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Problemistics - Problémistique - Problemistica
The Art & Craft of Problem Dealing
Monitoring
Monitoring plans (Fremont E. Kast and James E. Rosenzweig)
Monitoring plans (William H. Mitchel)
Monitoring plans (H. J. Blackham)
Monitoring as control (Stafford Beer)
Monitoring as control (Fremont E. Kast and James E. Rosenzweig)
Monitoring as control (Union of International Associations)
Monitoring as control (C. West Churchman)
Levels of control (G. Vickers)
Types of control (Fremont E. Kast and James E. Rosenzweig)
Elements of control (J. Brian McLoughlin)
Elements of control (Fremont E. Kast and James E. Rosenzweig)
Information and control (Stafford Beer)
Information and control (W. Ross Ashby)
Variety and control (Stafford Beer)
Regulation (W. Ross Ashby)
Planning and control (J. Brian McLoughlin)
Dispersed control (George Chadwick)
Dispersed control (George Chadwick)
Variables (Andreas Faludi)
Indicators (Michael Carley)
Scanning (George Chadwick)
Equity, efficiency, effectiveness (Michael Carley)
[1979, Third Edition] Fremont E. Kast and James E. Rosenzweig, Organization and Management, McGraw-Hill
“Plans for repetitive and nonrepetitive activities are transmitted to the operating system and to storage in the coordination and control systems for later comparison with operating results (coordinative and operating levels).” (p. 356)
“Plans result from decisions and provide feedforward information to guide subsequent behaviour. Control decisions (to adjust tactics and/or goals) rely on feedback information that allows comparison of expected and actual results.” (p. 417)
[1973] William H. Mitchel in Stanford L. Optner ed., Systems Analysis
“For the expanded planning process to be successful, some measure of its achievement, as well as information on the environment in which the plan is to become operative, becomes a continuing requirement; feedback is an essential of planning.” (p. 320)
“Communication of output (performance) for processing and modification of input (control) are elemental to the feedback concept.” (p. 320 footnote)
[1963] H. J. Blackham in J. ChristopherJones and D. G. Thornley eds., Conference on Design Methods
“The plan initiates a course of action which produces events experienced by the agent, in the light of which he modifies the plan; so that, in a sequence of phases, the plan is continuously initiating action or being modified by the results of action; and this modification is not merely a more efficacious employment of means to an originally intended end (a continuous adjustment on the feedback principle), but also a modification of the end in view, a revision of intention, a recasting of desires, a development in understanding.”
(quoted by L. S. Jay, p. 15)
[1967, First Published 1959] Stafford Beer, Cybernetics and Management
“... the word ‘control’ will normally mean ‘a homeostatic machine for regulating itself’.”
"... it is possible to detect the key idea that underlies control. This idea is called feedback."
(Chapter IV, p. 28)
[1979, Third Edition] Fremont E. Kast and James E. Rosenzweig, Organization and Management, McGraw-Hill
“Organizational control is that phase of the managerial system that monitors performance and provides feedback information that can be used in adjusting both ends and means. Given certain objectives and plans for achieving them, the control function involves measuring actual conditions, comparing them to standards, and initiating feedback that can be used to coordinate organizational activity, focus it in the right direction, and facilitate the achievement of a dynamic equilibrium.” (Chapter 18, p. 446)
[1986, Second Edition] Union of International Associations eds. Encyclopaedia of World Problems and Human Potential, K. G. Saur, München
Control: “Means whereby courses of action are chosen and kept so as to reach goals (in the case of positive control) or to escape threats (in the case of negative control).” (KC0930)
[1979, First published 1968] C. West Churchman, The Systems Approach, Dell Publishing, New York
“... control does not only mean the examination of whether plans are being carried out correctly; it also implies an evaluation of the plans and consequently a change of plans.” (Chapter 3, p. 46)
[1976, Second edition] G. Vickers in F. G. Castles et alii (editors), Decisions, Organizations and Society
“Level 1. Control BY RELEASER. The realm of innate response qualified by
Level 2. CONTROL BY RULE. The realm of conditioned response amplified as logical and heuristic powers develop, to create the often conflicting level of
Level 3. CONTROL BY PURPOSE. The realm of know how, generating a volume and variety of choice which is unmanageable without
Level 4. CONTROL BY NORM. Comparison by match and mis-match signals generated by hypothetical as well as actual course of events with tacit standards which define their acceptability. This level breaks down so soon as norms cease to be relatively stable and universally held unless it is supported by
Level 5. CONTROL BY SELF-DETERMINATION. A process both individual and social which depends essentially on ethical debate and reflection about changing norms and values and on the policy making which both expresses and generates that debate.” (p. 141)
[1979, Third Edition] Fremont E. Kast and James E. Rosenzweig, Organization and Management, McGraw-Hill
“For stable-mechanistic systems the control process can be relatively fixed, programmed, and hierarchic, with emphasis on impersonal means (such as rules and procedures) and external control of participants. For adaptive-organic systems, the control process should be flexible, dynamic and reciprocal, with emphasis on interpersonal contacts (such as suggestion and persuasion) and participant self-control.” (Chapter 18, p. 456)
[1973, First Edition 1969] J. Brian McLoughlin, Urban and Regional Planning
“There are four common features of all control:
