Special double issue: tribute to Stafford Beer

Citation

Rudall, B.H. (2004), "Special double issue: tribute to Stafford Beer", Kybernetes, Vol. 33 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/k.2004.06733caa.001

Special double issue: tribute to Stafford Beer

Special double issue: tribute to Stafford Beer

This special double issue is a tribute, in memoriam, to Stafford Beer, patron of this journal, President of the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC) and one of the leading cyberneticians and systemists of his generation. He was not only a great academic and thinker but a man of wide ranging interests and activities that are well-known to his friends and colleagues, but not necessarily to a wider audience. This issue, therefore, reflects in its tributes to him, his unique contributions not only in academia but also to society at large.

We would like to express our thanks to Professor Raul Espejo, the Guest Editor, and to his collaborators and contributors who have so painstakinly compiled this historic appreciation of Stafford Beer's life and work.

Many of the contributions included in this commemorative issue were based on presentations given at the event to celebrate his life held at the London School of Economics (UK) in March 2003 (Celebration of Stafford Beer's Life and Work, 2003). The aim of this event was as the organisers said in their invitation to the celebration:

Working in the traditions of Warren McCulloch, Norbert Wiener and Ross Ashby Stafford Beer created and developed organisational cybernetics. He grounded his inventions, among others the Viable System Model and Team Syntegrity, in his practice as a management scientist, most notably in the political project of the Chilean Government of the early 70s. He offered a cogent, compelling and enlightened account of this practice in writings such as Decision and Control, Brain of the Firm, Designing Freedom, Platform of Change, The Heart of Enterprise and Beyond Dispute. For us the challenge is to transform his legacy into a growing body of knowledge, contributing to the production of fair societies and organisations and sustainable environments. In this meeting we want to debate and clarify the challenge of this transformation.

We believe that this special combined issue of Kybernetes has not only presented a sincere tribute to Stafford Beer's life and work but also takes up this compelling challenge to all who knew him and his life's endeavours.

Readers may also know that we were able during Stafford Beer's lifetime to publish, with his participation, a Special Issue of this journal (Rudall, 1993) dedicated to him.

Brian H. RudallEditor-in-Chief