International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

Efficient planning requires some conditions which are not frequently respected:

- a knowledge as complete as possible of the system or organization whose transformation is sought, i.e. a good understanding of the interrelations between subsystems and ongoing processes

- the understanding that linear solutions cannot work satisfactorily for long time in complex nonlinear systems.

- a sufficient knowledge of the environment-system correlations

- the understanding of the stability and metastability conditions to which complex systems are submitted, as well as the possibility of unforeseen (chaotic) behavior.

- a good estimation of the limits to forecasting and of the probability of wider deviations with time, with, if possible, an evaluation of such possible deviations.

St. BEER expresses forcefully the following cybernetic view of planning: "Planning should be continuous and adaptive. Societary plans should continuously abort, and be recast, before they give birth to a monster. If this is true, there is no need to base them on the predictions that no-one can correctly make in any case, but only on the analysis of an unfolding situation in which every decision constrains future variety. In that statement the unpopular notion of planning is turned on its head, and deserves to become popular again… We can make, rather than prophesy, the future" (1974, p.91).

Of course we would be able to "make" a satisfactory future (i.e. acceptable for everybody) only if we avoid a number of traps, as for example authoritarianism, ideological biases, underconceptualization, and even the ignorance of our own ignorance about the deeper reason of an unsatisfactory situation that we seek to better.

E. JANTSCH proposed two basic rules for purposeful organization or planning, corresponding to the above conditions: "1) Make structures as flexible as possible, so that it can be changed by emergent changes in the interaction of processes; and 2) identify and enhance evolutionary processes of change, recognize and respect their self-bounding nature" (1976, p.63).

Shortly, wishful, authoritative and rigid attitudes in planning should be avoided, as well as unwarranted simplifications.

This implies however a question mark about warranted ones. G. VICKERS stated: "Some simplification there must be, and therewith much exclusion and distortion". We thus need criteria for satisfactory simplification as, "The more crudely simplified the objective the more efficiently it is likely to be pursued" (1967, p. 65).

However, trading global fitness for unilateral efficiency becomes more than once a devilish pact, whose future cost may be high and bitter, as already proven in many cases.

See: Approach (The ten commandments of the systemic).