A view or perspective on the world
Messy Issues, Worldviews and Systemic Competencies January 2010 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-84996-133-2_6 In book: Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice Richard Bawden
(1) (PDF) Messy Issues, Worldviews and Systemic Competencies
feature piece:
An atlas of conceptual maps:
https://www.education.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/an_atlas_of_conceptual_maps.pdf?acsf_files_redirect
Beer, S. (1986). Recursions of Power. Power, Autonomy, Utopia, 3–17. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-2225-2_1
Sci-Hub | Recursions of Power. Power, Autonomy, Utopia, 3–17 | 10.1007/978-1-4613-2225-2_1
Link for comments etc – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YepFqiARZ8
This is a follow-up to my last week’s post – Notes on Regulation: In today’s post, I am looking at the Arvid Aulin-Ahmavaara’s extended form of the law of requisite variety (using Francis Heylighen’s version). As I have noted previously, Ross Ashby, the great mind and pioneer of Cybernetics came up with the law of requisite variety (LRV). The law can be stated as only variety can absorb variety. Here variety is the number of possible states available for a system. This is equivalent to statistical entropy. For example, a coin can be shown to have a variety of two – Heads and Tails. Thus, if a user wants a way to randomly choose one of two outcomes, the coin can be used. The user can toss the coin to randomly choose one of two options. However, if the user has 6 choices, they cannot use the coin to randomly…
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An Introduction to Systems Thinking for Tackling Wicked Problems – LnuPlay – Linnaeus University MediaSpace
Gerald said:
On 4 March 2021, I gave a seminar entitled ‘An Introduction to Systems Thinking for Tackling Wicked Problems’. This was in a series of seminars co-organized by the Linnaeus University Systems Community (Sweden) and the Centre for Systems Studies at the University of Hull (UK). 261 people participated. The feedback I received was overwhelmingly positive, and lots of people wrote asking if a recording would be made available. I have now been sent the recording, and the URL is pasted below. I have to say that nerves got to me in the first couple of minutes, as I wasn’t expecting several hundred participants, but then it gets more fluent after the ‘contents’ slide.Note that the URL below takes you to the Linnaeus University web site, and there is some text about the talk below the video screen. This is not visible at first sight – you have to scroll down. Please do so, as I have suggested a couple of books for you to read if you want to find out more. Here is the abstract for the talk:We are increasingly facing ‘wicked problems’. They are stubborn, challenging and often have to be managed rather than solved. They frequently involve interlinked issues, multiple agencies with different perspectives on both the problem and potential solutions, conflict over desired outcomes or the means to achieve them, power relations making change difficult, and uncertainty about the possible effects of proposed changes. While traditional scientific, policy and management approaches can make a useful contribution, we need something more than these if we want to gain a bigger picture understanding of how to act in the face of wicked problems. Systems thinking can help. In this talk, Gerald Midgley will introduce a framework of systems thinking skills, plus a variety of systems ideas and methods that can help people put these skills into practice. He will illustrate the use of the methods with a number of examples from his own social policy, natural resource management and community development projects in the UK and New Zealand. In this way, he will show how we can begin to get a better handle on wicked problems.
source:
An Introduction to Systems Thinking for Tackling Wicked Problems – LnuPlay – Linnaeus University MediaSpace
Consilience – Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to navigationJump to searchFor other uses, see Consilience (disambiguation).
In science and history, consilience (also convergence of evidence or concordance of evidence) is the principle that evidence from independent, unrelated sources can “converge” on strong conclusions. That is, when multiple sources of evidence are in agreement, the conclusion can be very strong even when none of the individual sources of evidence is significantly so on its own. Most established scientific knowledge is supported by a convergence of evidence: if not, the evidence is comparatively weak, and there will not likely be a strong scientific consensus.
The principle is based on the unity of knowledge; measuring the same result by several different methods should lead to the same answer. For example, it should not matter whether one measures the distance between the Giza pyramid complex by laser rangefinding, by satellite imaging, or with a meter stick – in all three cases, the answer should be approximately the same. For the same reason, different dating methods in geochronology should concur, a result in chemistry should not contradict a result in geology, etc.
