The Viability of Organizations Vol. 1: Decoding the "DNA" of Organizations

Description

Today’s complexity, speed, and need for adaptation are putting organizations under stress. Understanding how organizations function and truly come alive has become a critical competency. And yet, organizations still seem to lack a solid understanding of what constitutes meaningful, viable, and effective organizational structures. Using the Viable System Model (VSM) as a framework, this three-volume compendium volume offers readers a new and comprehensive perspective on organizations and how they function beyond the organizational chart. Moreover, it equips readers with a rigorous methodology for analyzing organizations and addressing deep-seated organizational dysfunctions, while also showing them how to redesign their structures and develop better and more tailor-made solutions. This first volume introduces readers to the VSM and its main components. Readers are taken on a journey, allowing them to rediscover all-too-familiar aspects in the life of their organization and to become aware of the critical success factors for its smooth functioning and long-term viability. In turn, volumes 2 and 3 provide an in-depth introduction to diagnosing and designing organizations with the help of the VSM. For academics, this compendium rediscovers a theoretical perspective that can help them understand macro-structural issues; at the same time, for VSM experts and researchers alike, it resolves many open aspects in the VSM framework. Front Matter ....Pages i-xxii Life, Viability, and the Art of Keeping One’s Balance (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 1-20 VSM in Fifteen Minutes—How Does a Soccer Club Function? (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 21-37 The Product—Core and Foundation of the Organization (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 39-58 “Joining and Coordinating Forces”—The Operational Metasystem (Part 1) (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 59-75 “Controlling and Optimizing”—The Operational Metasystem (Part 2) (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 77-90 “Looking Outside”—The Strategic Metasystem (Part 1) (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 91-111 “Creating Orientation and Direction”—The Strategic Metasystem (Part 2) (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 113-125 “Decisiveness and Closure”—The Normative Metasystem (Part 1) (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 127-147 “Facing Responsibility”—The Normative Metasystem (Part 2) (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 149-164 The Recursivity of Organizations (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 165-183 “If We Knew, What We Know …”—Organizations as Information, Transduction, and Power Systems (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 185-193 The VSM—Does it Apply to Real-Life Organizations? (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 195-209 “The Bigger Picture”—Some of the VSM’s Key Messages (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 211-226 Not an Epilog, but the Point to Set the Sails … (Wolfgang Lassl)....Pages 227-228 Back Matter ....Pages 229-234