Target setting, lean systems and viable systems: a systems perspective on control and performance measurement

• Published in: The Journal of the Operational Research Society 2007-11, Vol.58 (11), p.1503-1517
• Main Author: Gregory, A J
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: boundary critique; Business and Management; Business schools; Clerics; control; Cybernetics; Educational activities; Efficiency; Employees; Fast food; lean systems approach; Management; Motivation; Occupational stress; Operations research; Operations Research/Decision Theory; Performance evaluation; Performance management; performance measurement; Performance metrics; Public sector; Quality control; Quality standards; Reductionism; Research grants; Studies; System theory; systems; Systems approach; Theoretical Paper; Theoretical Papers; Viability; viable system model; Workers
• ISSN: 0160-5682; 1476-9360
• DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jors.2602319

The paper starts with a critique of the reductionist approach to control and performance measurement that emphasizes the parts of a system in isolation. The critique provides the basis for a shift in focus to a systems perspective that emphasizes the interactions between the parts of a system. It is argued that this shift is important because the behaviour of a system is a product of the interactions of the parts not the behaviour of the parts in isolation. Two systems approaches to control and performance management are compared and critiqued: Beer's viable system model and Seddon's lean systems. The paper concludes with the advancement of a model for control and performance measurement that not only integrates the work of Beer and Seddon but also compensates for the weaknesses in these approaches through the inclusion of a process of boundary critique.