effective dashboard.
The same thing goes between the process and the environment. The process needs to
amplify its variety (e.g. through advertisement, marketing campaigns) and attenuate the
huge numbers of variety in the environment (e.g. market research, segmentation).
Every management technique can be described as one or a combination of these 4
relations of amplifying or attenuation between management, process, and environment:
• Optimisation,

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• Team-based management,
• Learning organisations,
• Total quality management,
• Market research,
• Process reengineering,
• Management by objectives
• etc.