Speakers Series S3#9: Sustainable Self-governance in business and societies: the VSM in Action

Dr Angela Espinosa presents her book about the ‘viability and sustainability approach,’ inspired in the VSM.
Stafford Beer was well ahead his time when he invented the Viable System Model (VSM) to better manage organisational complexity. Nowadays, the increased socio-ecological and political turbulence demands better complexity management skills from businesses and societies. Organisations need to be viable and sustainable, which requires of them to develop adaptive and self-governance capabilities. In this webinar I will introduce my recent book, about the ‘viability and sustainability approach,’ inspired in the VSM. It clarifies some aspects of the original VSM theory, by focusing on the way it may inspire better approaches to sustainable self-governance. It also introduces the ‘Self-Transformation Methodology’, to support implementation of the VSM in developing sustainable self-governance in businesses and societies. It illustrates the power of this approach through story telling over a range of applications in different places and contexts; and concludes with a reflection on future paths for future developments of the VSM theory.
Participants Bios:
Dr. Angela Espinosa is an international leader developing Stafford Beer’s theory of Organisational Cybernetics. Angela worked closely with Beer, and when he passed away, she co-founded and still leads the Metaphorum, an NGO to develop his legacy. She is an Emeritus Fellow at Hull University - Centre for Systems Studies, a Fellow of the Cybernetics Society, and an invited Professor at several Universities in Latin America and Europe. She has published extensively on organisations and societies’ viability and sustainability and has got several international research awards. Her 2023 book, ‘Sustainable Self-governance in business and societies: the Viable System Model in Action’ from Routledge, summarises her approach and applications.
Allenna Leonard has been a member of ASC since being introduced to it by her professor, Barry Clemson. She worked with Stafford Beer applying his Viable System Model and facilitating his Team Syntegrity process which has recently completed its first all on-line event. She is currently serving as president of the Metaphorum organization founded to continue his work and is affiliated with the Cwarel Isaf Institute, established by Malik Management for the same purpose.