Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 39 views

    Cybernetic Methodology

    Uploaded by

    Tom Kaulithz Truper
    metodologia viplan

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content

    You might also like

    Cybernetic Methodology

    Uploaded by

    Tom Kaulithz Truper
    39 views18 pages
    metodologia viplan

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    metodologia viplan

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    39 views18 pages

    Cybernetic Methodology

    Uploaded by

    Tom Kaulithz Truper
    metodologia viplan

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    of 18
    In: Organisational Fitness, Corporate Efectiveness through Management Cybernetics. Raul Espejo, Markus Schwaninger (Editors). Campus Verlag 1993. sue AN INTERVENTION WITH THE CYBERNETIC METHODOLOGY IN REGENT ENGINEERING Diane Bowling and Rail Espejo ‘Syncho Ltd. Aston Science Park Birmingham General Overview “The purpose of this paper is 10 examine the Cybernetic Methodology (Espejo, 1990, 1991) as it currently stands and to demonstrate its applica~ tion in a particular situation, This methodology offers a way to tackle cnganisational problems by taking into account their content and structural context, Problems are experienced by people as they perceive problematic interruptions to the flow of their interactions with others inside or outside the organisation. The way in which people explain these interruptions defines the content of the perceived problem. Content may relate to any aspect of the operations, human relations, finance, marketing, customer vo relations, inier-unit relations, or any other issue of concern. Problem content relates to the experiences people have and the explanations they provide for them, But problems take place in an organisational context, that is, in the context of particular structures, with particular types of relation- ships among the participants. Context is frequently ignored in problem solving. The Cybemetic Methodology argues that structure must have a bearing on paople's ability to solve problems and introduce change. It is the organisational structure, and thus the cybemetics of that organisation, which provides the communication channels linking people as they constitute the situations of their interest and learn about problems. It is also through these channels hat the implementation of change takes place. ‘The adequacy, or otherwise, of the cybernetics of the organisation will therefore have considerable e'Yect on the quality of solutions possible, Furthermore, implementaton must be organised. A new structure or structural adjustments may be required for implementation, This implies changes in relationships between the parts of the organisation, as well as between people. These fundamental changes in organisational structure are too frequently ignored. Its current state is rarely explicitly examined, therefore, the changes which the implementation of any solution will give rise to, cannot be evaluated, nor can organisational plans be developed to ease the provess of change. ‘The Cybernetic Methodology permits the study of the cybemetics of the organisation to be explicitly carried out alongside organisational leaming about the problems in quesion. This leaning includes all aspects of ‘understanding about a problen situation. It must therefore include leaming, about the politics, culture, pewer relationships and other human concerns as well as a technical understanding of the problem situation. ‘This methodology was used in Regent Engineering (Walsall) Ltd. The ‘company had recognised a number of problems which were affecting their performance. These included meeting customer requirements throughout the range of products, delivery times, product quality and supervision. All these 0 problems were different, but shared the same organisational structure, Problem solving depended on th: same retwork of communication chanel. Furthermore, tackling these problems was bound to affect, and change, the organisation of the company as well as the people and the technologies used, thus changing the context for the problems themselves. “The work was undertaken by the Company supported by the Training Agency (Wolverhampton Office) under their Business Growth Training Programme, which enabled Syrcho Ltd and the West Midlands Technology ‘Transfer Centre to get involved in this work. Two consultants worked with Regent throughout a year, John Watt, principally involved with interactions about the issues of organisational concern (we will call this the leaming. loop) and Diane Bowling, related to the structural issues underlying these (ve will call this the cybernetic loop). The objective of the intervention was to look at the current situation of the company and investigate the problems restricting its growth. From this background, business and training plans were to be procuced to help the company develop into the future. Jn this paper we first explain briefly the methodology, which is then used to illustrate aspects of the work done with Regent Engineering. The methodology is used to discuss two of the several issues of organisational ‘concer that emerged in this work. The first issue ~despatching of metal ‘components: jointly with several others, was a concera of the first stage of the intervention, we refer to this stage as the first eration, It was as a consequence of this First iteration that the need for a "Production Organiser” emerged as a major issue of organisational concern. The creation of such fa role was the content of the second iteration of the methodology as discussed in this paper. Finally, in the conclusions we lalk over some of the ‘outcomes of the intervention and highlight methodological issues. 