It should be noted that within the framework of the general theory of systems, a new area of ​​modern science has emerged - cybernetics, as one of its branches. The cybernetic approach solves system problems using mathematical and other formal methods.

This led to the emergence of new systemic concepts, such as "inputs and outputs", "hierarchy", "model", "self-regulation", "vector", "matrix", etc., which can be used to describe an almost limitless set of processes.

Cybernetics has emerged as a science of processes and control relationships that are built on the basis of a specific program and represent a way to implement it. This means that above a functioning system there is always something that contains in one form or another the general scheme of the corresponding process. This "something" is in the proper sense a control system, where the heterogeneity (different quality) of the object's connections provides a variety of forms of control.

The initial ideas of cybernetics were outlined in the historical article by A. Rosenblatt, N. Wiener, J. Bigeolow "Behavior, purposefulness and teleology" (1943). It was the first to show the fundamental unity of the problems of communication and control in nature and technology. The main idea of ​​N. Wiener, expressed in his book, published in 1948, “Cybernetics or Control and Communication in Animal and Machine”, is that one can speak about living organisms in the same language as about purposeful machines. A formal general scheme arises, which allows not only to talk about behavior in terms of systems as a whole, but also makes it possible to dynamically explain this behavior. Such a scheme leads to the general concept of a controlled (purposeful) system, which does not depend on whether such a system exists in a “live” form or not. Thus, cybernetics embraces systems of varying quality without being interested in the properties of the material from which they are made, unless it affects the organization. Further, Wiener showed that both animals and machines could be included in a new and larger class of things. He considered their distinguishing feature to be the presence of homeostatic and management systems, the science of which he called "cybernetics" (the art of the helmsman). The functioning parts of a properly functioning machine or organism maintain balance, homeostasis of the entire system. So, about animals (including man) and about machines, it turned out to be possible to speak in the same language, which is suitable for describing any "expedient" systems.

Cybernetics in the study of real systems seeks not just to describe them with the help of formal systems, but to use such a description to help understand (explain) how real systems work. This is usually done by building efficient and dynamic models, breaking down the way they function into algorithmic procedures. A feature of modeling is that, unlike hypotheses, models in it do not compete, but complement each other. In this way, they make it possible to study multidimensional phenomena with the help of a set of low-dimensional representations. With the help of computers, models are built as probabilistic pictures of the world, replacing deterministic ones. This means that, in addition to the real, the researcher also has access to the possible, which is not closely related to the observed facts. This point is heuristic in nature: the researcher has the opportunity to consider much more situations than they actually exist, and predict options for future scenarios.

At the same time, negative feedback, as it were, makes the behavior of the system tend to the prescribed limit (models as prototypes) and, therefore, there is nothing absurd or supernatural in the fact that the behavior of the system is determined by

rather the future than the past state of it. With this understanding, teleology (purposefulness) quickly ceases to be a scarecrow for the biological and social sciences.

The cybernetic method as an intellectual procedure for cognizing reality can be considered as a method of analogies. As an example, we can give a block diagram 3, - the application of this method in the study of models proposed by A. Mol. This diagram, resembling a block diagram of a computer program, reflects the various stages of cybernetic research. The latter begins with finding an analogy, which is then subjected to a certain number of restrictive conditions, characterized by the following features.

1. The creator of the model starts by finding a speculative construction, an image of some reality, and examines how justified it is. Then the researcher formulates the conclusions arising from this representation and checks the compliance of at least some of them with the observed reality and the facts collected by specialists in this field.

2. The researcher proceeds to establish how far the analogy he is considering is far from reality. He must understand why it is exactly the way it is (insufficiently complete correspondence to the real facts, false, etc.). To do this, the researcher must intellectually

Discipline your intuitive thinking to introduce an explication: interpretation, replacement of an inaccurate image, concept, symbol with a more accurate one.

3. Raising the image under consideration to the rank of analogy (analogy model), the researcher checks it: do the phenomena that he temporarily took into account have such a large “weight” that it is necessary to make significant adjustments to the image of the main phenomenon. In this way, he establishes the degree of heuristic value of the given analogy (the materiality test situation). If this situation occurs, then the discovered value is evidence of the value of the underlying image.

4. Now the researcher establishes the scales (for example, statistical values) under which this analogy is valid. At the same time, the limits of variability of these values ​​(validity area) are also established, beyond which the phenomenon under study changes its character and needs other types of analogies that precede structural studies at other levels.

