AI our hero!
At last, a technology to set us free and be more human
Back in the last century, Stafford Beer was actively promoting his Viable Systems Model as a means to create agile, adaptive organisations, however big they might become.
He argued that any organisation (or even a nation) would be more effective if it were to be
- composed of autonomous, effective, and agile subsidiary organisations,
- highly connected to each other, and
- cohesively operating with shared ethos, purpose, processes, and technologies.
(thank you, Dr Angela Espinosa for this succinct summary).
Compelling logic that if good decisions are made as close as possible to customers (or, if we are looking at nations, citizens), much bureaucratic waste is eliminated, and the organisation can adapt quickly to changes in the environment.
So why has this not been more influential in designing our organisations? There may be two categories of factors:
- emotional: we want to keep decision making power at the centre; we can’t believe that people in touch with customers can make ‘right’ decisions; we remain fearful that a decentralised structure won’t work and
- rational: we don’t have the systems and processes that can enable front line decision making; it’s too difficult to switch from our existing ways of working; what will our shareholders think?
With the explosion of technologies that has put more people in touch with more information than ever before, I would argue that absent a fundamental review of the way our organisations function, it will only be a matter of time before our big, powerful, organisations get replaced by good littluns!
Stafford’s mission was to eliminate what he saw as ‘work’ from the agenda which, in his view, means designing institutions that allow humans to use their full capacities as humans to regulate society, collectively and at scale. At the time (he died in 2002) his thinking was frustrated by poor, and centralised, information systems. His early work in Chile*, was reliant on telex machines (what are they, Granddad?) to transmit vital data for decision making; destined to fail from the start.
But how different this is now!
And that is why AI, properly embraced, will help us to reshape our organisations (and yes, society too). At last, we will be able to release our people from routinely following the corporate mantra and putting our brains on hold while we do the corporate bidding. Those middle order managerial jobs that involved receiving and responding to data will disappear and those displaced will be available to do those things that only humans can do: feel; serve; care. More effective roles across the whole organisation?
More rewarding careers will be available in those organisations that are focused on positive impact and ensuring that humans are engaged to achieve it, powered by AI to eliminate what might be seen as ‘work’.
It is why we have invested in an understanding of the Viable System Model and making the early steps of implementation as simple as possible.
*project Cybersyn, never completed, but with a control room envisaged as in the illustration.
