Viable System Model

Systems Thinking methods

The Learner's Guide for the Viable System Model and Complexity and the School of Nursing case study

Learner's Guide

NHS case study

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<h3 id="2c5fa273-4bf7-4caa-8328-8806d6596b1d" data-toc-id="2c5fa273-4bf7-4caa-8328-8806d6596b1d" style="font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2;">This workshop will look at:</h3><ul><li>Understanding and managing organisational complexity using the Viable System Model.</li><li>Modelling multi-organisational systems using VSM</li></ul><h5 id="9495c4fd-dab3-4800-97e4-fbde3f536495" data-toc-id="9495c4fd-dab3-4800-97e4-fbde3f536495" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2;">Why is this useful and important?</h5>Organisations exist to help us to do things that are more complex than we can carry out on our own, so understanding how they do that is critical in both problem solving and design. Complexity is now widely cited as a major management challenge and VSM was ahead in recognising this as a pivotal issue long before other approaches.All organisations exist in relationships with other organisations so understanding how to use VSM in a multi-organisational system for both design and diagnosis can be critical.<h3 id="ee401997-97ca-423f-a09e-592ff92ec082" data-toc-id="ee401997-97ca-423f-a09e-592ff92ec082" style="font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2;">Objectives</h3><ul><li> Understanding organisations as ‘complexity absorbers’ or ‘complexity creators’</li><li> Understanding Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety and how that relates to VSM</li><li>Variety as: Number of connections&nbsp; / Difference / Volume / Rate&nbsp;</li><li>Modelling variety balances</li><li>Modelling homeostats</li><li>VSM as a set of balanced tensions</li><li>Spotting variety imbalances</li><li>Tracking variety imbalances through the system</li></ul>TrainerThis course is delivered by Patrick Hoverstadt, (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-hoverstadt-3666b4/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-hoverstadt-3666b4/</a>) author of ‘Fractal Organization’, which is a standard text on VSM.This material is Copyright and should not be used without discussions with the trainer.

This "one day" course - the Viable System Model and Complexity - is the fourth of five VSM courses for learning to practice with the Viable System Model. 

VSM4 The Viable System Model and Complexity

Systems Thinking practitioner

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