The Magic Ring: Systems Thinking Approach to Control Systems

Description

Preface to the First Edition Preface to the Second Edition Contents List of Figures List of Tables Part I: Discovering the “Ring” Chapter 1: The Language of Systems Thinking for Control Systems 1.1 The Sixth Discipline: The Discipline of Control Systems 1.2 The Fifth Discipline: The Five Basic Rules of Systems Thinking 1.3 The Construction of Models Based on Systems Thinking: The Rings 1.4 From Systems Thinking to System Dynamics: A Simulation of a Dynamic System 1.5 Two Fundamental Laws of Systems Thinking 1.6 Systems Archetypes: Three Relevant Structures of Human Behavior—The Archetypes of the Three Myopias 1.7 Complementary Material 1.7.1 Reinforcing Loop: Arms Escalation 1.7.2 Reinforcing Loops: Virus Explosion 1.7.3 Multiple Loops: The Law of Accelerating Returns 1.7.4 The General Law of Dynamic Instability 1.7.5 The Law of Dynamic Instability: Richardson’s Model 1.7.6 The Law of Dynamic Instability: Prey–Predator Populations 1.7.7 The Law of Dynamic Instability: Counteracting the Spread of a Virus 1.7.8 Senge’s Archetypes List Expanded 1.7.9 The “Six” Disciplines of Learning Organizations 1.8 Summary Chapter 2: The Ring: The General Structure of Control Systems 2.1 The Control Process 2.2 The Logical Structure of Control Systems in the Language of Systems Thinking 2.3 The Ring in Action: The Heuristic Model of a Control System 2.4 Some Technical Notes 2.5 Continuous Single-Lever Control System Without Delays 2.6 Discrete Single-Lever Control System Without Delay 2.7 Control System with On–Off Lever 2.8 Continuous Single-Lever Control System with Delay 2.9 The Technical Structure of a Single-Lever Control System: The Chain of Control 2.10 Management and Governance of the Control System 2.11 Design and Realization of the Control System 2.12 Delays and Disturbances in the Control: Variants of the Control Model 2.13 Strengthening and Precision of Control Systems 2.14 Connections and Interferences Among Single-Lever Control Systems 2.15 Areas of Application of the General Model 2.16 Complementary Material 2.16.1 Simulation Tools 2.16.2 Control of an Elevator 2.16.3 Searching for a Street, a Page, and a Word 2.16.4 The Trajectories of a Car and a Boat 2.16.5 Shower with Two Delays 2.16.6 Direct and Inverse Control 2.16.7 Simulation of an On–Off System: The Hot and Cold Air Conditioner 2.16.8 Simulation of Two Interfering Showers Using Powersim 2.16.9 Feedforward Control 2.16.10 The Engineering Definition of Control Systems 2.16.11 An Analytical Appendix: The Optimal Value of the Lever and the Optimal Control Period in Non-symmetrical Systems 2.17 Summary Chapter 3: The Ring Variety: A Basic Typology 3.1 Manual and Automatic Control Systems: Cybernetic Systems 3.2 Quantitative and Qualitative Control Systems: Attainment and Recognition Control Systems 3.3 Steering and Halt Control Systems 3.4 Fixed- and Variable-Objective Systems (or Systems of “Pursuit”) 3.5 Collision, Anticollision, and Alignment Systems 3.6 Tendential and Combinatory Control Systems 3.7 Parallel or Serial Connections 3.8 Holarchies of Control Systems 3.9 Complementary Material 3.9.1 Some Well-Known Cybernetic Systems 3.9.2 Halt Control Systems 3.9.3 Biometric Systems of Recognition and Identification 3.9.4 Explorative Systems 3.9.5 Looking Up a Word in the Dictionary 3.9.6 Achilles and the Tortoise: Zeno’s Paradox 3.9.7 Serial Systems: The Oven and the Boiler 3.9.8 Qualitative Control Systems: Procedure to Determine the States of Variety of the Qualitative Variables 3.10 Summary Chapter 4: The Ring Completed: Multilever and Multiobjective Control Systems 4.1 Dual-Lever Control System with Mutually Dependent Levers 4.2 Dual-Lever Control System with Independent Levers: Control Strategy 4.3 Impulse Control Systems 4.4 Multilever Control Systems 4.5 Multilayer Control Systems 4.6 Multiobjective Control Systems and Control Policies 4.7 Optimal Strategies and Policies: Two General Preference Models 4.8 Complementary Material 4.8.1 Flying in a Hot Air Balloon 4.8.2 Submerging in a Submarine 4.8.3 A Multilever System: Mix of N Components 4.8.4 Control of a Mobile Platform 4.8.5 Industrial Robots and Movement Systems 4.8.6 Focusing 4.8.7 Demand, Supply, and Price: Dual-Objective Control System 4.8.8 Ordering of the Objectives to Define Control Policy: The Direct Comparison Procedure 4.8.9 The Standard Gamble Method 4.9 Summary Chapter 5: The Ring: Observation and Design 5.1 How to Recognize or Design the Logical Structure of a Control System 5.2 Symptomatic and Structural Control 5.3 Effectiveness and Efficiency of Control Systems 5.4 Strengtheners, Turbos, and Multilevers 5.5 Risk of Failure of the Control Process Due to Structural Causes 5.6 Risks of Failure