Update
Show Summary Details

Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD REFERENCE (www.oxfordreference.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2021. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 25 May 2022

Stafford Beer 1926–2002
English management cybernetician 

  1. absolutum obsoletum—If it works, it's out of date.
    ‘If it works, it's out of date’ already existed as a saying
    Brain of the Firm (1972)
  2. The purpose of a system is what it does.
    Diagnosing the System for Organizations (1985)