Anthony Stafford Beer

The system of transportation is not coherent; it is not treated as integral. Roads compete with with railroads and airlines in chaotic…

— Anthony Stafford Beer

Management problems are not respecters of the company organization, nor of the talents of the people appointed to solve them.

— Anthony Stafford Beer

Instead of trying to specify a system in full detail, specify it only somewhat. You can then ride on the dynamics of…

— Anthony Stafford Beer

A slowly moving queue does not move uniformly. Rather, waves of motion pass down the queue. The frequency and amplitude of these…

— Anthony Stafford Beer

It is terribly important to appreciate that some things remain obscure to the bitter end.

— Anthony Stafford Beer

The purpose of a system is what it does. There is after all, no point in claiming that the purpose of a…

— Anthony Stafford Beer

Policy-making, decision-taking, and control: These are the three functions of management that have intellectual content.

— Anthony Stafford Beer

The strategies that managers employ are at least as important as the facilities at their disposal.

— Anthony Stafford Beer

If cybernetics is the science of control, management is the profession of control.

— Anthony Stafford Beer

It is the concept of likelihood that a real understanding of probability resides, and we must learn how to measure it.

— Anthony Stafford Beer

There is, then, a logical priority about the arrangements, and logic has nothing to do with time.

— Anthony Stafford Beer

According to the science of cybernetics, which deals with the topic of control in every kind of system (mechanical, electronic, biological, human,…

— Anthony Stafford Beer

A stochastic process is about the results of convolving probabilities-which is just what management is about, as well.

— Anthony Stafford Beer

Certain management policies-stretching of credit resources, for example-may lead to great progress in good conditions; but, like the Grand Prix car in…

— Anthony Stafford Beer

Too close a view may interfere with one's grasp of an overall problem or concept.

— Anthony Stafford Beer