Abstract
Chapter 6 starts the discussion of the strategic metasystem by analyzing the specific position of system 3 within the entire organization. System 3 is one of the organization’s essential gateways, and as such, it needs to combine two different perspectives: the operational as well as the strategic perspective. This makes it powerful but also exposes it to significant challenges. Another essential part of the strategic metasystem is system 4. Chapter 6 details why every organization needs a system 4 and is confronted with two different futures, for which it needs to develop different instruments and processes. This chapter tries to explore ways of how to confront the unknown future and discusses what kind of framework, environment, and processes are needed for creativity and innovation to develop in an organization.
You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
(Anonymous)
Innovation is anything, but business as usual.
(Anonymous)
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Notes
- 1.
All figures in this chapter related to the VSM are or contain if not stated otherwise adapted detail views from Beer (1995a: 136, Fig. 37). For the corresponding permission details, see the reference section at the end of this chapter.
- 2.
This does not exclude the use of innovation and creativity for the known future (see also Beer 1995b: 227).
- 3.
Stafford Beer called this part of system 4 its “model of itself” (1995a: 115). Since this may sound a bit too abstract for many readers, I searched for a more descriptive name of the actual process. I chose “Focus” following Beer’s own description (1995b: 242), where he calls this “mode of integration” as “focus” (see also the term “kernel of the focus” at ibid, 240).
- 4.
The term “imagination” is used intentionally, because it reminds us that all scenarios are, in the end and despite all the methodological rigor and the analytics applied to it, only built on the organization’s imagination.
- 5.
This quote is often attributed to Peter Drucker. In fact, it seems to come from the Nobel prize winners Dennis Gabor and Ilya Prigogine (s. quoteinvestigator.com).
- 6.
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Lassl, W. (2019). “Looking Outside”—The Strategic Metasystem (Part 1). In: The Viability of Organizations Vol. 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-12014-6_6
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