BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

HIERARCHY AS A NETWORK 2)

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B. WALLISER in no way opposes the concepts of hierarchy and network and he connects them in the following way:

"The notion of hierarchy evoques the image of an arborescent structure where various objects do have "vertical" relations, oriented toward an object on a superior level, various of these superior objects being in turn oriented toward another one, at a still superior level. It seems opposed to the image of a reticular structure, wherein objects have "horizontal" relations, sometimes very intricated, where loops do appaer in such a way that no precedences seem to exist. However, even in a hierarchy, objects which are connected to another one of superior level may have direct relations with each other. The nature and intensity of these relations may even contribute to the definition of the successive levels" (1991, p.71).

St. BEER examplifies such networks (which he calls "hierarchical stochastic networks", showing that they are more satisfactory representations of complex organizations that the classical "tree", because they show that hierarchic levels can be somewhat fuzzy and allow for some leeway in personal or institutional relationships (1968, p.194, fig.16).

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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