1. The system to be controlled.
2. The intended state or states of the system.
3. A device for measuring the actual state of the system and thus its deviation from the intended state.
4. A means of supplying correcting influences to keep the system within the limits set.”
(Chapter 4, p. 85)
[1979, Third Edition] Fremont E. Kast and James E. Rosenzweig, Organization and Management, McGraw-Hill
“Control involves following up to check actual versus expected results and initiating corrective action when it is called for.” (p. 439)
"The basic elements of a control system [are]:
1) A measurable and controllable characteristic for which standards are known (ends/goals/output; means/processes/behaviour);
2) A means (sensory device) of measuring the characteristic (a sensor);
3) A means of comparing actual results to standards and evaluating differences (a comparator);
4) A means of effecting changes in the system in order to adjust the pertinent characteristic (an effector)."
(p. 446)
[1967, First Published 1959] Stafford Beer, Cybernetics and Management
“According to cybernetic theory, the amount of control exerted on a situation is proportional to the logarithm of the amount of information freely available within it.” (Chapter XXI, p. 224)
[1956] W. Ross Ashby, An Introduction to Cybernetics. Chapman & Hall, London
“The quantity of regulation that can be achieved is bounded by the quantity of information that can be transmitted in a certain channel.” (Chapter 10, p. 195)
[1967, First Published 1959] Stafford Beer, Cybernetics and Management
“Only variety in the control mechanism can deal successfully with variety in the system controlled. This vital conclusion must be adopted as an axiom in the process of destroying the variety of (that is, controlling) complex systems. The principle has been named by Ashby the Law of Requisite Variety.” (p. 50)
[1956] W. Ross Ashby, An Introduction to Cybernetics. Chapman & Hall, London
“An essential feature of the good regulator is that it blocks the flow of variety from disturbances to essential variables.” (p. 201)
“The blocking may take place in a variety of ways. Two extreme forms are:
- interposing something that acts as a simple passive block to the disturbances (static defence);
- defence by skilled counter-action - the defence that gets information about the disturbance to come, prepares for its arrival, and then meets the disturbance, which may be complex and mobile, with a defence which is equally complex and mobile.” (p. 201)
"In practice, the question of regulation usually arises in this way : the essential variables E are given, and also given is the set of states h in which they must be maintained if the organism is to survive. These two must be given before all else. Before any regulation can be undertaken or even discussed, we must know what is important and what is wanted. ” (p. 219)
[1973, First Edition 1969] J. Brian McLoughlin, Urban and Regional Planning
“... the planner is trying to control the outcomes of a large number of actions which result in a continuous flow of change through time. It follows then that the control mechanism must be continuous. In other words, the ‘action’ phase of the cycle is a permanent feature of planning.” (Chapter 5, p. 101)
[1971] George Chadwick, A Systems View of Planning, Pergamon Press, Oxford
“The multiplicity of decision points in the system must mean that the control function is also dispersed: in other words systems of the sort we are interested in, especially social systems, can be and are modified from within. They tend to resist change imposed from the outside, like all self-regulating systems: cf. Forrester’s analogy (1970) of the thermostat which is set too high: if we open a window to cool the room down, the thermostat will turn the heat on again to maintain the set temperature; we must adjust the error function control within the system to produce the result desired, rather than try to modify the environment of the system.”
(Chapter 15, p. 352)
[1976, First published 1973] Andreas Faludi, Planning Theory, Pergamon Press, Oxford
“Three types of forces operate on the environment: control variables, constraints and unknown variables.”
(p. 88)
“Where the control variables are dominant, the subject is in command;
where the constraints dominate, the subject merely adapts;
where the unknown variables dominate, the subject drifts, waiting for the first clues from the environment, so that he can form an image of the situation.
Clearly, any real-life situation is a mixture of all these, and, consequently, the subject’s reaction to it will also be a mixture of control over the environment, adaptation to it, and search for more clues in his effort to cope with uncertainties.” (p. 73)
[1980] Michael Carley, Rational Techniques in Policy Analysis, Heinemann Educational Books, London
“Carlisle (1972, p. 26) distinguishes:
(1) Informative indicators which are intended to describe the social system and the changes taking place within it. These are social statistics subject to regular production as a time series and which can be disaggregated by relevant variables.
(2) Problem-oriented indicators which point towards policy situations and actions on specific problems.
(3) Programme-evaluation indicators which are operationalized policy goals to monitor the progress and effectiveness of policy.”
(Chapter 11, p. 177)
[1971] George Chadwick, A Systems View of Planning, Pergamon Press, Oxford
“Be sure to scan at set intervals in full, overall review even if everything seems alright, because:
a) a major danger not previously visible in earlier scanning may now be seen a few increments ahead.
b) a better strategy might now be possible though ruled out earlier.
c) the goal may have been realised and no further incrementation needed now.”
(Chapter 14, p. 339)
[1980] Michael Carley, Rational Techniques in Policy Analysis, Heinemann Educational Books, London
Equity
"[Refers to] the distribution of benefits, costs and opportunities among society."
Efficiency
"... concerns the relationship of inputs to the direct programme, or intermediate, outputs. (p. 63)
Effectiveness
“Looks at programme objectives and tries to gauge the degree to which they have been attained as a result of the programme activity.” (p. 65)