VARIETY ENGINEERING
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3736 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences |
The practical ways to make controls efficient in human systems.
S. BEER, who introduced the concept, states that “The manager is a variety engineer” (1979, p.39).
Variety engineering uses two complementary techniques: either reducing the impact of the environmental variety, or enhancing the variety of the system itself.
So-called cyberfilters (p.499-509) can be used to reduce the environmental variety admited by the system, while internal variety can be increased. Both processes should be applied at the different levels in the system: In subsystems in response to disturbances emerging from specific systems in the environment; and in the system as a whole connected to the general environment (R. ESPEJO, 1977).
The human aspects of variety (values, norms, attitudes, etc…) represent however a mined field for variety engineering.