Angela Espinosa

A complexity approach to sustainability – Stafford Beer revisited

Abstract There is wide acceptance of the need for a more holistic approach to sustainability. However, practical solutions remain elusive and tend to exhibit underlying conflicts between different paradigms and their associated methodologies. This paper argues the need to wield analytical tools that themselves embody the principles of systemic, ecological thinking. We present here a theoretical framework based on complexity science – focused on organisational and second order cybernetics – that highlights our understanding of the concept of sustainability. The paper goes on to reflect upon how current practice would benefit from such an approach.

Management Science Methodologies in Environmental Management and Sustainability: Discourses and Applications

This paper investigates and discusses the use of systemic methodologies (SMs) developed in management science/operational research (MS/OR), in particular, those SM that have been informing the complexity inherent in environmental management and sustainable (EM/S) practices. By surveying a sample of the top MS/OR and systems journals, we assess the extent to which systemic management science methodologies developed recently have been used in tackling EM/S problems. Titles and abstracts of EM/S applications published in MS/OR and systems journals between 1989 and 2009 were queried for the occurrence of typical keywords associated with a set of SMs (eg, complexity theory, systems dynamics, soft systems, critical systems, viable systems model). The survey identifies a set of articles representing the practice of either a particular methodology or of a mixture of various SMs in EM/S setting. By assembling and critically reviewing a sample of applications in EM/S the paper hopes to raise awareness among environmentalists, operational researchers and management scientists of the benefits of using systemic approaches developed in MS/OR and, in this way, to encourage further exchange and conversation between these fields of management.

Beyond hierarchy: a complexity management perspective

Purpose – This paper aims to contribute to current research on complexity management by re‐visiting Beers paradigm on control and self‐organization and explaining its usefulness to support non‐hierarchical organizations and networks and its complementarities to new development in complexity sciences.Design/methodology/approach – The paper explains the current crisis of hierarchical structures and then summarises new proposals on non‐hierarchical organizations from the perspective of complexity sciences. It then summarises Beers provenance of control and, in particular, the ideas of requisite variety and meta‐systemic management. It explains how these ideas transform the way of approaching management and presents examples of real‐life businesses transformed by following this approach.Findings – The analysis highlights limitations in current management theory and practice that can be overcome by embracing the paradigm of control suggested by some of the pioneer cybernetitians. It shows that the model has ...

Complexity management in practice: A Viable System Model intervention in an Irish eco-community

While soft OR tools offer specific solutions to manage complexity in organisations, little is known concerning soft OR tools to deal with self-organisation in communities. This paper describes an action research project where the authors facilitated a process of self-organisation in a developing Irish eco-community whose members operate in a non-hierarchical, and cooperative fashion. We used the Viable System Model as a hermeneutical enabler of the community learning process concerning their self-organisation: by embedding VSM distinctions, they redesigned their primary tasks and developed meta-systemic management tools to deal with the complexity they were facing. Observations of the dynamics of the self-organising process over a period of 3years show the community designed their roles and tasks more effectively, improved the connectivity of roles, and in general, their viability and sustainability. We reflect on the distinctiveness of the methods used, and their contributions to research in soft OR in community projects.

A cybernetic re‐evaluation of socio‐economic development programs

Purpose – To explore the usefulness of the cybernetic approach to support development programs by offering a theoretical framework that helps us to re‐understand development and measuring systems.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a summary of Beers theory for organisational development and measuring systems, shows examples of application in design and implementation of socio‐economic development programs in Colombia, and uses them to explore the usefulness of the approach in this field.Findings – Analysis of the reported examples shows a clear indication of the usefulness of Beers approach to design and measure development programs. It reveals an important field for applied research that could benefit from further applications of the approach.Research limitations/implications – The experiences analysed here showed the strength or alliances between government, universities and development agencies, for applied research. It makes clear that more long‐term oriented projects are required to f...

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT REVISITED: LESSONS FROM A CYBERNETIC INTERVENTION IN COLOMBIA

Stafford Beers Viable System Model offers a tool of great power with direct relevance to environmental problems. This article introduces the model and, through a recent application in the Colombian Environmental Sector, shows how this approach offers new possibilities to diagnose and deal with environmental problems of enormous complexity. It discusses the inadequacies of traditional approaches to environmental management, which tend to be restricted to the use of existing political systems. This example might serve as an inspiration for practitioners looking for new tools to progress towards more adaptive organizations in the environmental sector.

A systemic look at educational development programs: two perspectives on a recent Colombian experience

There has been considerable agreement among researchers and practitioners, working on development issues, that unless we improve the education infrastructure in less‐developed countries they will never be able to improve their development indices. Innumerable educational reform programs in many different countries, over the last century, have been driven by this aim but few have had the desired impact on local educational systems in terms of coverage, quality and equity. Taking as an example a project recently undertaken in Colombia, we argue in this paper that a significant reason for this may well be the inappropriate theoretical paradigms and methodological approaches underpinning the majority of educational reform programs.

A methodology for supporting strategy implementation based on the VSM: A case study in a Latin-American multi-national

Soft OR tools have increasingly been used to support the strategic development of companies at operational and managerial levels. However, we still lack OR applications that can be useful in dealing with the “implementation gap”, understood as the scarcity of resources available to organizations seeking to align their existing processes and structures with a new strategy. In this paper we contribute to filling that gap, describing an action research case study where we supported strategy implementation in a Latin American multinational corporation through a soft OR methodology. We enhanced the ‘Methodology to support organizational self-transformation’, inspired by the Viable System Model, with substantive improvements in data collection and analyses. Those adjustments became necessary to facilitate second order learning and agreements on required structural changes among a large number of participants. This case study contributes to the soft OR and strategy literature with insights about the promise and constraints of this soft OR methodology to collectively structure complex decisions that support organizational redesign and strategy implementation.

Team syntegrity and democratic group decision making: theory and practice

Stafford Beer created Team Syntegrity as a methodology for social interaction that predisposes participants towards shared agreement among varied and sometimes conflicting interests, without compromising the legitimate claims and integrity of those interests. This paper outlines the methodology and the underlying philosophy, describing several applications in a variety of countries and contexts, indicating why such an approach causes us to re-think more traditional approaches to group decision processes, and relating Team Syntegrity to other systems approaches.

Complexity approaches to self‐organisation: a case study from an Irish eco‐village

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to reflect on results of recent research about the self‐organisation (SO) of communities that aim to regenerate and/or improve their sustainability, also to reflect upon methodological and epistemological issues related to the application of complexity approaches to support SO in communities and in general, social enterprises.Design/methodology/approach – The paper summarises recent research findings on SO and self‐transformation in communities using a combination of complexity approaches. It describes the methodological framework used to conduct action research about the self‐transformation and learning of a European eco‐community and reflects about the approaches used and lessons learned.Findings – This research confirms the complementarity between two approaches to complexity management: the viable systems model from S. Beer, a pioneering approach to managing complexity in institutions, and complex adaptive systems, a more recent approach to deal with SO in organi...