Management cybernetics

Management cybernetics is a practice that views businesses and enterprises as complex, interconnected systems that are influenced by social, technological, economic, and networked factors. Its primary objective is to understand and explain the intricate phenomena that occur within organizations. The Viable System Model (VSM) is a theoretical framework that is firmly rooted in management cybernetics and provides a rigorous approach to analyzing and managing complex systems.From: Enabling Technologies for the Successful Deployment of Industry 4.0 [2020], Investigating IT Governance through the Viable System Model [2019]

Framework to manage project structural complexity

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Published in Patricia Tzortzopoulos, Mike Kagioglou, Lauri Koskela, Lean Construction, 2020

Audrey Bascoul, Iris D. Tommelein, Stanislaus Tuholski

Bertelsen (2003a) suggested that chaos theory be used to understand project complexity. Researchers and practitioners also reported the applicability and relevance of management cybernetics, and specifically the Viable Systems Model (VSM) to expand Lean theory (Gregory, 2007; Herrmann et al., 2008; Dominici and Palumbo, 2010; Steinhaeusser et al., 2013, 2014; Schmidt et al., 2014). Since site production is part of the ‘complexity problem’ (using Koskela’s words), prefabrication (Larsson and Simonsson, 2012) and modularisation (Bertelsen, 2005) offer opportunities to manage complexity pertaining to site production, although they involve a different type of complexity (Höök and Stehn, 2005). Furthermore, Biton and Howell (2013) invited the Lean community to situate complexity in the Cynefin framework that had been articulated by Kurtz and Snowden (2003).

Investigating IT Governance through the Viable System Model

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Published in Information Systems Management, 2019

Tim Huygh, Steven De Haes

Finally, the VSM provides rigorous theory grounded in (management) cybernetics. Cybernetics is a grand theory that can provide a useful high-level way of thinking about many issues in IS research (Gregor, 2006; Richter & Basten, 2014). As cybernetics is the science of control, and IT governance is concerned with control over (current and future) digital assets, cybernetics has been put forward as a suitable candidate theory for IT governance. This implies the applicability of the VSM for studying IT governance (Lewis & Millar, 2009; Peppard, 2005; Skeivys, 2016).

Management cybernetics

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Framework to manage project structural complexity

Investigating IT Governance through the Viable System Model