Systemic musings

2012-01-22T10:03:00.002+09:00

Sustaining some faith in economists

Economics journalist Ross Gittins has come to play an important role in Australia's body politic. Amongst readers of the Fairfax Press, and generations of students studying economics for their Higher School Certificate (and its variations), he almost single-handedly sustains some faith in the economics profession. As I have blogged before, I do not always agree with him. In terms of heterodoxy within economics he rarely strays far from the mainstream. But that is a particularly Australian affliction anyway.

Several Gittins columns from 2010 and 2011 made it into my cutout pile (I know, very last century as is my pocket diary). These included 'Politicians confound classical theory that competetition leads to greater choice' (The Age, August 30, 2010); 'People aren't donkeys so best put away the carrot and stick' (The Age, April 20, 2011) and 'Breakdown in relations is everyone's business'. On the strength of my enthusiasm for this last article Isent Ross a copy of my book, 'Systems Practice. How to Act in a Climate-change World’. My systems-theoretical arguments - and their practical implications - extend and strengthen the arguments made in that piece. It is also an argument in favour of the Systemic and Adaptive Governance Research Program that I am running.

It remains to be seen if Ross sees the same connections and possibilities?

2012-01-21T15:47:00.002+09:00

What are some of the systemic implications of a power analysis of global agriculture?

A recent work called the 'Power in Agriculture Report', commissioned for the 2011 Oxford Farming Conference, and undertaken by the Policy Research Unit at the Scottish Agricultural College, raises a number of interesting systemic insights.

As Tara Garnett of the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) observes: 'The political power relevant to global agriculture is still concentrated in the hands of the USA, major EU countries and some other economically powerful countries within the G8 coalition' but 'in the coming decades, EU countries may have to confront increased pressure to allow greater access to their markets'. Competition is 'likely to come from emerging economies – like China, India and Brazil..'

From within Australasia the rhetoric seems to imply that Australia and NZ have more power than this analysis reveals. This analysis raises significant uestions about Australia's focus on WTO/GATT arrangements and other policies led by idealogical commitments to economic theory rather than the hard work of 'real politik'. It also raises questions about whether Australia's pursuit of free trade agreements have been helpful. In the power index devised by the report's authors Australasia comes in at less than half that of the EU and USA and on a par with Brazil. Perhaps surprisingly it is also less than the UK.

Power now and in the future is likely to be concentrated in the hands of TransNational Corporations (TNCs) who are moving (really, have already moved) to incorporate emerging nations into their networks of power. Consider the following findings:

four companies account for 75-90% of global grain trade;
10 companies represent over 40% of the global retail market
seven companies control virtually all fertiliser supply
five companies share 68% of the world's agrochemical market
three companies control almost 50% of the proprietary seeds market

And where are these predominantly based ? The US and EU of course! The authors did note, however, that: 'in some cases civil society organisations and farmer groups have had a significant impact in countervailing or balancing corporate influences'.

In what is decribed as a 'potentially grim picture' one of the reports conclusions is that: ' population growth, depleting mineral reserves and the impact of climate change will all put increased pressures on natural resource availability and it is clear, as evidenced through the process of ‘land grab’, that control of natural resources will become increasingly important as they become more scarce.'

2012-01-21T12:41:00.001+09:00

Where good ideas come from

This YouTube clip from Steven Johnson relates well to what is taught in our recent Open University course (TU812): 'Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction'. In particular, as my colleague Chris Blackmore says:

"Good stuff here….. links quite well with Donald Schon’s early work on ‘ideas in good currency’ that we include in TU812"

2012-01-21T08:36:00.002+09:00

Cyber-systemic conference in Vienna and ASC in Asilomar in July

Note from Ranulph Glanville:

The EMCSR (European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research) conference series was founded in 1972. At the last meeting in 2010, Robert Trappl, who had chaired it since its beginning, retired. The new chair, Wolfgang Hofkirchner, who directs the Bertalanffy Archive in Vienna, has just published the outline program for next spring's conference.

There are changes in how the conference will be run. For instance, round table discussions are welcome. There will be a pre and post doc colloquium. There are new symposia and symposium chairs. And the process for submission and publication is different, with extended abstracts for proposals, and papers written in final form after the conference, for publication.

Please note the symposia (look under programme >> symposia). Apart from symposium E, chaired by Karl Mueller and myself, there are other symposia that cover a wide range of different approaches and areas.

I invite you all to have a look at the programme and, if you find the conference interesting, exciting and/or relevant, to make arrangements to be there. Check out the web site: http://www.emcsr.net. Vienna is lovely in mid-April.

At the same time, let me advise you of the American Society for Cybernetics' conference, 9 to 13 July, at Asilomar State Park Conference Centre, California, to be held in conjunction with the Bateson Idea Group. This promises to be a richly interesting event, and will remind us that there many sources of today's cybernetics, and many ways forward. This conference is in the week before the ISSS conference at San Jose: we are planing a special, reduced rate for those attending both. The conference web site will be launched in the new year, and will be accessible through the ASC home page, http://www.asc-cybernetics.org

2012-01-21T08:26:00.001+09:00

Economist's critique of economists

Thanks to Roy Madron for drawing this Guardian article by Bernard Harcourt to my attention along with the following text:

"The contention from an economist, a politician, a pundit or columnist opining about what Occupy Wall Street must do to succeed is no longer a fully meaningful sentence becausethe authors of those sentences themselves have failed.

That seems to be a central message of the Occupy movement: the purported experts are precisely the ones who got us in this situation that so many perceive as intolerable –a condition of continuously increasing inequality where, today, "the 400 wealthiest Americans have a greater combined net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans." That, I take it, is the guiding Jacobin spirit of this new form of political disobedience, but without the Jacobin leadership. And it is precisely the leaderlessness that accentuates the new syntactic challenges: those who are trying to "steer" Occupy Wall Street in the "right direction" – whether with good or ill will – have already failed miserably and, as a result, there is no authorial grammar to their statements.