The word consilience was originally coined as the phrase “consilience of inductions” by William Whewell (consilience refers to a “jumping together” of knowledge).[1][2] The word comes from Latin com- “together” and -siliens “jumping” (as in resilience).[3]
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Consilience – Wikipedia
Original Articles Ontological Designing Anne-Marie Willis Pages 69-92 | Published online: 29 Apr 2015 Download citation https://doi.org/10.2752/144871306X13966268131514
Ontological Designing: Design Philosophy Papers: Vol 4, No 2
available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272139246_Ontological_Designing
h/t @daviding
An important concept in systems, and also ‘post-pandemic’
What’s Hysteresis?
Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary tells us:hys-ter-e-sis:n [NL, fr. Gk hysteresis shortcoming, fr. hysterein to be late, fall short, fr. hysteros later]
a retardation of the effect when the forces acting upon a body are changed (as if from viscosity or internal friction); esp: a lagging in the values of resulting magnetization in a magnetic material (as iron) due to a changing magnetizing force. –hys-ter-et-ic adjThere seems to be no etymological link between hysteresis and either hysterical (fr. L hystericus of the womb) or history (fr. Gk, inquiry, history, fr. histor, istor knowing, learned). This is too bad, as there are scientific connections to both words. (There is no link, scientific or etymological, to histolysis, the breakdown of bodily tissues, or to blood.)
Hysteresis represent the history dependence of physical systems. If you push on something, it will yield: when you release, does it spring back completely? If it doesn’t, it is exhibiting hysteresis, in some broad sense. The term is most commonly applied, as Webster implies, to magnetic materials: as the external field with the signal from the microphone is turned off, the little magnetic domains in the tape don’t return to their original configuration (by design, otherwise your record of the music would disappear!) Hysteresis happens in lots of other systems: if you place a large force on your fork while cutting a tough piece of meat, it doesn’t always return to its original shape: the shape of the fork depends on its history.
source:
What’s Hysteresis?
Some really interesting references in here, particularly ‘interactions of actors theory’
Gordon Pask – Wikipedia
Andrew Gordon Speedie Pask (28 June 1928 – 29 March 1996) was an English author, inventor, educational theorist, cybernetician and psychologist who made significant contributions to cybernetics, instructional psychology, experimental epistemology and educational technology. Pask first learned about cybernetics in the early 1950s when the originator of the subject, Norbert Wiener, spoke at Cambridge University, where Pask was an undergraduate student. Pask was asked to be of assistance during Wiener’s talk.[1]
Holding three doctorate degrees, Pask published more than 250 journal articles, books, patents and technical reports from funding from United States Armed Forces, the British Ministry of Defence, the British Home Office and the British Road Research Laboratory.[2] He taught at the University of Illinois, Old Dominion University, Concordia University, Open University, University of New Mexico, Architectural Association School of Architecture and MIT.[3]
source:
Gordon Pask – Wikipedia
Transcending Psychosocial Polarization with Tensegrity Biomimetic clues to collective resilience and unshackling knowledge
Transcending Psychosocial Polarization with Tensegrity
an incomplete older website
Open source real-time reporting on the web
A commercial white paper on escalating alerts.
Under Development and for discussion…. Suggestions please!
Toward a generic alerting real time database A commercial white paper on escalating alerts. Under Development and for discussion…. Suggestions please! About
Open source real-time reporting on the web
classic Strategy& interview – https://www.strategy-business.com/article/00225?gko=32b8d – and source:
Dynamic Capabilities — David J. Teece
IN THE NEWSTHE SCHOLARPUBLICATIONSBIOGRAPHYDYNAMIC CAPABILITIESHAAS BUSINESS SCHOOL INSTITUTE FOR BUSINESS INNOVATIONTHE ENTREPRENEURBERKELEY RESEARCH GROUPTEECE FAMILY VINEYARDSVOMO ISLAND RESORTCONTACT
Dynamic capability is “the firm’s ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments” (David J. Teece, Gary Pisano, and Amy Shuen).
Dynamic capabilities can be distinguished from operational capabilities, which pertain to the current operations of an organization. Dynamic capabilities, by contrast, refer to “the capacity of an organization to purposefully create, extend, or modify its resource base” (Helfat et al., 2007). The basic assumption of the dynamic capabilities framework is that core competencies should be used to modify short-term competitive positions that can be used to build longer-term competitive advantage.
