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Stafford Beer and the legacy of Cybersyn: seeing around corners

Allenna Leonard (Cwarel Isaf Institute, Toronto, Canada)

Kybernetes

ISSN: 0368-492X

Article publication date: 1 June 2015

380

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the legacy of Stafford Beer and the continuing implications of his work on Cybersyn and the models and tools he used and explored during the project and in his later work.

Design/methodology/approach

Description of Stafford Beer’s work on Cybersyn and examples of its present day applicability.

Findings

The values and tools associated with the Cybersyn work in Chile continue to be relevant for the challenges of the present and an example of an approach to management structure and practice that serves both efficiency and humanity.

Originality/value

The value of this work is to contribute to the history and future possibilities of the ideas and tools pioneered in the Cybersyn project by Stafford Beer and others and their broader context in organizational cybernetics.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics for sponsoring the Conference From Disruption to Reparation at which this paper was delivered and to the University of Ibague in Colombia for hosting the Conference.

Citation

Leonard, A. (2015), "Stafford Beer and the legacy of Cybersyn: seeing around corners", Kybernetes, Vol. 44 No. 6/7, pp. 926-934. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-02-2015-0045

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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