University of Vaasa - Vaasan yliopisto

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b. On the basis of the viable system model the activities under (a) can be
translated to functions in organizations and the relations between these
functions.
The VSM identifies the five functions and interactions between them which
are necessary and sufficient for the viability of an organization. These five
functions are: primary activities, coordination, control, intelligence and policy.
c. This (a and b) can be represented in a table (table 1). This table forms a basis
for a tool to implement the involvement of stakeholders in CR innovation
processes:
Sociotechnical
theory
Operatio
nal
regulatio
n
Strategic
regulatio
n
Regulation by design
Stakeholder activities
VSM S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7
Realization F1.primary
activities
Adaptation/
innovation
F2
Coordination
F3 Control
F3 Control X X X X X X
F4
Intelligence
X
X X X X X
F5 Policy X X
Table 1: Coupling of stakeholder activities to VSM functions and regulatory capacity
(sociotechnical theory).
Clarification of the table:
With regard to the activity ‘Issue-selection’ (issues in which to involve stakeholders)
one can determine which VSM functions are involved and in what manner (this is
derivable from the sufficient and necessary relationships between the functions of the
VSM model). For example, the activity S1 ‘Issue-Selection’ is part of the discussion
between the functions ‘Intelligence’ and ‘Control’ (F3-F4) and Policy (F5).