301 The Cybernetic Methodology The i = Cybemetic Methodology is used to aid conversations about change i —— ‘making explicit differences of viewpoint and interpretatior individuals. As such it is an attempt to balance the individua ‘concems with those of the organisati i reanisation. Figure 1 illustrates the methodo! ‘ho probiem Naming orprieatons ‘stuaton| and nsuee Figure 1: The Cybemetic Methodology 302 In this paper we offer only a brief explanation of the methodology. It is composed of two loops: The cberneric loop and the learning loop. The cybemetic loop is concerned with the context or operational domain in ‘which people interact. The learning loop is concerned with content and can be interpreted in two conversational modes; we will refer to them, as conversations for possibilities and conversations for action. Conversations for possibilities put the emphasis in the logical domain of ideas, conversa- tions for action put the emphasis in change and the management of complexity. People develop, to different degrees, appreciations about the situations of their concern. This is a natural activity; however it may or may not be facilitated by the context of their action, In one form or another people develop a grasp of these situations. Unfortunately, for a large number of ‘people this grasp is not good enough, that is, itis not adequate to support ‘effective learning. People who have difficulty in establishing how “the system works", or the purposes attached to a range of relevant events, are tunable to "find out about the problem situation". In this case, the complex ity of the situation overwhelms people. The possibilities are either that they ‘do not have the "handles” to make sense of this complexity, or that the communications supported by the existing structures and processes are not facilitating the discovery of meaningful patterns. In either case, these people are facing a fundamental problem; they are in a non-leamning situation. If the problem is that they do not have the “handlest, then some kind of training may be necessary. If the problem is that communications are inadequate, then the cybernetics of the situation needs improvement. “The cybernetics of a situation is defined by the actual mechanisms supporting the communications between the people involved inthe situation. Among others, the mechanisms for adaptation and rionitoring-contro, as defined by the VSM, are references tostudy communications (Espejo 1989). Methodologically, studying the cybernetics of a situation involves working ‘out a name (oF names) abou: the identity of the organisation(s) relevant to the concerned people, These names provide the reference points to study the cybernetics of the situation, that is, the communication mechanisms ‘underlying the interactions. Diagnosing communication problems may lead to the discovery of causes hindering organisational leaning and problem solving. However, creating the conditions for effecive problem solving, that is, improving the cybemetics of the situation, requires making structural changes acceptable. The view is thet by improving the cybemetics of the situation itis possible to make the complexity of the organisation more transparent to the participants. Making it more transparent means to reduce, for them, the complexity of organisational processes; thus helping them to find out more effectively abcut the situation, closing their cybernetic loop. ‘Whether 0: not the required improvements are implemented, or wkether ‘or not there is agreement about which are the relevant organisation(s) of concem, the fact is that, for each person, there is “a cybemetics of the situation" defining the context for his individual learning. It is in this context that people get involved in conversations about possibilities. In hierarchical structures problem solving is likely to be centred in higher structural levels. On the other hand distributed preblem solving is likely to be the case in recursive orgunisations (Espejo 1990). In any case, in one form or another problems are structured (naming systems is a method to support this de facto process). The issues discovered in these conversetions are also modelled in one form or another. The models in use will depend ‘on the cognitive models of the concemed people. However, this modelling can be helped by more formal modelling techniques... this is the activity of producing relevant models. & major characteristic of these models is that they should be logical, unconstrained by the situation itself. The purpose of this activity is to enhance the conversational processes leading to agreements about possibilities. For this purpose, logical models should be freed from the blinkers of current experence; this is the value of producing insightful ‘names in problem structuring, It is by contrasting these new insights with 304 the current situation that new possibilities emerge. These conversations are the processes ty which managing the process of problem solving takes place. Their outcomes are agreements upon changes that are, at the same time, systemically desirable and culturally feasible. ‘Agreements about change trigger the need to manage change processes. ‘This time leaming is focused on implementation; the management of ‘complexity might be essential for an effective implementation. Again, this process depends on the quality of the communication and control processes, that is, on the cybernetics of the situation. The costs of implementation may vary depending on the cybernetics of the situation. In one form or another the participants will be involved in conversations for action, for which there are multiple ways of structuring the problem, producing relevant models ‘and managing the process of change. Infact, the process of implementation will be recursive as long as the agreed change involves the contribution of 1 group of people. The learning process, in this case, is about producing change, that is, about its systemic feasibility (i.e. whether or not a change that was seen as culturally feasible is also systemically feasible). It is not ‘enough to accept a change to make it happen. Indeed, it is common to find that however hard a person (or an organisation) works, stil the desirable ‘change may not happen; its structural context lacks the necessary capacity to produce the desirable change. Intervention at Regent Engineering (Walsall) Ltd ‘The intervention at Regent Engineering demonstrates two iterations of the methodological loops. In the fist iteration one