ORGANIZATION ( Good )
Charles François (2004). ORGANIZATION ( Good ), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2418.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2418 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Methodology or model |
Basing himself on a comment by ASHBY according to which the properties of constraints “are not intrinsic to the thing but are relational between observer and thing” (1968, p.109), W.R. WINBURN states: “This means that no organization can be good, useful, functional, etc., in any absolute sense; rather, such qualities are relative to the context or viewpoint of the observer. Yet, for any given context, we find that good organization is of the nature of a relation between the set of disturbances and the system's goals” (1991, p.562).
- “Good” seems here to express fitness. Still, our appreciation of fitness is always an observer's view. However, systems, well or ill organized, survive or perish independently of their observers. We need thus to sharpen our observation in order to limit discrepancies between what we see as “good” or “fit” and what it may be for the concrete system we are interested in.