Viable System Theory

Viable system theory (VST) concerns cybernetic processes in relation to the development/evolution of dynamic systems. They are considered to be living systems in the sense that they are complex and adaptive, can learn, and are capable of maintaining an autonomous existence, at least within the confines of their constraints. These attributes involve the maintenance of internal stability through adaptation to changing environments. One can distinguish between two strands such theory: formal systems and non-formal system. Formal system theory is normally referred to as viability theory, and provides a mathematical approach to explore the dynamics of complex systems set within the context of control theory. In contrast, viable systems theory is essentially non-formal and is typically concerned with descriptive approaches to the study of viability through the processes of control and communications.

The concept of viability arose with Stafford Beer in the 1950s through his paradigm of management systems. Its formal relative, viability theory began its life in 1976 with the mathematical interpretation of a book by Jacques Monod published in 1971 and entitled Chance and Necessity, and which concerned processes of evolution. Both formal and non-formal approaches ultimately concern the structure and evolutionary dynamics of viability in complex systems.

An alternative non-formal paradigm arose in the late 1980s through the work of Eric Schwarz., which increases the dimensionality of Beer's paradigm

The viable system theory of Beer is most well known through his viable system model and is concerned with viable organisations capable of evolving. Through both internal and external analysis it is possible to identify the relationships and modes of behaviour that constitute viability. The model is underpinned by the realisation that organisations are complex, and recognising the existence of complexity is inherent to processes of analysis. Beer's management systems paradigm is underpinned by a set of proposition, sometimes referred to as cybernetic laws. Siting within this is his viable systems model (VSM) and one of its laws is a principle of recursion, so that just as the model can be applied to divisions in a department, it can also be applied to the departments themselves. This is permitted through Beer's viability law which states that every viable system contains and is contained in a viable system. The cybernetic laws are applied to all types of human activity systems like organisations and institutions.

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