Cybernetic approach to management

Cybernetic approach to management
See also
Controlling variants Early warning system Management functions Principles of scientific management Management by control Operational controlling Information resources Controlling Balanced scorecard

Cybernetic approach to management, or so called hard systems approach, treats the company, or in fact any organization, as a stand-alone system, having the following features:

• The ability to self-steering and self-organization,
• Maintaining a steady state, i.e. immunity to changes in environment (to certain level)
• The ability to retrieve information, material and energy from the business environment.

Advantages of cybernetics approach in management

Treating the company as a standalone system allows the in-depth interpretation of the information and decision-making process carried out by the appropriate organizational units and positions. The purpose of this process is the appropriate control and regulation of processes in the enterprise. Process of controlling involves various economic values​​, and is based on the following assumptions:

• The characteristics that describe the operation of enterprise (economic metrics) should be quantifiable, that is expressed in a quantitative manner,
• There should be clearly defined ways of defining and measuring goals
• For each economic indicator, there should be given the reference value, which can be a constant within the specified time, or have certain course of variation (stimulant or destimuli).

See also:

• System approach to project management‎

References

• Ashby, W. R. (1956). An introduction to cybernetics
• Boulding, K. E. (1956). General systems theory-the skeleton of science. Management science, 2(3), 197-208.
• Kast, F. E., & Rosenzweig, J. E. (1972). General systems theory: Applications for organization and management. Academy of management journal, 15(4), 447-465.
• Wiener, N. (1948). Cybernetics. Paris: Hermann.