Enterprise Architecture Cybernetics and the Edge of Chaos: Sustaining Enterprises as Complex Systems in Complex Business Environments

摘要

The purpose of this paper is primarily theoretical -to propose and detail a model of system evolution, andshow its derivation from the fields of EnterpriseArchitecture, cybernetics and systems theory.Cybernetic thinking is used to develop a 'Co-evolutionPath Model' to explain how enterprises co-evolve withtheir environments. The model is re-interpretingStafford Beer's Viable System Model, and also usesConant and Ashby's theorem of the 'good regulator',exemplifying how various complexity managementtheories could be synthesised into a cybernetic theoryof Enterprise Architecture - informing management ofmechanisms to maintain harmony between theevolution of the enterprise as a system and theevolution of its environment.