Sustainable Self-Governance in Businesses and Society offers a sound introduction to Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model (VSM) and clarifies its relevance to support organisational sustainability and self-governance. While the VSM has been known since the early 1980s, it hasn’t been always easy to understand and to apply. It explains the self-transformation methodology to analyse the way organisations manage (or not) their complexity and govern themselves.
The work is supported by multiple examples of application in organisations of all scales – from small to multi-national corporations and from organised social networks to communities and national organisations. It clarifies the relevance of Beer’s theory to support systemic learning and change in organisations, and to coach them to self-organise and self-govern.
Readers interested in further understanding insights from complex systems and cybernetics theories for designing and transforming organisations will benefit from this book, as it works to offer very detailed insights on how to put the VSM theory into practice. It clarifies how it improves adaptive capabilities, agile and self-regulated structures, more capable of fully implementing corporate sustainability strategies and self-governing themselves. The chapters provide key reading for managers, consultants, practitioners, and post-graduate students working in organisational transformation, governance, and sustainability.
By:
Angela Espinosa
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Weight: 1.320kg
ISBN: 9781032354972
ISBN 10: 1032354976
Series: Systems Thinking
Pages: 286
Publication Date: 19 December 2022
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Figures List of Tables Preface Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations List of Contributors Introduction 1. Towards Self-Governed Businesses and Societies Systems, Complexity, and Cybernetics Sciences Organisational Cybernetics Complex Systems Sciences Complexification in the 21st Century Understanding Complexity (and Variety) What is Complexity and Variety? Organisational Elements (O, M, E) Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety Viability vs Complexity Management Managing Variety and Learning Organisational Learning and Development Managing Complexity in Organisations Why We Need to Evolve Towards Sustainable Self-Governed Organisations Summary 2. Organisational Viability (and Sustainability) The Need for More Resilient Organisations and Societies What is a Viable and Sustainable (v&s) Organisation? The Physiological Inspiration The Viable System Model System 1 (S1) System 2 (S2) System 3 (S3) S3: Generating Synergies Aligning Meta-Systemic and Operational Management Complementarity of S3 and S2 Roles The Control Dilemma System 3* (S3*) System 4 (S4) System 5 (S5) The Recursive Viable System Theorem Managing Complexity: Organisational Principles Responsible Autonomy Self-Regulation Adaptation Self-Governance Sustainable Self-Governance Leaving Behind Earlier Critics of the VSM 3. A Methodology to Support Self-transformation Towards Viability and Sustainability On VSM Methodologies Developing the Self-Transformation Methodology (STM) The Ontology of the Observer The STM: A Systemic Methodology to Facilitate Organisation Learning On VSM Epistemology The Self-Transformation Methodology in a Nutshell Designing and Starting a v&s Project Agreements on Organisational Identity Rich Pictures - The Organisational Landscape Statement of Organisational Identity Recursive Analysis VSM Preliminary Diagnosis Mapping the Viable System of the System in Focus Doing a VSM Preliminary Diagnosis Complete VSM Diagnosis Mapping v&s Roles and Mechanisms Identifying and Mapping Diagnostic Issues Assessing System 1’s Interactions The Inside and Now (Systems 1, 2, and 3) The Outside and Then (Systems 3, 4, and 5) Aligning Strategy, Structure, and Information Systems Aligning Strategy and Structure Strategic Information Management Self-Transformation Projects and Plan Monitoring and Assessing Performance Team Syntegrity Summary 4. Towards More Resilient and Healthier Organisations and Societies Organisational Health, Resilience, and Self-Governance Early Alarms from the COVID-19 Pandemic Towards More Resilient Individuals Representing an Individual as a Viable (and Sustainable) System Towards More Viable and Sustainable Individuals Early Alarms to Businesses v&s Towards More Resilient Businesses Case study – M*Clean (with A.C. Martinez) Towards More Resilient Health Providers Preliminary VSM Analysis of the NHS in England VSM Diagnosis of a Surgery Unit in a Local English Health Trust (with J. Walker and K. Grover) Conclusions 5. 