of the Control Process Due to some Characteristics of the Variables to be Controlled 5.7 Risks of Failure of the Control Process Due to Improper Levers: “Shifting the Burden” archetype 5.8 Pathologies of Control: Discouragement, Insatiability, Persistence, and Underestimation 5.9 Problem Solving and Control Systems 5.10 Problem Solving and the Leverage Effect 5.11 The Principles of Systems Thinking Applied to Problem Solving 5.12 Complementary Material 5.12.1 Multicriteria Decision-Making 5.13 Summary Part II: The Magic of the Ring Chapter 6: The Magic Ring in Action: Individuals 6.1 Magic Rings Operating on a Wonderful Day 6.2 Rings Operating in the Domestic Environment 6.3 Overhead Rings in the External Microenvironment 6.4 Rings Acting in the External Macro Environment 6.5 Planetary Rings: “Gaia” and Daisyworld 6.6 Control System for Global Warming: The Myopia Archetypes in Action 6.7 Rings Acting on Earthquakes and Tsunamis 6.8 Rings Acting on the Human Body 6.9 Control Systems for Survival as Psychophysical Entities 6.10 Rings That Regulate Biological Clocks 6.11 Complementary Material 6.11.1 The Water Cycle 6.11.2 Daisyworld Dynamics 6.12 Summary Chapter 7: The Magic Ring in Action: Social Environment and Sustainability 7.1 Social Environment 7.2 The Rings Regulating Social Systems: The Control of Coexistence 7.3 Rings That Maintain Autopoiesis in Social Systems 7.4 Rings That Regulate Some Fundamental Variables in Social Systems 7.5 Rings Within Collectivities as Combinatory Systems 7.6 The Control of Combinatory Systems 7.7 Sustainability of Social Behavior, Myopia Archetypes in Action, Population Growth, and Commons Depletion 7.8 Rings Operating in Social Systems as Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) 7.9 Change Management in a Complex World: The PSC Model 7.10 Complementary Material 7.10.1 Models and Classes of Combinatory Systems 7.10.2 The Heuristic Models Revealing the Modus Operandi of Some Relevant Social Phenomena Following the Combinatory Systems Model 7.10.3 The Combinatory Automaton to Simulate the Buzzing in an Indoor Locale 7.10.4 Two Modern Tragedies of the Commons 7.10.5 The PSC Model Applied to Stereotypes and Gender Discrimination 7.11 Summary Chapter 8: The Magic Ring in Action: The Biological Environment 8.1 Magic Rings in the Macro Biological Environment 8.2 Magic Rings That Regulate the Dynamics of Populations 8.3 Dynamics of a Population Without Growth Limits 8.4 Dynamics of a Population with Limits to Its Available Resources: Malthusian Dynamics 8.5 Dynamics of Interacting Populations Forming a Trophic Food Chain: Volterra–Lotka Model 8.6 Natural Endogenous and Artificial External Controls of Two Interacting Populations 8.7 Magic Rings That Regulate the Dynamics of Three or More Populations Comprising an Ecosystem 8.8 Qualitative Dynamics of Populations—Evolution: The Framework 8.9 Magic Rings That Regulate the Qualitative Dynamics of Populations Over Time 8.10 Combinatory Systems as a Tool for Simulating the Dynamics Regarding the Spread of a Favorable Mutation 8.11 Qualitative Dynamics Interacting with Quantitative Dynamics 8.12 Evolution of Non-biological “Species” 8.13 Evolution in Networks of Organizations: Production Networks 8.14 The Rules of Selfish Behavior of Nodes (Modules) in Production Networks: Evolutionary Qualitative Dynamics of Nodes 8.15 The Laws of Production Networks 8.16 Complementary Material 8.16.1 The Nodes (Modules) Forming the Production Networks 8.16.2 The Genesis of Production Networks 8.16.3 The Evolution of Production Networks: The Ghost in the Production Machine 8.17 Summary Chapter 9: The Magic Ring in Action: Organizations 9.1 Rings That Allow Organizations to Exist as Autopoietic, Homeostatic, and Teleonomic Social Systems 9.2 Viable Systems View 9.3 Organizations as Efficient Systems of Transformation 9.4 From MOEST to Management Control and Performance Management 9.5 The Rings in Macro Management Control: The Objectives of the Strategic Rings: EVF and EVA 9.6 The Objectives of the Operational Rings: Roe* and Roi* 9.7 Operational Control of the Economic Transformation: From Cost Measurement to Cost Control 9.8 The Role of Planning in Transforming the Organization into a Cognitive, Intelligent, and Explorative System 9.9 Complementary Material 9.9.1 The Programing and Budgeting Process: The Role of Forecasting 9.9.2 Cost Measurement in a Small Leather Craft Firm 9.9.3 Calculation and Control of Costs to Decide Whether or Not to Accept a Given Price 9.9.4 Standard Costing for Controlling Production Efficiency 9.9.5 Dashboards in Performance Control Systems 9.9.6 The Balanced Scorecard in Performance Management Control Systems 9.9.7 External Control of the Company’s Economic and Financial Efficiency: Position