The slides supporting my talk at the Metaphorum conference in Düsseldorf. You can also watch them with the animations here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YNFAXiqbQc .

1. METAPHORUM 2018
2-4 NOVEMBER, DÜSSELDORF
VSSMIVO VELITCHKOV

2. The Metaphorum conference is in Germany this year.

3. PM Fair 2017

4. PM Fair 2017
But of course…
#Brexit
Hm, Germany…

5. PM Fair 2017
germane
/dʒəːˈmeɪn/
adjective
Relevant to a subject under consideration.
Origin
Early 17th century: variant of German, with which it was
synonymous from Middle English. The current sense has arisen
from a usage in Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Oxford Dictionary

6. PM Fair 2017
“…there is no way in which an insurance company
can provide requisite variety for you—the unique
human being: your variety must be attenuated…”
“…it would mean redesigning everything—so as to
get rid of the built-in attenuators, and install
instead the amplifiers that could really work to
achieve requisite variety…” #UBI #IoT
#carsharing#Solid

7. PM Fair 2017
But of course…
#Brexit
…relevant
#Solid #IoT
#UBI #carsharing
#Luhmann

8. system
recursion
LORV
complexity
autopoiesis
S E
M
S
decision
Viable System Model Social Systems Theory
information

9. PM Fair 2017
SST
…using them for years in parallel, but what about…

10. VSocialSMWhat can Social Systems Theory bring to the VSM?

11. PM Fair 2017
before | after
event
utterance | information | understanding
communication
Unity of distinction
selected | not selected
decision

12. decisions
communications
1
2
3
Organisations

13. “What this orthodox organization chart leaves
out of account, when it comes to understanding
institutions, is that we are not dealing with
pistons, pumps, and distributor arms, but with
people; and the connexions between the parts
are not crankshafts, pipes, and electrical wires,
but human relationships.” (Designing Freedom)
“The heard of the enterprise is the human
being.” (The Heart of Enterprise)
Where are the people in the VSM?

14. See http://www.strategicstructures.com/?p=742

16. or rather, imagine it like this

17. Organisations
decisions

18. "Only those questions which are in principle undecidable, we can decide“
Heinz von Foerster
1/3
The paradoxes of decisions

19. what a decision is is a decision
2/3
Find more in “The Undecidability of Decision” by Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen
The paradoxes of decisions

20. The paradoxes of decisions
t1 t2
enable
produce
3/3

21. constraints
constrained by
options
excluded due to
consideredalso feasible
… … …

22. time
power Decision: To implement “Business Analysis Dashboard” (BAD)
Approved “BAD” business case
“BAD” investment approved
by the High IT Board
“BAD” selected, using SWOT
Prefer Buy to Build
Trust Gartner
reports
Use SWOT in
business cases,
decided by X
Recruit X,
decided by B
B can recruit,
decided by A
Start “BAD” project

23. time
power Decision: To implement “Business Analysis Dashboard” (BAD)
Approved “BAD” business case
“BAD” investment approved
by the High IT Board
“BAD” selected, using SWOT
Prefer Buy to Build
Trust Gartner
reports
Use SWOT in
business cases,
decided by X
Recruit X,
decided by B
B can recruit,
decided by A
Start “BAD” project

24. Understanding B2B interactions
system in focus
client
vendor

25. PM Fair 2017
Viable Social System Mindset
1.People “belong” to the environment of the viable social system.
2.Organisations are reproduced through self-referential decisions.
3.Misunderstanding between viable social systems is
unavoidable, but can be productive.

26. At Metaphorum 2015: Enaction
Other viable species:
Habits
Emotions
Norms as social enablers
See “The Mind of Enterprise” http://www.strategicstructures.com/?p=1008
At Metaphorum 2018: SST
Decisions
Power
Objectives
Tasks
Trust
Risk
@kvistgaard/in/velitchkov