5. Next, the researcher develops an analogy in relation to the main area. At the same time, at all stages, he strives to reduce the description to mechanisms, the real examples of which he knows and which he is able to model in all details. The researcher, as it were, "cleanses", simplifies them and does this, in particular, with the help of schemes, graphs of the type that are used by programmers to express procedures implemented on a computer.

6. The formulation and detailed description of the proposed model constitute the first result obtained with this approach. The latter serves to integrate different concepts, "simplify" thought, thanks to which a large number of disparate entities is reduced to a small number of elementary entities in accordance with Occam's principle: "Entities should not be increased unnecessarily." The applied models (mathematical, graphic) provide a significant compression (coding) of information and the possibility of "using it to describe a wide class of phenomena. Such a description is, finally, a means of qualitatively characterizing the phenomenon under study and a means of influencing it, i.e., a tool for mastering reality.

7. At the same time, consideration of the model immediately raises some questions that require answers and clarifications. This contributes to further experimental work, a new search for facts.

So, the desire to create generalizing theories and teachings led to the emergence of a systematic approach associated with the transition to a structural-functional study of various social systems from the point of view of the functions they perform in relation to a broader whole. This predetermined two of its basic principles.

1. Identification of the structure of an object as a kind of invariant that characterizes the principles of the structure of this object.

2. Functional description of this structure.

At the same time, the merit of T. Parsons lies in the fact that he connected these principles for the study of social systems, developed the cybernetic idea of ​​the general in the universe.

