The Heart of Enterprise

by Stafford Beer

"Stafford Beer is undoubtedly among the world's most provocative, creative, and profound thinkers on the subject of management, and he records his thinking with a flair that is unmatched. His writing is as much art as it is science. He is the most viable system I know."
― Dr Russell L Ackoff , The Institute for Interactive Management, Pennsylvania, USA "If...anyone can make it [Operations Research] understandably readable and positively interesting it is Stafford Beer...everyone in management...should be grateful to him for using clear and at times elegant English and ... even elegant diagrams."
― The Economist This is the companion volume to Brain of the Firm and addresses the nature of viable systems, those capable of surviving. It does not use the neurophysiological basis elucidated in brain, but develops the same theory from first principles. This book declares that every enterprise is a system, and in particular must be a viable system. Viability is not just a matter of economic solvency; we need laws that govern the capacity of any enterprise to maintain independent existence. The Heart of Enterprise is full of examples (actual, author-generated examples) taken from management practice. "I consistently find that Stafford Beer provides the most useful analytical framework for understanding and managing an enterprise--public or private. Heart of The Enterprise offers a demanding but rewarding exposition of his approach and applications."
― Sir Douglas Hague , CBE

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Science

582 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

First half of this book is amazing, but third part jumped the shark a bit, and last part was a bit of a bore. Part 2 though was a fascinating tour of the Viable System Model (much better explanation than in Brain of the Firm). Kind of totalizing stuff; impossible not to interpret the world via the VSM after reading this. Recommended for anyone interested in, well anything!

[Ed van der Winden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this the most enlightening of his books I've read so far. However, all is work is extremely important. Well written too, as a matter of fact.

[Sidney Luckett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stafford Beer has written numerous books on his Viable Systems Model. The VSM is a unique and interesting approach to organisational management but unfortunately one needs considerable fortitude to get through most of Beer's books. There is very good secondary literature available

[Sicofonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

With The Heart of Enterprise, Stafford Beer sets himself on the quest of further describing his Viable System Model (VSM), previously introduced in the excellent book Brain of the Firm. I shall start by quoting Beer directly:
This book does not pretend to make managerial discoveries or to offer prescriptions, but only to elucidate how things are the way that we know them to be.
That should set the expectations of any reader willing to pick up this book, even the ones who may already be familiar with Beer's previous works.
Divided in four parts, of five chapters each, the book starts by covering the usual cybernetic concepts Beer makes use of (e.g. variety, recursion, feedback, etc.). Then it goes into explaining the VSM by introducing us to each of the five subsystems of which is made, from a theoretical standpoint. It follows with some practical notes on measuring the performance of the subsystems, planning activities in a recursive context, or looking deeper at what viability really means for an organization.
Lastly, the book ends with chapters dedicated to case studies drawn from Beer's own engagements as a consultant. These have different degrees of detail, the most interesting one being about a mutual insurance company that Beer supported over the course of several years.
I have to say, after reading the excellent Decision and Control and Brain of the Firm I felt a little underwhelmed with The Heart of Enterprise. The former two books can be described as technical. Decision and Control borrowing heavily from Operational Research, Brain of the Firm exploiting neurocybernetics to the fullest to describe VSM. This volume, The Heart, it's in my humble opinion, far too philosophical. Sure enough, there are references to the cybernetics concept that underpin Stafford Beer's thinking, but I got the impression that Beer digressed many times in the narration. Moreover, at the end of each chapter there's a section called Later in the bar, where various fictional characters discuss the content of the chapter that just ended in a somewhat lightly way. It's supposed to be a cybernetic trick whereby the folks at the bar represent the meta-system the book is par of. I couldn't help but think it was an unnecessary addition to this text.
However, by the end of the book I started to appreciate more the different angle it has compared with Brain.  Beer brings his intellectual prowess to bear in full swing, his critique of the gigantic bureaucracies that let us down, time and again, is one that never gets old.
As an aside, in the case study I have mentioned in this review, Beer displays his uncanny ability as a visionary, when he elaborates on the revolution of the microprocessor could bring to the insurance industry. In 1979, when the book was published, this was nothing short of science fiction. Beer was able to foresee how the major advances in computer engineering would allow industries like insurance to take advantage of this to be able to “reduce the variety” of potential costumers massively at lightning speed. Thus, saving companies time and money when it came to meeting with customers and selecting a suitable policy for them. Today, we take for granted buying a policy from the comfort of our chairs at home, using a smartphone or a laptop. 

[Dondi Ligon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my springboard to systems architecture. I like the "Brain of the Firm" and "Decision Control," too.