System Two

The function that damps oscillation among the units of system-one. Without it, System One “would go into an uncontrollable oscillation” (HOE 1979: 177). From overview Draft 0.8; not project canon.

What Beer says

• “System Two is logically necessary to any viable system, since without it System One would be unstable — it would go into an uncontrollable oscillation” (HOE 1979: 177). It has “the highly specific function of damping oscillations, and nothing else. In fact, then, System Two is a service to System One” (ibid.).
• Those in the role are often accused of destroying horizontal variety, “whereas their proper function is merely anti-oscillatory, as the school timetable example makes clear” (HOE 1979: 178).
• Under-represented in management technique: “It is always present, or the organization would shake itself to pieces” (DTS 1985: 66).
• A productivity change is relayed “automatically” as “a statistical statement couched in achievement numbers” so oscillation does not set in (BOTF 1981: 174).

Where it sits in the model

A designed vertical cohesion loop with system-three. BOTF analogue: “the spinal cord” (BOTF 1981: 124). Not system-five policy, not system-four outside-and-then.

Textual notes

Function is stable; placement shifts. BOTF: “the metasystem subsuming all Systems One” (BOTF 1981: 172). HOE: “a service to System One” (HOE 1979: 177). DTS: “anti-oscillatory device for System One” (DTS 1985: 66).

Open points

Author notes (not claims): BOTF→HOE shift may be emphasis, not membership; draft placement sections await review.

Related

pure-vsm-part-ii-the-viable-system-model · viable-system-model · system-one · system-three