Cybernetic approach to the definition of information
One of the most interesting approaches to the analysis of the phenomenon of information is the modern cybernetic approach. But it is well known that one of the first ancient thinkers and theorists who used the term cybernetics was Plato. Plato's idea about the connection between the art of management and the philosophical, fundamental characteristics of reality was, apparently, found almost intuitively.
It is known that the term cybernetics was used by A. Ampère and sociologists and did not have a broad philosophical and theoretical meaning. Today, this philosophical-cybernetic approach, despite its various criticisms, has the right to exist, since it has not exhausted itself completely, its new variants are possible.
Cybernetics, in its original meaning as the art of control, was formed in the 20th century as an interdisciplinary scientific direction that studies control processes in complex systems.15
Such systems include systems of various levels of organization - biological, social, sociotechnical. With the appearance in 1948 of the work of N. Wiener "Cybernetics or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine", the idea of ​​the cybernetic approach gained its distribution and its critical analysis. As is known, Wiener largely used the already established theory of automatic control in systems with feedback. The theory of automatic control developed in the 19th-20th centuries and was reflected in the works of Maxwell, Vyshnegradsky, Lyapunov. Developing further the main central, meaningful idea, Wiener, using Ampère's assumption, gave the ideas of cybernetics an even broader philosophical sound, a more universal semantic spectrum of meaning, linking together the studied problems of communication and control in various systems. In many ways, the philosophical-cybernetic approach expresses the statistical idea that information has a probabilistic nature, information is a function of probability.
The cybernetic approach made it possible to designate, in addition to the traditional aspects of the essential aspects of information, a new important aspect related to the special role of information in the system management process. As a result of applying this approach, a general cybernetic model has been identified, which is of great importance in the process of forming more specific cognitive models.
Consideration of the cybernetic evolution of systems necessarily affects the informational aspect. Cybernetic models of information have made it possible to identify important aspects of this complex phenomenon, first of all, an important aspect identified is that there is always a relationship between management processes and the corresponding information content.
Cybernetic methodology has various implementation options. The cybernetic way of analyzing structural relationships has various options, not all of which necessarily generate scientifically valid options. But in general, the cybernetic approach has intensified the study of the patterns of control of various systems, including social ones. The possibility of building social projects based on the laws of information-cybernetic patterns was realized in many different options and sub-options.
The initial cybernetic model turned out to be promising only to a limited extent, but, of course, its merit and positive side lies in the fact that it made it possible to emphasize the problem of the information model of artificial intelligence.
Let us consider the main features of the cybernetic model of information. The initial non-strict semantic meaning of the term "information" in cybernetics has the meaning of diversity, limited diversity, in this approach, information is understood as a measure of the uncertainty to be eliminated, as a measure of the probability of events arising in the control process. Actually for philosophy, the cybernetic version of the essence of information was, in fact, of secondary importance against the background of the development of a broader idea of ​​“organizing control” as an objectively real attribution of forms of being as a whole or a functional reflection. This is what largely explains a certain philosophical skepticism in relation to the role and significance of the cybernetic method of revealing the essence of information in general. Respectively. In this approach: information is a means through which the function of control, organization of real forms of matter is carried out.
In this regard, it should be noted that the idea of ​​information reflects the principle underlying all the methods of "organizing management" is closely interconnected with the systems approach.
At the beginning of its creative development, in the 50s of the 20th century, cybernetics was mainly considered from the standpoint of certain possibilities for modeling control processes. In the future, the term "cybernetics" underwent some refinements, a slightly different term "general systems theory" began to be used.
It should be noted that the general systems theory was formed as a mathematical and theoretical cybernetics, which significantly influenced the nature of its understanding and application. At the same time, in addition to the term "cybernetics", one can find the use of the term computer science as applied cybernetics. Development in the works of A.I. Berg and V.M. Glushkov's theoretical and mathematical cybernetics made it possible to make an important positive step forward in domestic science, as a result of which it becomes possible to use automated control systems in practice. The works of the talented Soviet mathematician A.N. Kolmogorov played a great role.
Information theory, which was formed due to the need to solve practical problems of communication theory, was originally considered as a branch of mathematics that studies the processes of storing, transforming and transmitting information. The basis of this approach is a certain way of measuring the amount of information, establishing the main boundaries of the capabilities of information transmission systems. This further defines the initial principles for their development and practical implementation. The core of such information theory is the establishment of properties of information measures and their application to the analysis of information transmission systems.