Analysis (Brief Outline) 9.10 Summary Chapter 10: The Magic Ring in Action Explores Quality and Productivity 10.1 Quality Control: The Theoretical Framework—The Three Forms of Quality 10.2 The Relevance of Quality Control for the Economic Transformation 10.3 Control of “Functional” Quality 10.4 Control of “Design” Quality 10.5 Controlling the Costs of Quality 10.6 Control of the “Environmental Quality” 10.7 From Quality Assurance to Company-Wide Quality Control 10.8 Controlling the Quality of the Organization to Generate Trust and Reputation 10.9 The Control of Productivity: The Efficiency of Productive Transformation 10.10 Explaining Productivity. The “Intrinsic” Drivers of Labor Productivity 10.11 The “Managerial” Drivers of Labor Productivity 10.12 The “Extrinsic” Drivers of Labor Productivity 10.13 The “Law” of Increasing Productivity and Quality 10.14 Complementary Material 10.14.1 Six Sigma Quality Management System 10.14.2 Time and Motion Study and Work Sampling 10.14.3 Application of Work Sampling in the Control of Industrial Processes 10.14.4 Example of Work Sampling in the Quality Control of a Continuous Production Process 10.14.5 Application of Work Sampling in Marketing Control 10.14.6 Control Charts 10.14.7 Gross and Net Labor Productivity 10.14.8 Productivity, Consumption, and Employment: Toward the Jobless Economy? 10.14.9 Control of Plant Efficiency for Quality and Productivity. The Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) 10.14.10 Control of Plant Efficiency, Replacement, the MAPI Formula 10.15 Summary Chapter 11: The Magic Ring in Action: Control of Production and Stocks 11.1 Politics of Stocks and Production: The Coupling and Uncoupling Function of Stocks 11.2 The Rings in Management Control of Stocks—The Concentration of the Warehouse: The ABC Method 11.3 Cost of Preservation or Storage Costs (SC) 11.4 Supply Batch Costs or Setup Costs (AC) and the Costs of Storage Risk 11.5 Determination of the Economic Supply Batch: Wilson’s Hypotheses 11.6 Model of a Warehouse Control System Based on Wilson’s Formula 11.7 The Restocking Point and the Safety Stock Under Probability Assumptions 11.8 Calculating the Replenishing Batch Assuming Proportionally Varying Prices 11.9 The Calculation of the Optimal Production Batch 11.10 The Control of Production with Constraints. Direct Costing Rules and the Linear Programming Method 11.11 From Programming to the Control of Production, The “Push” Method, The Materials Requirements Planning System 11.12 The “Pull” Method 11.13 The Importance of Scheduling, Leveling, and Balance in Production 11.14 The Evolution of MRP, MRPII, and MRPIII: Toward Just-In-Time (JIT) 11.15 Just-In-Time and Stockless Production 11.16 Optimized Production Technology: OPT 11.17 The Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) and the Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMS) 11.18 Control of Projects Through Multiobjective Control Systems: PERT/CPM 11.19 Multiprojects: The Control of the Priorities and Workload 11.20 Complementary Material 11.20.1 Methods for Calculating the Inventory Turnover and the Average Storage Period 11.20.2 Control of the Stock of Material: Calculating EOQ 11.20.3 Linear Programming for Multiproduction with Several Capacity Constraints: Example 11.21 Summary Chapter 12: The Magic Ring Explores Cognition and Learning 12.1 Dimensions of Knowledge 12.2 Bateson’s Model: The “Mind” as a Calculator and Transformer of Differences 12.3 Bateson’s Model Expanded: The “Mind” as a Calculator of Similarity and Analogy: The Construction of Dimensions 12.4 The First Step Toward Knowledge: The Process of the Description of Objects 12.5 Comparing Objects 12.6 The Second Step Toward Knowledge: The Process of Definition: From Objects to Concepts 12.7 The Three Paths of Knowledge in a Two-Dimensional Cognitive Universe 12.8 The Human Mind Constructs Meaningful Technical Definitions 12.9 The Signification Process: Signs, Denomination, Signifier, Seme, and Sememe 12.10 Languages and Signs 12.11 Factual Truth and Falseness 12.12 Scientific Laws and Theories as Definitions and Conjectural Models of the World 12.13 Intelligent Cognitive Systems: The Power of Models 12.14 Complementary Material 12.14.1 Models 12.14.2 The Explanation Process and Its Operational Closure 12.15 Summary Chapter 13: Concluding Remarks: Toward a General Discipline of Control 13.1 A Possible Control Systems Discipline 13.2 The Human Aspects of Control 13.3 Conclusion: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 13.4 Complementary Material 13.4.1 Control System in Religions: Approaches in Catholicism and Buddhism 13.4.2 Control of Chaos and of Chaotic Dynamics 13.4.3 Variant Structure Control Systems 13.5 Summary Symbols (minimal) Glossary References Index