The VSM (Viable System Model) was developed by Stafford Beer in the 1960s to 1980s and offers a powerful framework to make sense of organisational complexity, in particular, governance structures.
It focuses attention upon how discretion to make decisions is distributed throughout the organisational entity, irrespective of whether this is a firm, region, sector or nation state. Each named unit has its own sense of identity and a degree of autonomy, whilst accepting membership to a bigger whole. Thus, it supports collective activity in a co-ordinated manner, yet also is adaptive to changing circumstances, whether small or great. An effective adaptive mechanism leads to greater resilience to deal with the unexpected. Nevertheless, it adaptation is not passive and responsive, but proactive, innovative and creative. Innovation emerges in its broadest sense from all elements of the system. Innovation, viability and sustainability is everyone's business. The VSM supports the design of more effective democratic and distributed governance structures and conditions more conducive to achieving aims.
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