A fixed change indicates that there is a moment when information appears. No change indicates a relative lack of new information, or a complete lack of information. In the broadest sense, change and immutability are two dialectical aspects of the existence and non-existence of informational reality.
Communication theory, interpreted as the theory of information communication, should be applied to study the information structures of society. Thus, general philosophical studies of complex socio-informational structures will be able to reach a new level of comprehension and understanding of the informational nature of socio-cultural mechanisms.
Indeed, many properties of information can be described using mathematical models that allow one to establish an important aspect of the measure of information. It is the mathematical model that allows in many respects to accurately and definitely reflect the characteristic features of the information measure. The informational measure can also be understood on an intuitive level, but this is clearly not enough for the scientific characterization of information. And such an approach in a certain range is practical and expedient. Its shortcomings begin to appear when there is a need for a broader cultural analysis of the ongoing information transformations of the structure of modern society.
The importance of a philosophical understanding of the integral essence of the informational worldview is manifested from the simplest analysis of the fact, which is known as a precedent for inadequate ideological and scientific assessment of the prospects for the positive development of cybernetics in the USSR. By itself, this fact showed the following important and significant pattern, which cannot be ignored today, consisting in the following two interrelated provisions:
firstly, a full and adequate awareness of the possibilities of the information development of society opens up new prospects for sociocultural and technological progress;
secondly, underestimation, misunderstanding of the opportunities and prospects for the development of new areas of the information worldview is a negative factor that determines the real lag in the pace of practical development of specific technologies, which, in turn, affects the pace of social development.
The formation of new philosophical and theoretical models of the information space is not always immediately recognized and understandable for those categories of scientists who are not able to quickly adapt to new information categorical-semantic ways of thinking.
Many important achievements of cybernetics were taken into account in the development of the theory of reflection; many fundamentally important provisions of the cybernetic analysis of information were expressed by the theory of reflection in the structural integrity of its main direction. Deep, in its internal semantic potential, is the transition from isomorphic to homomorphic logic of consideration of the structural-information matrix.
The concept of information can be built on the defining criterion of diversity. Uniformity and diversity in their relationship determine the structural dimension of information, information space. Uniformity is the initial information state, which has the ability to further change and transform, transform into diversity, giving a certain set of states to the corresponding information space. In this respect, it should be noted. Monotony - diversity is the characteristics of information as a real form of being, characterizing its structure. Respectively. Defining the essence of information through the features of its structural organization, it is not possible to identify the most significant features that completely determine its essence. But at the same time, of course, these properties act as important features of the nature and structure of information in general.
Considering the problem of the structural dimension of information, the comparability of these concepts is manifested - "structural dimension" and "information". The question arises: is it possible to identify these concepts?
On the one hand, the concept of "structural dimension" is a specification of the concept of "information". A specific type of information always has a certain structural dimension of the relationships that have arisen. On the other hand, the structural dimension of relationships is information. Information is a structural dimension of relationships.
The meaningful relative coincidence of these concepts at the same time allows us to distinguish between their differences.
The structural dimension of relationships forms the phenomenon of "information" as a holistic definite phenomenon, the complexity of these relationships forms multiple versions of existing information.
The general pattern is that
a more multi-valued relation is more capacious due to the increase in the dimension of the information-potential structure.
The more ambiguous the relation is, the more the multiple structure of the informational message increases.
In such an approach, the following proposition can be formulated: information theory is a theory of the structural dimension of various forms of organization, is a theory of a universal structural-dimensional relationship.
Consider Wiener's understanding of the idea of ​​information. Wiener's understanding of the idea of ​​information is the result of investigative reflection.
from various aspects of this phenomenon. Considering various aspects of the complex nature of information, he resorts in this regard to
comparison of natural information as a kind of code. He writes that scientific discovery consists in interpreting the system of existence.
The understanding of the “idea of ​​information”, as Wiener calls it, was not complete and systematic. The whole cybernetics has grown on the basis of raising one of the possible ways of understanding the nature of information to the level of a systemic basis, which turns out to be metaphysical in its methodological constructions.
