THE USE OF CYBERNETICS IN ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT: AN ILLUSTRATION WITHIN AIR FORCE LOGISTICS COMMAND

The purpose of this paper is to show how cybernetic concepts can be used to guide organizational design and development activities. The intent of the paper is to demonstrate how a cybernetic model of a viable organization can be used to diagnose potential problems in existing organizations and serve to guide organizational development activities, For illustrative purposes, a case study of the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) is used to demonstrate how the cybernetic organizational model can be made operational in the “real world.” The paper is designed to show how this methodology can be used as a road map for integrating and guiding several initiatives which are underway to make AFLC more responsive in meeting potential wartime scenarios. This paper is organized in sections which: (1) describe AFLC mission responsibilities and organization; (2) identify current major problems; (3) describe and use a cybernetic organizational model to diagnose causes of current problems; and (4) develop some ob...