The Viable System Model

System One units and their environments (Leonard: 1999)

OperationOne A

OperationOne B

OperationOne C

PresentEnvironment

LocalEnviron -

ment

LocalEnviron -

ment

LocalEnviron -

ment

ManagementOperation

One A

ManagementOperation

One B

ManagementOperation

One C

OperationOne A

OperationOne B

OperationOne C

PresentEnvironment

LocalEnviron -

ment

LocalEnviron -

ment

LocalEnviron -

ment

ManagementOperation

One A

ManagementOperation

One B

ManagementOperation

One C

Repeat of the System One units with the addition of Systems Two, Three, and Three Star

(Beer, 1979; modified)

OperationOne A

OperationOne B

OperationOne C

PresentEnvironment

LocalEnviron-

ment

LocalEnviron-

ment

LocalEnviron-

ment

ManagementOperation

One A

ManagementOperation

One B

ManagementOperation

One C

3* System 3 2

OperationOne A

OperationOne B

OperationOne C

PresentEnvironment

LocalEnviron-

ment

LocalEnviron-

ment

LocalEnviron-

ment

ManagementOperation

One A

ManagementOperation

One B

ManagementOperation

One C

3* System 3 2

System Four probing the future environment (Leonard, 1999)

System 4

All internal functions

concernedwith thefuture

Future

Environment

All relevantdevelopments

in theenvironment

orientedto the future

System 4

All internal functions

concernedwith thefuture

Future

Environment

All relevantdevelopments

in theenvironment

orientedto the future

Relationships among Systems 3, 4, and 5 (Beer, 1979: 262)

System 5

System 4

System 3

System 5

System 4

System 3

The Viable System Model

OperationOne A

OperationOne B

OperationOne C

PresentEnvironment

LocalEnviron-

ment

LocalEnviron-ment

LocalEnviron-

ment

ManagementOperation

One A

ManagementOperation

One B

ManagementOperation

One C

3* System 3 2

FutureEnvironment

System 5

System 4

OperationOne A

OperationOne B

OperationOne C

PresentEnvironment

LocalEnviron-

ment

LocalEnviron-ment

LocalEnviron-

ment

ManagementOperation

One A

ManagementOperation

One B

ManagementOperation

One C

3* System 3 2

OperationOne A

OperationOne B

OperationOne C

PresentEnvironment

LocalEnviron-

ment

LocalEnviron-ment

LocalEnviron-

ment

ManagementOperation

One A

ManagementOperation

One B

ManagementOperation

One C

3* System 3 2

FutureEnvironment

System 5

System 4

The VSM applied to the Chilean national economy

Industry A

IndustryB

IndustryC

Sector Comittee A

Sector Comittee B

Sector Comittee C

Ministry of Economics

CORFO / ODEPLAN(National planning office)

National office for statistics and census

1

2

3

4

5

Filtre

Industry A

IndustryB

IndustryC

Sector Comittee A

Sector Comittee B

Sector Comittee C

Ministry of Economics

CORFO / ODEPLAN(National planning office)

National office for statistics and census

1

2

3

4

5

Filtre

Design of the algedonic feedback loop from the people to the government (Beer, 1981)