The information capacity of organizational relationships that generate a system of stable relations is manifested as the relationship between the organizational structure and the information stored in it. Information is the correlate of organization and indeed is a manifestation of the level of organization. On the other hand, an increase in the degree of organization is a manifestation of an increase in the amount of information.
The information organization of a system is not the same as the organization of information. Information can and must have a certain organization, depending on which its specific characteristics are determined.
In order to more specifically define the organizational nature of information, we introduce the terms "information organization", "information organizational structures".
Information is an organizational phenomenon, there is an information organization. Information organizational structures permeate the entire structure of reality. Information considered from the point of view of the principles of organization, orderliness, shows the corresponding characteristics. Information is an organizational phenomenon, it is the result and process of the emergence of certain forms of organization. Accordingly, there can be as many types of information as there are forms of organization.
Information theory, interpreted as a theory of organizational structures, can also be considered as a management theory. The theory of cybernetics has caused a powerful development of applied and theoretical areas in control theory, which are considered in relation to various specific special objects, make it possible to clarify in detail the general idea and scheme, reflecting the universal pattern, which consists in the unity of information and organizational structures, which, through their management, really , exhibit informational characteristics of reality.
The principle of managerial consideration of the nature of information, the information essence of reality is a manifestation and continuation of the principle of organizational understanding of the nature of information. Management in this case is considered as a condition and a means of emergence of organizational forms of the existence of organizational structures. Control mechanisms are the ontological side of the real process, the causal element of the action of which leads to the transformation of information structures.
Information theory in this sense is a cybernetic concept of the interconnection and interdependence of the informational and organizational aspects of reality. An attempt to develop and disclose the phenomenon of information within the framework of the cybernetic approach was initially limited by the fact that the fundamental essential provisions of cybernetics as such were not disclosed. And it is quite surprising that in the works devoted to this problem, often no serious research analysis of the essence of cybernetics was given at all, while considering the phenomenon of information in itself.
The relationship between control theory and information theory makes it possible to note the phenomenon of information as a measure of the structural organization of reality. And this approach can be called the structural-organizational concept of information.
Considering the term "information" only as an element constituting the theory of control interferes with a complete philosophical understanding of the cybernetic laws of reality. On the other hand, within the framework of information theory, concerns were expressed about the real danger of giving a universal meaning to cybernetic terms, including the term "information".
In many respects, the limitation in serious philosophical literature of the logical continuation of the cybernetic understanding of reality has led to a misunderstanding of the general, universally cybernetic patterns at a higher theoretical level.
The structural organization of an object, the structural-cybernetic organization of reality can and should be important characteristics, the identification of which occurred precisely due to the identification of general organizational-informational cybernetic patterns. It is clear that it is unacceptable to identify the phenomenon of information with the phenomenon of structure or with the organization of objects. Such an identification would be too incorrect due to the fact that the
the parties, with their actual relative coincidence, and the relationships only to a relative extent, turn out to be identical.
Information can be considered as a disjunctive structure, and information can be said to have a disjunctive structural organization. Disjunctively implicative inference underlies the binary open structure of information formation, where a possible consequence of an equally probable strict disjunction can be taken as a unit of a certain amount of information, that is, for one structural bit.
On the other hand, the retrostructural organization of information reality can be identified. Consideration of the possibility of a retrospective study of socio-historical reality has always been mainly based on the assumption that within the framework of modernity there are carriers of information about the past. That is, there are various information carriers in which information about pre-existing objects is stored in a certain way.
Considering this principle from a universal point of view, there arises the possibility of a retrospective informational study of all reality. The existing world in the course of its existence records information about its past. The past does not disappear absolutely, it takes the form of information filmed, in a certain way recorded on material carriers in the structure of their state, which under certain conditions can be read out, manifested.
If there are artificial information carriers, then it can be assumed that there are natural information carriers. In this case, information about the past really exists and is transmitted from one time state to
subsequent.

