Re: Hierarchies, recursion...

(no name) ((no email))
Thu, 19 Oct 1995 14:51:36 -0400


With Respect to Stafford Beer's concept of viable system recursion,
the key idea is that each recursive system itself has all five of
Beer's functional component systems in their prescribed relations
within it. i.e the set of levels is a set where in the ideal most viable
system case each level of recursion is also a viable system. Of course
in 'real' organizations some of the Beer functions (if they are
actually performed at all) are performed by "non-viable" (non B-recursive)
sub-systems. The whole thing is definitely not an hierarchy in the Roman
Church sense.
Gary Boyd.
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