Ashby's Law of 8equlslLe varleLy

CuLllne
8aslc concepLs
Crganlzauonal appllcauons
8aslc concepLs
uynamlc sysLems
SysLems regulaLe/conLrol Lhelr ouLpuL by
respondlng Lo dlsLurbances
lrom Lhe sysLem's exLernal envlronmenL
lrom lnLernal sources wlLhln Lhe sysLem
L.g., drlvlng a car
negauve feedback
L.g., LhermosLaL
rocess of regulauon
Lxample: a" ls Lhe deslred ouLpuL (l.e., goal)
lor every dlsLurbance (u), Lhe sysLem musL generaLe a
response (8) Lo malnLaln a" as Lhe ouLpuL
R
x y z
1 b a c
D 2 a c b
3 c b a
R
x y
1 b a
D 2 a c
3 c b
varleLy of ouLpuL,
v
C
= 1 sLaLe
(always a")
SysLem ls sLable
varleLy of ouLpuL,
v
C
> 1 sLaLe (a, b, or c)
unsLable (ouL of conLrol)!
varleLy
1he number of posslble sLaLes of a sysLem and
Lhelr relauve probablllues
8ased on Shannon's lnformauon Lheory
MaLhemaucally ldenucal Lo uncerLalnLy
8oLh measure sysLem complexlLy
# of posslblllues (l.e., array slze) & Lhelr probablllues
Measured as blLs of lnformauon, or [usL by counung Lhe
number of posslble sLaLes
As varleLy !'s, uncerLalnLy !'s, and amounL of lnformauon
needed Lo ellmlnaLe uncerLalnLy !'s
Why a new Lermlnology?
Same consLrucL used Lo descrlbe dlsLurbance sLaLes (v
u
),
response sLaLes (v
8
), and ouLpuL sLaLes (v
C
)
8equlslLe varleLy
Mlnlmum varleLy of sysLem responses (v
8
) requlred Lo
cope wlLh all lncomlng dlsLurbance varleLy (v
u
) and
conLrol ouLpuL varleLy (v
C
) wlLhln deslred llmlLs
Law of 8equlslLe varleLy
Cnly varleLy can desLroy varleLy"
desLroy" = cope wlLh, absorb, handle,. eLc.
v
C
> v
u
/ v
8
l.e., v
8
> v
u
Lo malnLaln sLable ouLpuL
Lxamples
L-mall spam lLerlng
Came of chess
Crganlzauonal appllcauons
Sources of varleLy ln organlzauons
llrsL need Lo choose approprlaLe sysLem boundarles
and level of analysls
L.g., organlzauon, deparLmenL, [ob, Lask
ulsLurbance varleLy
LxLernal sources
L.g., cusLomer demand, suppller quallLy, compeuuve producLs
lnLernal sources
L.g., employee error, machlne breakdown
8esponse varleLy
L.g., employee or process exlblllLy, quallLy/error check and
repalr, machlne malnLenance, new producL developmenL
sLraLegy
WhaL lf Lhere ls more varleLy Lhan Lhe organlzauon can
handle (l.e., v
8
< v
u
)?
2 baslc sLraLegles
8educe v
u
lncrease v
8
L.g., sLudy of !usL-ln-1lme producuon
lnvenLory = buer, absorbs varleLy beLween lnLerdependenL
acuvluLes
8educed lnvenLory: reduced v
8
1o operaLe wlLh low lnvenLory: need Lo reduce v
u
and/or lncrease v
8
Successful !l1 rms
8educed lnvenLory correlaLed wlLh reduced varleLy (v
u
),
L.g., reduce range of producL opuons, eLc.
and lncreased varleLy handllng mechanlsms (v
8
)
L.g., lncrease machlne exlblllLy, eLc.
Many rms dld noL make needed ad[usLmenLs
8esulL: lnvenLory soon reLurned Lo pre-!l1 levels
8educe dlsLurbance varleLy (v
u
)
ConsLralnLs (e.g., rules)
Croup lnpuLs lnLo caLegorles (e.g., unlverslLy programs)
LllmlnaLe source of varleLy (e.g., buy compeuLor)
lncrease response varleLy (v
8
)
lncrease process exlblllLy
Slack resources (e.g., back-up equlpmenL, redundancy)
lncrease lnformauon processlng capaclLy
(8uL noLe: compuLers oen ampllfy varleLy)
Cen mosL emclenL Lo rsL reduce v
u
as much as
posslble, and Lhen lncrease v
8
Lo handle remalnder
v
8
sLraLegles oen generaLe addluonal v
u
as a slde-eecL
L.g., exlble machlne adds complexlLy, malnLenance lssues, eLc.
Summary
Ashby's law descrlbes regulauon of dynamlc
sysLems
Ceneral law
Appllcable Lo dlverse sysLems, aL many dlerenL
levels of analysls
Wlll refer Lo ln dlscusslon of organlzauon
sLrucLure/deslgn