Watch Dr. Teece and others describe dynamic capabilities and strategy:
Processes
Three dynamic capabilities are necessary in order to meet new challenges. Organizations and their employees need the capability to learn quickly and to build strategic assets. New strategic assets such as capability, technology, and customer feedback have to be integrated within the company. Existing strategic assets have to be transformed or reconfigured.
Teece’s concept of dynamic capabilities essentially says that what matters for business is corporate agility: the capacity to (1) sense and shape opportunities and threats, (2) seize opportunities, and (3) maintain competitiveness through enhancing, combining, protecting, and, when necessary, reconfiguring the business enterprise’s intangible and tangible assets.
Learning
Learning requires common codes of communication and coordinated search procedures. The organizational knowledge generated resides in new patterns of activity, in “routines,” or a new logic of organization. Routines are patterns of interactions that represent successful solutions to particular problems. These patterns of interaction are resident in group behavior, and certain sub-routines may be resident in individual behavior. Collaborations and partnerships can be a source for new organizational learning, which helps firms to recognize dysfunctional routines and prevent strategic blind spots. Similar to learning, building strategic assets is another dynamic capability. For example, alliance and acquisition routines can enable firms to bring new strategic assets into the firm from external sources.
New assets
The effective and efficient internal coordination or integration of strategic assets may also determine a firm’s performance. According to Garvin (1988), quality performance is driven by special organizational routines for gathering and processing information, linking customer experiences with engineering design choices, and coordinating factories and component suppliers. Increasingly, competitive advantage also requires the integration of external activities and technologies: for example, in the form of alliances and the virtual corporation. Zahra and Nielsen (2002) show that internal and external human resources and technological resources are related to technology commercialization.
Transformation of existing assets
Fast-changing markets require the ability to reconfigure the firm’s asset structure and accomplish the necessary internal and external transformation (Amit and Schoemaker, 1993). Change is costly, and so firms must develop processes to find high-payoff changes at low costs. The capability to change depends on the ability to scan the environment, evaluate markets, and quickly accomplish reconfiguration and transformation ahead of the competition. This can be supported by decentralization, local autonomy, and strategic alliances.
Co-specialization
Over time, a firm’s assets may become co-specialized, meaning that they are uniquely valuable in combination. An example is where the physical assets (e.g., plants), human resources (e.g., researchers), and intellectual property (e.g., patents and tacit knowledge) of a company provide a synergistic combination of complementary assets. Such co-specialized assets are therefore more valuable in combination than in isolation. The combination gives a firm a more sustainable competitive advantage (Teece, 2009; Douma and Schreuder, 2013).
Asset orchestration
If capabilities are dependent on co-specialized assets, it makes the coordination task of management particularly difficult. Managerial decisions should take the optimal configuration of assets into account. Asset orchestration refers to the managerial search, selection, and configuration of resources and capabilities. The term intends to convey that, in an optimal configuration of assets, the whole is more valuable than the sum of the parts.
source:
Dynamic Capabilities — David J. Teece
source:
Webinar Registration – Zoom
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| CST WEBINAR SERIESYou are invited to join the CST webinar Applying Systems Thinking to Managing ProjectsThursday, March 25th from 13:00-14:00 (GMT+2 Pretoria)This webinar will take place online. Register in advance for this webinar: https://maties.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_19kygpw_TMSByAlPbC27WA |
| Join the CST webinar for a discussion on Applying Systems Thinking to Managing ProjectsRecent evidence shows that better governance practices are helping to improve the overall performance of megaprojects. Despite the United Nations setting 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030, there are severe shortfalls in initiatives from governments, public organizations and private businesses endangering the achievement of targets set for these goals. In this webinar we will explore how we developed the Viable Governance Model for project management and how it could be applied to accelerate the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Discussants: Prof Shankar Sankaran (University of Technology Sydney, Australia) and Prof Nathalie Drouin (Université du Québec à Montréal and Exec Dir of KHEOPS)This webinar will take place online. Register in advance for this webinar: https://maties.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_19kygpw_TMSByAlPbC27WA |
