Purpose

The purpose of this study is to use the power of organization cybernetics (OC) to design a flexible viable academic department that is at the risk of losing its viability because of the complexity of the educational environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed framework is developed based on Beer’s OC and the viable system model (VSM). This study adopts the guidelines for applying the VSM described by Stafford Beer and José Pérez Ríos.

Findings

The framework presents a comprehensive explanation of the essential functions of a viable academic department. In addition, it determines the basis for an inclusive redesign that can be used to maintain the department’s identity and viability as well.

Originality/value

Although there are many studies applying the framework of the VSM, in an educational context, most of them limited its usage to the evaluation of the viability of academic departments. They did not use the power of OC to design for systemic viability. Accordingly, the application of OC and the VSM, for the sake of designing a viable academic department, can be considered as highly original.

中文翻译：

---

提高学术部门的生存能力：组织控制论的力量

目的

这项研究的目的是利用组织控制论（OC）的力量设计一个灵活可行的学术部门，该部门由于教育环境的复杂性而有可能丧失其生存能力。

设计/方法/方法

所提出的框架是基于Beer的OC和可行的系统模型（VSM）开发的。本研究采用了Stafford Beer和JoséPérezRíos描述的VSM应用指南。

发现

该框架对可行的学术部门的基本功能进行了全面的解释。此外，它确定了包含性重新设计的基础，该重新设计可用于维护部门的身份和生存能力。

创意/价值

尽管有许多研究应用VSM的框架，但在教育方面，大多数研究将其使用仅限于评估学术部门的生存能力。他们没有使用OC的功能来设计系统的生存能力。因此，出于设计一个可行的学术系的考虑，OC和VSM的应用可以被认为是高度原创的。