The General Systems Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The General Systems Theory - Essay Example But in reality complexities exist, thus Jordan’s taxonomy had many implied drawbacks (Skyttner, 2005). Beer and the Viable System’s Model: The viable system’s Model provides us with a more complex model of a system as compared to the one provided by Jordan. In this theory the author Stafford Beer related the performance of an organizational system with that of a human brain, in his book ‘Brain of the Firm’. According to him, a viable business has the abilities to self-repair, of self-awareness, recursion and the ability to maintain identity. Beer designed principles which must be followed by the organizations in order to be viable. These principles provided guidelines for the information flow in the organization through various channels, their cost effectiveness and their capacity to convert data relating to the need of every level of organization that suits their needs and how these activities should be coordinated without any loss or trouble. The f ive sub managerial systems that were described by Beer translated the flow of information through the organization and how they interrelate. Through these systems he showed how each level is dependent on the other level for the flow of information and as the levels increase, so does the responsibility and the sensitivity of the information. Thus, in his model System One is the lowest level of the organization and is the one that needs to be controlled, it includes the operational departments or subsidiaries with lowest level of information that is provided by higher levels, whereas System Five completes the system by monitoring the balance between the systems, it mainly constitutes of the shareholders and board of directors of the organization. Beer also devised... The computer designed on the basis of the concepts of Klir’s GSPS has the ability to solve issues for the user. His theory was based on various mathematical algorithms which correspond with engineering techniques to solve an issue. It has four functional units: the control unit, meta methodological support unit, a knowledge base and a set of methodological tools. The algorithms used are specified in order for problems dealt through these tools. Metamethodological support unit arranges the problems on the basis of their generality. Knowledge base unit stores the information related issues which can not be solved through the system. The user interface will work either through the conceptual framework or through a direct connection to the main unit. Klir's problem-solving approach and system design can be sufficient for well-structured situations. Through history teams of experts in both technological and no technical aspects of the problem assembled and processed the necessary d ata and came up with alternative approaches which defined the benefits and shortcomings of every aspect. These researchers defined the relations between the theories where it was possible by producing quantitative analyses and predictions, where they were appropriate to give content to the most general aspects of the environment. Through these procedures, a gap was tried to be filled between the technical and non-technical theorists, so that a form could be given to every general theory wherever possible.