Cybernetics- the science of the general laws of control in nature, society, living organisms and machines, studying information processes associated with the control of dynamic systems. Cybernetic approach- study of the system based on the principles of cybernetics, in particular, by identifying direct and feedback links, studying control processes, considering the elements of the system as some kind of "black boxes" (systems in which only their input and output information is available to the researcher, and the internal structure can be unknown).

Unlike the analytical approach, which models the internal structure of the system, the "black box" method models the external functioning of the system. Thus, from the point of view of the experimenter, the structure of the system (model) is hidden in a black box, which imitates only the behavioral features of the system.

In the cybernetic approach, information models are studied, which differ in the type of requests to them: modeling the system's response to external influences; forecast of the dynamics of system change; optimization of system parameters in relation to a given value function; adaptive system control.

Cybernetics and general systems theory have much in common, for example, the representation of the object of study in the form of a system, the study of the structure and functions of systems, the study of control problems, etc. But unlike systems theory, cybernetics practices an informational approach to the study of control processes, which singles out and studies in the objects of study there are various types of information flows, methods of their processing, analysis, transformation, transmission, etc. Under management In its most general form, we understand the process of forming a purposeful behavior of a system through informational impact produced by a person or a device. There are the following management tasks:

Task goal setting(determination of the required state or behavior of the system);

Task stabilization(keeping the system in its current state under disturbing influences);

Task program execution(transfer of the system to the required state under conditions when the values ​​of controlled variables change according to known deterministic laws);

Task tracking(ensuring the required behavior of the system under conditions when the laws of change of controlled variables are unknown or change);

Task optimization(holding or transferring the system to a state with extreme values ​​of characteristics under given conditions and restrictions).

From the point of view of the cybernetic approach, IS management is considered as a set of processes for the exchange, processing and transformation of information. The cybernetic approach represents IS as a controlled system (Fig. 2.4), which includes three subsystems: a control system, a control object and a communication system.

Rice. 2.4. Cybernetic approach to IS description

The control system together with the communication system forms control system. The communication system includes a direct communication channel through which the input information ( x) and a feedback channel through which information about the state of the control object is transmitted to the control system ( y). Information about the controlled object and the environment is perceived by the control system, processed in accordance with a particular control goal, and transmitted to the control object in the form of control actions. The use of the concept of feedback is a distinctive feature of the cybernetic approach.

Main groups of functions of the control system are:

Functions decision making or functions information content transformation are the main ones in the control system, are expressed in the transformation of the content of information about the state of the control object and the external environment into control information;

- routine information processing functions do not change the meaning of information, but cover only accounting, control, storage, search, display, replication, transformation of the form of information;

System-cybernetic approach and information

The above model of the genesis of the control mechanism corresponds to the cybernetic approach to the analysis of complex dynamic systems. The main thesis of classical cybernetics is that control in both machines and living organisms is carried out in a single way - according to the feedback principle. Feedback implies that the system has a specific goal and regular reconciliation of intermediate, current states (outputs) of the system to correct behavior. In a more general sense, cybernetics is understood as the science of the main principles of control, understood as the organization of purposeful actions by processing information. A feature of the cybernetic approach is that it was used to study only systems for which the concept of a goal is defined, which is necessary for any cybernetic model.
A cybernetic system is a purposeful system, many interconnected elements of which are capable of perceiving, remembering, processing and exchanging information.
Any social system can be attributed to the class of cybernetic systems. Such systems have special system properties. Their study constitutes the most important task of organization theory.
A cybernetic system can be represented as two interconnected subsystems: control and controlled. The subsystems are in constant interaction: the control subsystem transmits commands and signals to the controlled object, which, in turn, sends information about its current state. As has been repeatedly emphasized, the most important feature of a cybernetic system is feedback and, as a consequence, self-regulation and self-development. From the point of view of cybernetics, communication is a process of information exchange that regulates the behavior of systems (i.e. controls them).
It was cybernetics that revealed the role of scientific management in the life of society, especially in connection with social and environmental problems, established the commonality of the management mechanism for wildlife, technology and society, revealed the inextricable link between information and organizational processes. Cybernetics has defined the control mechanism as the core of the development of any system: thanks to control, the system, in the process of its development, conducts constant “anti-entropic” activity - it creates organizational order out of chaos.
The system-cybernetic approach is a methodological direction in the theory of organization, the main task of which is to develop methods for studying complexly organized objects - systems and explanatory mechanisms for their development.
The construction and development of explanatory models is one of the most important tasks of the system-cybernetic approach. It all starts with the collection and analysis of disparate facts, which make it possible to make certain generalizations and identify empirical (experimental) patterns; then proceed to the definition of mechanisms that implement these regularities. It can be argued that if there is some regularity confirmed by facts, then there are mechanisms that ensure the manifestation of this regularity, they must be cognizable, and therefore used. Knowledge of these mechanisms can help explain and predict the behavior of the system. It should be noted that the explanatory mechanism, like any model, has limited validity, it is valid for certain conditions. For example, the problem of the teachings of K. Marx is not in the positive knowledge established by this theory, but in the fact that its followers absolutized it, claiming its universality. The mechanism of natural selection explained most of the facts, empirically identified patterns of development of species. However, modern achievements in biology show that natural selection in the Darwinian sense is not able to explain many facts related to the evolution of species.
The system-cybernetic approach to the study of the behavior of complex systems assumes the unity of the processes that occur in a developing dynamic system: the accumulation of information, its selection and structuring, according to the goals of the system development, and the transition to a new level of organization:

