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

PRODUCTIVITY as a systemic concept 1)

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As noted by R.O. MASON, the common concept of productivity is, from a systemic viewpoint quite questionable. It may refer to some material outputs of the system, or to some services the system offers to other systems, or in some cases to its own overall efficiency or even its survival capacity.

According to MASON: "Systemic productivity questions the design of the system itself: Is it living up to its maximum feasible potential? Is it doing what it ought to do to develop its resources and to pursue opportunities? In a disturbed, reactive environment these are the salient questions" (1979, p.17).

MASON moreover distinguishes between:

"Systemic output productivity (as) the ratio: Actual output divided by the maximal output that could be produced by the best alternative, feasible, designable and importable system of the same class", and…

"Systemic input productivity (as) the ratio: Minimal input resources that are required to produce a given level of output by the best alternative, feasible, designable and importable system of the same functional class divided by the actual input resource consumed to produce that level of output" (p.27).

MASON concludes: "Systemic productivity is an indicator of the long-run survival and viability of the system" (p.28).

The systemic concept of productivity is thus very close to thermodynamic efficiency of the productive system and should not be reduced to the idea of maximum possible productivity.

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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