A black box is a model of a system whose **inner workings are not open to examination**. The workings of a black box may be studied or inferred by varying the inputs and analyzing the outputs. Some black boxes, such as captured enemy code machines or machines used in electrical engineering applications, are literally black boxes. It is very useful to **regard most living systems and organizations as black boxes** because they cannot be taken apart for study and retain their identity as wholes. Their inputs and outputs can be observed or manipulated and their activities thereby predicted, influenced or directed.
In organizational settings the observer or manager may have partial knowledge of what is going on within a particular unit. It is helpful to regard these as 'muddy boxes' because the* view 'inside' will inevitably be affected by the purpose of the observer and by channel capacity limitations on the perception of that system's variety.
In management, subordinate units will be either black or muddy boxes to the upper level manager if he or she manages them at the appropriate level instead of attempting to do the job of the manager one or more levels down. **In the absence of an algedonic signal the inside workings of a black box should not be subjected to scrutiny or interference. Their outputs are the proper focus of concern and their inputs may be adjusted to attain the desired outcomes.**
# SOURCE Ashby, R. (1956). Introduction to Cybernetics. London: Meuthen & Company. Ashby, R. (1960). Design for a Brain. London: Chapman and Hall.
# EXAMPLES • a baby • a computer to a layman • a work group • a voluntary organization • a market for a product • a seed
# NON-EXAMPLES • a simple mechanism • the organizational level in which you are embedded • a computer to its designer • a game
# PROBABLE ERROR • Working at too low a level of detail so that the variety reduction capabilities of the black box model go unused • Assuming the black box is really transparent to anyone as clever as you
# SEE Algedonic signal; Variety; Model; Information