Metalab VSM
Introduction
The Metalab charted as an organizational chart according the viable system model of Stafford Beer. It was done because it was fun and the Metalab needs always a little bit of more Cyber(tm).
What is the VSM?
The viable systems model (VSM) is a way to look at any organization (company, group, association, cooperative, state, city, etc.) and divide it into parts which make it work. According to the theory, systems which are missing certain components in the chart aren't viable, so they will collapse. Systems which have the components, but aren't well balanced will collapse too as each component will rip the whole system apart.
Description
The chart shows three main parts of the viable system model. The environment, which is the amoebe like black surrounded blob, the blue surrounded oval operations part and the so called metasystem which is a green diamond.
Operations (System 1)
The operations also called System 1, is the part of the whole system which interacts with the external environment (society, the world, other people, etc.). This is the part of the system which actually does things, when thinking about the whole system as a living being, then here the breathing, the digestion, the movement and so on happens.
Each blob in the operations is in itself a viable system, for example the people who work in the kitchen (Küche) will find a way to organize themselves autonomously and so represent in themselves as a group a viable system. As the viable system model recurses in the operational units, each operational unit is in itself a viable system and each operational unit in that system is again a viable system and so on (i.e Kitchen User within the kitchen operational unit of the Metalab).
The Metasystem
The Metasystem is a big group of other systems which provide services to the operations system and the whole viable system. When comparing it with a classical organizational chart the feeling could rise, that the viable system describes an obligatory hierarchy, but this is not meant to be. The Metasystem can be distributed, can be hierarchical, can be democratic, can be just one person, etc. In any case it contains important functions of the organizational organism to ensure its viability.
System 2 (Stability)
System 2 or in some slides of the VSM called "Stability" is in the organization the instance which ensures that the operational units in the system 1 (Operations) don't step on each other. In a company that role could take a manager, a group of people who meet daily to organize what needs to be done for the day, a simple flipchart on the wall.
In the context of the Metalab this role is done by each individual member who deals with conflicts himself responsibly, or the JourFix for little bit bigger conflicts or the mediation service (Anlaufstelle) for serious conflicts.
System 3 (Optimization)
System 3 or sometimes called "Optimization" or "Control" is in the Organization the part which looks at the operational units in system 1 (Operations) and finds out of how to achieve a synergy and tries to get everybody working together to achieve "better" outcomes through more coordination. In an cooperative this could be a daily meeting of people who look at the performance criteria of departments and find out that they could reduce costs by by buying a product in bulk for the whole cooperative.
In the context of the Metalab this is done by individual members who write to the Mailinglist and ask for bulk buys of Raspberry PIs or on the JourFix or the Vorstand who needs to ensure certain things, so that everybody can minds his own business.
System 4
System 4 looks out into the external environment and the future and tries to get in balance with the environment. In nature that would be the cautionary lookout for any nearby predators. Or what needs to be done, so that the organization can still exist.
This job is done in the Metalab by the Generalversammlung, the Vorstand, the JourFix and cautionary individual members.
System 5 (Policy)
The role of system 5 is to define the principal guiding principles within an organization, it defines the framework of what actions can be done within the organization or not.
In the Metalab this role is again distributed by most parts to the Generalversammlung, which meets once a year and sometimes talks about the rules like for example "Is the Lounge a smoking room?".