'Fits like a Glove': The VSM for Supporting More Systemic Educational Organisations From Non-Systemic to Systemic Education and Educational Institutions What Is a Non-Systemic Approach to Education? Towards More Systemic Educational Institutions Self-Transformation of ELF – The Whole Story (with Jon Walker and Vladimir Pop) Clarifying the School’s Identity Recursive Analysis VSM Diagnosis Aligning Strategy, Structure, and Information Systems Self-Transformation Projects and Plan Monitoring and Assessing Performance Reviewing Elf’s Self-Transformation Designing TINTA, a Systemic Education Online Provider (with G. Ramirez) TINTA’s Approach to Systemic Education Agreeing on TINTA’s Identity Recursive Analysis - TINTA’s Primary Services Designing TINTA’s Organisation with VSM Criteria TINTA Coming to Life: First Self-Assessment Systemic Education in Higher Education Institutions Systemic Management in Universities around the World Magdalena University (v&s) Case Study Self-Transformation of Educational Institutions - Post-COVID-19 6. v&s in Organisational Networks Complex Organisational Systems as Social Networks The Rise of Social Networks (21st Century) What is a v&s Network? Background Research on VSM and Social Networks Example: A v&s Industrial Network Designing a State-Owned Enterprise on a Complex Environment (with A. Al Hinai and J. Walker) Complexity Challenges to Design a National Broadband Network VSM Design of the OBC VSM Design Social Network Analysis Five Years Later Redesigning a Latin-American 2nd Generation Broadband Network (with M. Giraldo and J. Walker) The N2BN Identity Recursive Analysis VSM Diagnosis Aligning Strategy and Structure Designing Strategies for Supply Chain Integration at the UK Offshore Wind Industry (with Julija Danilova) Analysing SCI with the STM VSM Findings Suggested Reorganisation Strategies Learning from the Research Dilemmas of Self-Governance in Organisational Networks 7. Sustainable Self-Governance Contemporary Approaches to Governance Traditional Approaches to Governance Collaborative Approaches to Governance Sustainable Self-Governance (v&s) Towards Sustainable Self-Governance A Framework to Assess Sustainable Self-Governance Example: Sustainable Self-Governance in a Socio-Ecological System Assessing Self-Governance in an Indigenous Community in the Amazon (with C. Duque) Background on Their Governance Structures VSM Analysis of Their Governance Structures Learning from the v&s Project (by C. Duque) Sustainable Self-Governance in an Afro-Caribbean Community (with C. Duran) Past and Present of the Orika Community Council (OCC) Assessing Sustainable Self-Governance at Orika Learning from the Case Study (by C. Duran) Conclusions 8. Facilitating Systemic Change with the VSM Systemic Change: What It Is and How It Can Be Done The Cybersyn Project Strategic Information Management at the Colombian President’s Office (1990-1992) Re-Engineering the National Auditing Office (NAO) in Colombia Redesigning the NAO The Model of the State Implementing the ‘Systemic Auditing Process’ Learning from the Project Monitoring the Impact of National Programs to Reduce Poverty in Colombia Redesigning the National School System (NSS) in Colombia Developing the National Environmental System (NES) in Colombia The Relevance of Beers’ Legacy to Facilitate Systemic Change The Need for Massive Systemic Changes to Improve Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic 9. An Idea Whose Time Has Come Lessons on Using the VSM for Sustainable Self-Governance Developing VSM-Related Methodologies and Tools VSM and Multimethodology VSM and Team Syntegrity Addressing Traditional Criticisms to the VSM VSM Research Landscape Conclusions Index
Angela Espinosa is Emeritus Fellow at Hull University Business School, University of Hull, UK.
Reviews for Sustainable Self-Governance in Businesses and Society: The Viable System Model in Action
Lots of people have been waiting for this book. Angela Espinosa is a noted authority on organisational cybernetics and worked closely with Stafford Beer. Her work deepens our understanding of the 'viable system model' and offers significant insight into how best to use it in practice. - Professor Michael C. Jackson, OBE It is a pleasure to recommend this book that brings multiple applications of the Viable Systems Model (sometimes combined with other systems approaches) to practical problems in society. Too often, new methodologies remain within academia and their potential goes unrealized but this book gives numerous examples of work that combines an empathetic approach to people trying to make their institutions work while maintaining the rigor of the science behind them. - Dr. Allena Leonard, Cybernetician, Director Team Syntegrity International, President Metaphorum. Former President of the American Society for Cybernetics and the International Society for the Systems Sciences The functioning of our society depends strongly on the functioning of its organizations. Angela Espinosa's book, based on great application experience, shows in a practical way how to apply the Viable System Model so that we can finally make organizations work, however complex and dynamic their environment. A must read for all leaders dealing with organizational issues. - Dr. Martin Pfiffner, Board of Trustees Fondation Oroborus
