The viable system model (VSM) is a model of the organisational structure of any autonomous system capable of producing itself. A viable system is any system organised in such a way as to meet the demands of surviving in the changing environment. One of the prime features of systems that survive is that they are adaptable. The VSM expresses a model for a viable system, which is an abstracted cybernetic (regulation theory) description that is applicable to any organisation that is a viable system and capable of autonomy. A viable system is composed of five interacting subsystems which may be mapped onto aspects of organizational structure. In broad terms Systems 1–3. are concerned with the ‘here and now’ of the organization’s operations, System 4 is concerned with the ‘there and then’ – strategical responses to the effects of external, environmental and future demands on the organization, System 5 is concerned with balancing the ‘here and now’ and the ‘there and then’ to give policy directives which maintain the organization as a viable entity.
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Concepts from the Viable systems model
the following table details the components of the model,
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Term
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Function / Definition
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UNSW Business Level Model |
Significance
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| label from the viable system model | how the particular model component works | the significance of the model component for the UNSW data architecture models | |
| Policy | Is a higher order function that co-ordinates the intelligence and control functions. It is essentially an executive function determining the choices made by the organisation. In the VSM, it con-ordinates between the intelligence and Control functions, thus balancing the future and present. |
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this has been mapped to the Direction |
| Intelligence | this the forward looking, planning function that projects ideas about how the future could be, and submits them to the policy function for adjudication. |
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this function is a kind of architecture function that projects a vision of the organisation into the future and looks to plot a course from the present, to this future |
| Control | this is the system that determines the actions of the lower components. |
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| Meta-level organisation | the level of the viable system model concerned with the co-ordinated action of the lower part of the model. As the VSM is suppose to be recursive, whether a part of the organisation is to be considered meta-level or implementation level is relative. This is suppose to cover those hierarchical arranged organisations where divisions may reflect all the model components |
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| Monitoring | the main upward relation of the implementation level with the meta level of the model. the monitoring function involves the flow of information |
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| Co-ordination | the main downward relation between the meta level of the model and the implementation level. the main form of this communication is the flow of commands. |
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| Implementation | this is the label for those parts of the organisation that achieve the actual delivery of what the organisation is producing. As the VSM is suppose to be recursive, whether a part of the organisation is to be considered meta-level or implementation level is relative. This is suppose to cover those hierarchical arranged organisations where divisions may reflect all the model components. |
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| Units | this component of the model embodies the all six functions |
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| Market Segment |
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| The environment |
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| The customer |
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| The future | this is the focus of the intelligence system of the model. intelligence is focused on ensuring that the future is adequately … |
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Usage of the Viable system model
The business level scheme encodes the VSM distinction between the business activities that actually involve the performance of core lines of business, the co-ordination of these activities in the form of management, through which the monitoring and control of activities is brought about, the role of intelligence being the equivalent to that of architecture and policy being essentially a strategic directorship function.
These activities are directed toward different parts of the internal and external environment. the intelligence functions are directed toward the future, the policy function toward the market segments, the control, monitoring and co-ordination functions towards the units and the implementation via units directed towards the customer.