The development of any organizational systems is based on the mechanisms of goal-setting and information. Although it would be more correct to say that all three pillars of cybernetics - information, goal-setting and structural organization underlie the process of development of any system and act simultaneously. If we want to establish a sequence, what came first - the goal, information or organization, then we will have to solve philosophical problems: what came first - the egg or the chicken?
Both in the processes of organizing living nature and in social systems, the goal acts as some anticipatory reflection of reality, as an expression of the future need of a cybernetic system. An analysis of biological, social and technical systems shows that the more relevant the target function, the more active, faster the process of obtaining and using information and the transition to a new level of organization. For example, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War in 1941 found the country unprepared for the transition to a qualitatively new level of organization. In an unthinkably short time, enterprises were selected and re-equipped for the production of weapons (assault rifles, machine guns, tanks, etc.). At the same time, structures that have a less urgent goal are pushed into the background.
So, the adjustment of the trajectories of the system development is carried out through the adjustment of the goals of the system, it is the goal-setting that determines the trajectory of the system development. Goals are inherent in any system. In living organisms, the main goal is to maintain stability, homeostasis. In natural systems, a clear hierarchy of goals is defined, there is a main goal - incorporation into biospheric cycles, incorporation of a system into a supersystem. Thus, natural systems fulfill one of the most important principles - the principle of co-development (co-evolution) of systems. Calculating many options using the accumulated structural information, the system selects those that meet the criteria for maintaining stability and consistency with the goals of the supersystem.
A range of goals emerge in social systems. In such systems, the elements (subsystems) are themselves systems that can have their own goals. And they, these goals of the subsystems, often do not coincide with the goals of the supersystem. The task of the supersystem is to ensure co-development with the subsystems. If the system is unable to ensure the co-development of the system and its own elements, a systemic crisis occurs. For example, when the elements of the system (industries, ministries, high officials) put their own interests above the interests of the system, a classic “systemic crisis” arises. The system approach obliges to correlate the goals of development of subsystems with the goals of the supersystem. For example, the technosphere nurtured by man should correlate its goals with the biosphere as its supersystem, fit its technologies into biospheric cycles in order to preserve the main characteristics of the natural environment and the human habitat.
However, modern "achievements" of man show that if the rest of the natural world lives according to the law of subordination to the external environment, its laws, then man, on the contrary, subordinates the environment to himself. Imagine that you, the manager of a company, instead of following the laws of the country in which you live, follow your own "laws" - what will happen to you and your company? You violate one of the most important system principles - the principle of system hierarchy. Hierarchy is not coercion, it is one of the most important laws of Nature.
Thus, the properties of elements (subsystems) are determined by the goals of the system itself. The system is able to reject those elements, those structures, the goals of which contradict its own. This is one of the most important system properties. In this process of building one's own structure, the role of information interactions between elements and the system, the system and its external environment is important.
The system would not be able to advance one iota in its development if it did not receive a continuous flow of information about the state of the external and internal environment. Information is the basic concept of cybernetics. The idea that information can be considered as something independent arose along with cybernetics, which proved that information is directly related to development and management, with the help of which sustainability and survival are ensured. There are many definitions of this term, they are sometimes complex and contradictory. The reason lies in the fact that many sciences deal with information, cybernetics is the youngest of them. Depending on the field of knowledge, information has received many definitions: information is a designation of the content received from the outside world in the process of adapting to it (Wiener); information is the negation of entropy (Brillouin); information - communications and communication, in the process of which uncertainty is eliminated (Shannon); information - diversity transmission (Ashby); information - originality, novelty; information - a measure of the complexity of structures (Mol); information - probability of choice, etc. Each of these definitions reveals different facets of one concept, but in all interpretations it assumes the existence of two objects: the source of information and the consumer of information.
Academician N.N. Moiseev refers the concept of information to the fundamental concepts, along with matter and energy. At present, information is already conceived as an environment that feeds the governing bodies, which they themselves create for future development in the form of various databases and data banks. As the structure of the organization becomes more complex, the role of information and information interaction increases.
The scientific cybernetic concept of information is largely abstracted from the content side of messages, considering their quantitative aspect.
The development of the scientific concept of information revealed a new aspect of the material unity of the world, made it possible to approach many processes that previously seemed completely different from a single point of view: the transmission of a telegraph text; work of the nervous system; driving; rocket launch control, etc. All this is connected with the processes of transmission, storage and processing of information. The concept of information played here a role analogous to the concept of energy, which also makes it possible to describe from a unified point of view the most diverse processes in physics, chemistry, biology and technology.
Two types of information should be distinguished: structural and operational (signal). Both types of information play a role in the process of self-organization of systems.
Operational, or signaling, information is always associated with the relationship of two processes, with "sending" and receiving a signal, with a transmitter and a receiver. In cybernetic systems, changes in the object B - receiver, signal acceptor, caused by the influence of A - transmitter, signal donor, are not only some characteristics of B, but become a factor in the functioning of the system precisely as carriers of signal information. Some authors, by analogy with energy, use the concepts of kinetic and potential information: kinetic information circulates in the process and, with the help of potential (structural) information, moves the development process.
Structural information characterizes the achieved level of organization of the system, or the measure of its organization. Information, accumulating, self-organizes into structures, begins to exist as if in a potential form, and the structure of the developing system itself (for example, rings on trees) can be a repository of structural information. It is the amount of structural information that determines the transition of the system to a new level of organization.
A new level of organization means the fact of the implementation of a new option selected by the system, the transition to a new level of homeostasis. The number of pieces of information grows from cycle to cycle, acquires a certain structure (hypotheses, theories, programs, inventions, etc.), such structures are the points of growth of a new organization - the phenomenon of development. Based on the accumulated information, according to the main development goals, the system selects the only option and rebuilds its structure; according to this new option: the system moves to a new level of organization.
So, the system-cybernetic approach to management means the unity of the processes of accumulation of information, its selection and structuring according to the goals of the system and the transition to a new level of organization. At the heart of development is the mechanism of governance. The system-cybernetic approach was adopted by the Western economy back in the 60s. of the past century. Numerous schools of organizational management have trained and prepared thousands of managers for practical work.
The incompetence of managers in our country can be traced at all levels of the hierarchy and turns into billions in losses for the country.