 Professor Shankar Sankaran, PhD, M., Eng., BSc, DMIT PMP®, MIEAust, CPEng., is currently a Professor of Organizational Project Management at the School of the Built Environment, at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He is a core researcher of the Centre of for Informatics Research and Innovation (CiRi) at his university. Shankar teaches project leadership, organizational project management and systems thinking in a Master of Project Management Program at his university. He has won international awards for his research on balanced leadership from the International Project Management Association. He has over 200 publications including authored and edited books, book chapters, refereed journal articles (in project and construction management and systems sciences) and conference papers. Shankar has worked on projects in India, Middle East, South East Asia and Oceania and is the current Chair of the Global Accreditation Centre of the Project Management Institute, Past President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences and committee member of the College of Leadership and Management at Engineers Australia. His profile can be viewed at https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Shankar.Sankaran |
 Prof Nathalie Drouin, PhD, MBA, LL.B. is the Executive Director of KHEOPS, an International Research Consortium on the Governance of Large Infrastructure Projects, the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, a full professor at the Department of Management, École des Sciences de la gestion, Université du Québec à Montréal (ESG UQAM), Adjunct Professor at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia and Associate Researcher at École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP), Canada. She teaches initiation and strategic management of projects in the Graduate Project Management Programs at ESG UQAM. She is looking at organizational project management, leadership issues and megaprojects. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Logistics and Transportation Metropolitan Cluster of Montreal (CARGO M) and an Audit Committee Member of Parks Canada Agency Audit Committee, Government of Canada. With Ralf Müller and Shankar Sankaran, she has won the 2019 Walt Lipke Project Governance and Control Excellence Award for the following paper: Müller, R., Sankaran, S., Drouin, N. (2019) A Model of Organizational Project Management and its Validation Project and Program Symposium Vol.2 Edition 1. 17 October p.5-20, as well as the 2019 International Project Management Association IPMA Research Award for the research work: Müller, R., Drouin, N., Sankaran, S. (2018) Balancing Person-Centric and Team-Centric Leadership in Projects. White Paper, Project Management Institute May. |
 References for the talk:Müller, R., Drouin, N. & Sankaran. S. (2019) Modeling organizational project management, Project Management Journal, 50(4), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F8756972819847876 Müller, R., Drouin, N. & Sankaran, S. (2020), Governance of organizational project management and megaprojects using the viable governance model, in G. Metcalf, K. Kijima & H. Deguchi, (Eds.) Springer Handbook of Systems Science, Singapore, Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0370-8_14-1#ESM Sankaran, S., Muller, R. & Drouin, N. (2021) Crearting a ‘sustainability sublime’ to enable megaprojects to meet the United Nations sustainable development goals. 37, 813-826, https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2744 |
book at source:
Webinar Registration – Zoom
This will be a ‘mosaic event’ with a number of short inputs about different people and organisations working in this space in the UK/London as the Systems Innovation London Hub launches. I’m hoping to be on of the inputs. Coincidentally it’s the same night at I’m hosting SCiO’s Later At the Bar – informal, open space systmes networking 7-9pm https://systemspractice.org/events/later-bar-scio-uk-may-2021
Book (signing up for the Systems Innovation Mighty Networks site – no fee – required):
Si London Hub Launch Event | Si Network
Mon, May 10 5:00pm – 6:00pm UK time
This will be the launch event for Systems Innovation Hub London. Si London will be a unique platform for all those who wish to learn more about systems change ideas and methods and how to apply them – this event will be our launch event. During the event, we want to let you know about who we are, why we are and our plans going forwards, and how we may co-create this hub with partners and members.
We wish to take this opportunity to get introduced, for you to learn about the hub team and for us to learn about you – what is of relevance to you as we work to develop the London hub over the coming months and years. We will take the opportunity to give a short intro to what systems innovation is and why it is of such relevance to the complex challenges of today, globally, but also locally in London and the greater UK.
During the event you will get the opportunity to hear from a number of different organizations in London applying systems thinking ideas and why they think it is of importance in their area; be it public sector, finance, sustainability, or for the social sectors. We look forward to seeing you there and will use the London hub page to keep you posted running up to the event.
This will be a fully online event. Date: May 10th, 5:00pm – 6:00pm UK
source:
Si London Hub Launch Event | Si Network
This video was produced in conjunction with the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) Speakers Series #4: “Leonard and Richards on Stafford Beer.” It includes excerpts from past ASC conferences (1995, 2011,2014) and features Ranulph Glanville (circularity), Herbert Brün (floating hierarchies), Mary Catherine Bateson (society counter-cybernetic) and Stafford Beer on structuring systems.SHOW LESS
Everything is Broken – YouTube
Everything is Broken
Everything is Broken – YouTube
Systems Community of Inquiry 
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