problem issue is highlighted; despatch of "Component" products. Several other issues were handled in the company in a similar manner; all of them contributed! to the observations ‘and conversations which Ie¢ to the second iteration; the management of “Components. Finding out about the problem situation Regent Engincering (Walsall) Ltd is a small, West Midlands engineering company, employing about 50 people, with a tumover in the region of £1.5m. Ttis based on metal forming technologies. The company has always ‘been family owned and run. All key positions have been held by members of the family. Growth has been, and will continue to be, entirely organic for the foreseeable future. ‘The study took place in the late 1980s during, and towards the end of the boom. Regent had weathered the recession of the early eighties well. However, during that time, new products were added to the range in an ‘opportunistic manner, to ensure the company's short term survival. It wished to use the boom time of the late cighties to consolidate its position and ensure that it was well organised to survive any further recession, with Jess need to take on opportunistic work which did not fit with the compa- ny's overall strategy. At the time of this intervention, Regent carried ou: metal pressing for ‘other pressing and assembly companies in the area, refurbishment of heavy ‘earth moving machinery and production of flip charts, a fully assembled Product line for a branded supplier in the visual aids market. The refurbishment side of the business worked closely with a sister company, who acted as agents in the plant refurbishment market. Flip charts were dropped soon after the start ofthis study. The technologies used by Regent were principally those of metal pressing, welding and cutting, sls assembly. Regent specialises particularly in short, flexible production runs, eschewing the large volumes of mass production, ‘An organisation chart was provided by the company (Figure 2). This gave a general picture of those involved in the company, but proved tohave some very interesting omissions and inconsistencies, Itwas used as a simple introduction to the company aid as a basis on which to arrange the early interview schedules. ‘The problems of customer satisfaction, delivery and product quality were key issues of concern for Regent Engineering at the time of the intervention. ‘Therefore a pictufe of “what is Regert Engineering", and “what do these problems mear to the people in the company” was developed through interviews, informal discussion and various meetings. This is illustrated in ‘Table 1. Alongside this work, technical information was gathered about delivery times, order processing and delivery scheduling, customer ‘complaints and returns, and product quality. Reger Eraneetne ‘See ove France and Careers eset ry Figure 2: Organisation Chart of Regent Table 1. A Rich Picture + We must keep the presses ruining. + John Shaw spends most of his time ox the shopfloor evaluating new jobs in the toolroan. = The Light Press Operators siay by their presses. ‘Measure dimensions? The Light Press Operators are paid by the piece. = We have no Hierarchy - except for tke family we are all the same. = We are a family run company, they hoid all key positions, but the family is only three. * = ‘Deliveries are late again, what is the Despatch Organiser doing?” - Production Controller (PC): = "Customers are always hassling me for delivery - so 1 have (0 spend time in the factory geting things out.” PC. - "Why haven't we made enough product? I don’t know what's going on ‘around here, there’s no information.” Despatch Organiser. = "Where's the product for today's delivery? I'm not iold early enough to ‘make up loads." Despaich Organiser. = “Late deliveries are due to late customer call off." John and Alan Shaw. = "The semers and I are ruaning about moving products and sewing presses. I cannot possibly know all our products and customers." Heavy Press Foreman. ~ The Office sends weekly schedules to the Production Controller and Despaich Organiser. = “Heavy Press is separate.” Light Press Foreman. = “Tran the heavy presses, 1 do not report to the Light Press Foreman.” Heavy Press Leader. - “All press work is organised by the Light Press Foreman.” John and Alan Shaw. = ‘Alan finds the leads and negoriates the contracts, John develops the technology. = The Production Controller ivitiates route sheets after ordering marerals. = The Despatci Organiser keeps completed route sheeis, Structuring the problem situation: naning systems ‘Afier a period of fact finding and “impressionistic” structural modelling using the Viable System Model, the study was focused in answering two questions: “wht are the particular issues of concern?" and "which pans of 308 the organisations are particularly involved?" Both these questions are likely to receive different answers depending of the viewpoint of the observer. ‘Therefore sructuring the issues of concern and the identities of the organisations in focus, were the outcome of considerable debate within the ‘company. Indeed, these debates themselves triggered the process of change in Regent, ‘Naming Organisations: Identty of the organisation in focus ‘At the outset of the work it appeared that the problems to be addressed belonged to Regent Enginecring as a whole. However, it became apparent that the system in focus was not the whole company, but only the one ‘Producing pressed metal components (i.e. Components). In fact, atthe time ‘of the intervention, Components was not recognised as a primary activity; the company wide activities and those of Components were blurred in the minds of people. However, forthe analyst, all the issues of concern related to "Components and not to the whole company, for example Refurbishment was not involved in these issues. Te key people involved ‘were the Components’ foremen, the Despatch Organiser, the Production Controller and the Press Operators. The customers af concern were only those for pressed components; Refurbishment customers had no bearing on the problems discussed. The Identity of Components, therefore, was

    You might also like