GLO 410: Systems Thinking: Chapter 12: Viable System Model

This guide for Systems Thinking provides students with links to references from the textbook Systems Concepts in Action in addition to other resources to help develop systemic thinkers.

Viable Systems Model

"The viable System Model (VSM) illustrates the minimum requirements that must be placed on social systems if they are to prove enduring and capable of development. The aim is to bring enterprises and organizations into a condition such that they attain their optimum performance capacity and to render these enterprises and organizations able to survive in the long term, in other words, to be viable."-Systems Concept in Action, Chapter 12

eBooks/ Articles

Soft systems methodology in action : a 30-year retrospective
Checkland, Peter. Scholes, Jim. 1999. Peter "Checkland has looked back over the three decades of SSM development, brought the account of it up to date, and reflected on the whole evolutionary process which has produced a mature SSM."
Systems Concepts in Evaluation: An Expert Anthology
Williams, Bob. Imam, Iraj. 1991. The aim of the series is to make high quality work in evaluation available at a modest price that will make it easier for people in the United States and other countries to become aware of and keep up with this relatively new and fast-developing field.
Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System
Kaplan, Robert S. Norton, David P. 1996. Page 36. Explains the "balanced scorecard" method to balance short-term activities to long-term objectives.
Systemic Management for Intelligent Organizations
Stefan N. Gro¨sser. • Rene´ Zeier. "Systems thinking, the necessary first step to achieving the more viable and comprehensive form of management known as systemic management, thus undergirds a holistic management tool that provides frameworks for enhancing insights and creating fertile solutions..."
The Viable System Model as a Framework for Understanding Organizations
Espejo, Raúl. Gill, Antonia. 1997. Offers a concise guide to the VSM framework.