The cybernetic approach is that any goal-directed behavior is considered as control. Management - in a broad, cybernetic sense - is a generalization of techniques and methods accumulated by various sciences about the management of artificial objects and living organisms.

Management is understood as the process of organizing such a targeted impact on a certain part of the environment, called the control object, as a result of which the needs of the subject interacting with this object are satisfied.

The analysis of control makes it necessary to single out the trinity - the environment, the object and the subject, within which the control process is played out.

The analysis of control makes it necessary to single out the trinity - the environment, the object and the subject, within which the control process is played out (Fig.). In this case the subject feels the influence of the environment X and the object Y. If he cannot change the state of the X environment, then he can control the state of the object Y with the help of a specially organized action U. This is control.

The state of the object Y affects the state of the needs of the subject.

Subject Needs
Where - the state of the i-th need of the subject, which is expressed by a non-negative number characterizing the urgency, the relevance of this need.

The subject builds his behavior in such a way as to minimize the urgency of his needs, i.e., he solves the problem of multicriteria optimization:

(3.1)

where R - resources of the subject. This dependence expresses an unknown, but existing connection of needs with the state of the environment X and the behavior U of the subject.

Let -solution of problem (3.1), i.e., the optimal behavior of the subject, minimizing his needs A. A method for solving problem (3.1), which makes it possible to determine , is called the control algorithm

(3.2)

where  is an algorithm that allows you to synthesize control according to the state of the environment X and needs А t ,. The subject's needs change not only under the influence of the environment or object, but also independently, reflecting the subject's vital activity, which is marked by the index t.

The control algorithm , which the subject has, determines the effectiveness of its functioning in this environment. The algorithm is recurrent:

i.e., it allows us to improve the control at every step. For example, in the sense

i.e., reducing the level of their needs.

The management process as the organization of a purposeful impact on an object can be implemented both on an intuitive and on a conscious level. The first is used by animals, the second by humans. The conscious satisfaction of needs makes us decompose the control algorithm and introduce an intermediate stage - the formulation of the control goal, i.e., act according to a two-stage scheme:

At the first stage, the goal of management is determined
, and the problem is solved on an intuitive level:

,

where  1 is the algorithm for synthesizing the goal Z* according to the needs A t and the state of the environment X. At the second stage, the control is determined , the implementation of which ensures the achievement of the goal Z*, formed at the first stage, which leads to the satisfaction of the needs of the subject. It is at this stage that all the power of the formal apparatus can be used, with the help of which control is synthesized according to the goal Z *

where  2 - control algorithm. This algorithm is the subject of study of cybernetics as a science.

Thus, the division of the management process into two stages reflects the well-known aspects of science - informal, intuitive, expert and formal, algorithmic. If the first is still completely owned by a person, then the second is the object of application of formal approaches. Naturally, these different functions are performed by different structural elements.

The first function is performed by the subject, and the second by the control device (CU).

The management process is an information process that consists in collecting information about the progress of the process, transferring it to accumulation and processing points, analyzing incoming, accumulated and reference information, making a decision based on the analysis performed, developing an appropriate control action and bringing it to the control object. Each phase of the control process proceeds in interaction with the environment under the influence of various kinds of interference. Goals, principles and boundaries of management depend on the nature of the problem being solved.

Control system

A control system is a set of interacting objects of control and a control body, the activity of which is directed to a given control goal.

The control system solves four main control tasks: stabilization, program execution, tracking, and optimization.

The problems of system stabilization are the problems of maintaining its output values ​​close to some constant given values, despite the effect of interference.

The task of program execution arises in cases where the specified values ​​of controlled variables change in time in a known way.

In optimal control systems, it is required to perform the task assigned to the system in the best possible way under given real conditions and constraints. The concept of optimality must be specified for each individual case.

Before making a decision on the creation of an CS, it is necessary to consider all its stages, regardless of the technical means by which they will be implemented. Such an algorithmic analysis of control is the basis for making a decision on the creation of a control system and the degree of its automation. In this analysis, it is necessary to take into account the complexity factor of the control object:

    lack of a mathematical description of the system;

    stochastic behavior;

    negativity to management;

    non-stationarity, drift of characteristics;

    irreproducibility of experiments (the developing system all the time, as it were, ceases to be itself, which imposes special requirements on the synthesis and correction of the control object model).

The features of a complex system often lead to the fact that the goal of controlling such an object is never fully achieved, no matter how perfect the control is.

Control systems are divided into two large classes: automatic control systems (ACS) and automated control systems (ACS). In ACS, the control of an object or system is carried out without the direct participation of a person by automatic devices. These are closed systems.

In the process of designing a control system, 2 types of thinking are involved: analysis and synthesis.

Tasks of the analysis: determination of the stability and quality of the control process in the study of automatic control systems for given disturbances.

Synthesis tasks: determination of the parameters and structure of the controller under which the control process is provided that meets the specified technical requirements (given quality of control).

Analysis: Given a system with a given structure of parameters. It is required to determine its properties and characteristics.

Synthesis: The requirements that the system must satisfy are given. Determine the structure of the system and its parameters.

The purpose of the ACS design is to determine the configuration of the system, the requirements that it must satisfy, and the setting of the main parameters that satisfy the requirements for the system.

Requirements for the quality of a closed ACS:

    Good disturbance compensation

    Desired type of response (transient processes) to the setting input action

    Adequate output signals of the actuator

    Low sensitivity to changes in the parameters of control objects

    Restrictions on the magnitude of the steady-state error.

In contrast to the ACS, in the ACS, the control loop includes a person who is entrusted with the functions of making the most important decisions and responsibility for the decisions made. ACS is usually understood as human-machine systems that use modern economic and mathematical methods, electronic computing equipment (ECE) and communications, as well as new organizational principles for finding and implementing in practice the most effective control of an object (system).