Delegated Autonomy in Multi-Agency Viable Systems: Social and Systemic Factors During Crisis

Abstract Autonomy is essential for the emancipation and viability of systems and empowers individuals and teams to make decisions and act with flexibility and agility. This becomes particularly significant in volatile environments, where rapid decision-making is particularly important for system responsiveness. The viable system model (VSM) advocates maximum operational autonomy as a fundamental condition of viability. Having autonomy structured in a system is core to a viable design. While ensuring operational autonomy is core for effective response in complex and volatile environments, the paper explores through a case study some reasons why autonomy may not be exercised properly in the middle of a crisis. It does so by analysing the factors that influence how delegated autonomy is perceived and exercised in a multi-agency emergency response system during its operations. It does so by analysing qualitative data collected in a UK county that responded to a major disaster. The findings suggest that discrepancies resulting from systemic and social factors such as identity, values, ethos, and risk aversion created difficulties for operational teams in responding autonomously. The paper offers three contributions to VSM First, it provides insight into the importance of including social awareness and systemic analysis in viability diagnosis to ensure its practical value. Second, it suggests ways to deepen this type of analysis and further clarify the VSM theory about challenges to developing operational autonomy. Third, it contributes to the discourse on system emancipation in soft OR by showing the significance of multi-methodological diagnosis that it includes, in addition to structural diagnosis, identifying conflicts among systems elements as well as human interactions and interpretations.