Harcourt is the author of The Illusion of Free Markets and this review shows his position

ProfessorBernard Harcourt has recently released a compelling book "The Illusion of Free Markets: Punishment and the Myth of Social Order." Harcourt, a professor of law and chair of the political science department at the University of Chicago,painstakingly traces the parallel historical trend of increasing punishment during eras of strong free market advocacy.

Harcourt's Illusion presents crucial historical evidence that when nations' focus on freeing their trading and capital markets, there is always a concomitant rise in that nation's imprisonment and incarceration rates. Of course, the rise in incarceration is always of the nation's poor and disempowered.

Harcourt's thesis perfectly situates the failed American War on Drugs. The explosive rise in mass incarceration in the United States over the past 25 years (imprisonment increase of 335% as a result of the War on Drugs) occurred when the presidential administrations of Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush Jr. simultaneously worked tirelessly to deregulate the U.S. capital markets. Free market advocacy and deregulation have been occurring at exactly the same time that prison rates and populations have been skyrocketing. Harcourt describes how this is not just an American anomaly, but is a global historical reality.

The question that this historical reality begs is why?

Why during eras of powerful free market advocacy do governments' radically imprison their own citizens?

A great question that no economist seems willing to hear, let alone try to answer. "

2012-01-20T08:26:00.003+09:00

Stiglitz on inequality US style

As always Stiglitz is systemically revealing in his concerns and writing.

2012-01-20T08:20:00.002+09:00

Richard Wolff's systemic account of the financial meltdown

Just watch the preview. With thanks to Roy Madron.

"With breathtaking clarity, renowned University of Massachusetts Economics Professor Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of today's economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself. Wolff traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s, when wages began to stagnate and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown. By placing the crisis within this larger historical and systemic frame, Wolff argues convincingly that the proposed government “bailouts,” stimulus packages, and calls for increased market regulation will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis - in the end suggesting that far more fundamental change will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes. Richly illustrated with motion graphics and charts, this is a superb introduction designed to help ordinary citizens understand, and react to, the unraveling economic crisis."

2011-12-09T05:15:00.000+09:00

First carbon capture testbed opens in Yorkshire

In the spirit of balance I felt it important to acknowledge that:

'Energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne has opened the UK's first real-world pilot project to test whether carbon emissions can be captured from coal-fired power stations and buried underground, to fight global warming.'

The article acknowledges that the project 'comes after considerable uncertainty over the viability of projects in the UK, since several other large players including SSE, BP and E.ON have recently cancelled projects due to cost factors.'

The article also makes clear that UK government policy in this area is in dissaray, and increasingly out to attack what George Osborne has termed 'green tape'! My own feeling is that 'green tape' is an emergent property of a policy position that lacks systemic clarity, urgency and strategic resolve.

2011-12-05T12:36:00.000+09:00

Not seeing and talking about the bigger picture - and why it matters

Miles Mander and colleagues make an excellent point in their article that argues:

'As environmentalists, we are terrible salespeople. We are not enabling people in society to make informed decisions. So people are left to make their own meaning of the role that the natural environment plays in their lives and in the lives of others based on lists of ecological components, but without a sense of the bigger picture. People end up making trade-offs between ecological curiosities, on one hand, and the services supplied by new developments, on the other. The inevitable result is that they choose the known benefits offered by development.

We environmentalists are failing to explain how ecological processes improve people’s lives and contribute to the success of businesses, governments, and communities. How can lists of ecological curiosities help the city treasurer, city engineer, or city manager make an informed decision when she must choose between providing potable water to city residents or protecting a forest?'

They go on to argue that:

'The evolving language around ecosystem services is now starting to build the bridge between scientists’, engineers’, and society’s perceptions of the environment. Ecosystem services is becoming the common currency, or language, between society, engineers, and ecological sciences. The time for all sides to learn this common language has never been more urgent or, indeed, opportune'

2011-12-05T12:34:00.000+09:00

Carbon capture and storage - a systemic non-starter?

Carbon sequesteration has never made systemic sense to me so I am not surprised to see reports emerging such as the following:

'The future of carbon capture and storage (CCS) was called into question last week with two high profile projects being cancelled. The UK government scrapped plans for the nation's first CCS project at the Longannet power station in Fife, as it became apparent the project would require more funding than the £1 billion the government is prepared to allocate.

Meanwhile Vattenfall's application to develop a CCS project at a Danish geological structure has been denied. The country's government is waiting to evaluate the success of CCS projects in other nations before moving forward with any of its own.'

Joe Romm argues here that:

'There are simply too many unanswered questions for anyone to say today that we could rely on large-scale deployment of CCS in the 2030s as a major climate solution.'

2011-12-04T16:23:00.003+09:00

Gale and Gusto launched with fanfare

A few weeks ago we went to the launch of the two new wind turbines commissioned by Hepburn Wind which is Australia's first community wind farm. It was a delightful community-oriented ceremony in which 760 people gathered on Ron and Nathalie Liversedges property to witness local 10 year old Neve Bosher of St Augustine’s School in Creswick cut a massive ribbon wrapping the girth of a 68m high wind tower. Neve was the winner of a competition run through local schools to name the turbines - hence Gale and Gusto! These turbines are symbolic of what could become widespread throughout Australia with far-sighted governance and community engagement.

Whilst the Australian PM has written in support of the development the policy setting is still very uncertain. Depite the policy uncertainties Hepburn Wind had made significant achievements by the time of their 4th birthday in July this year. Hepburn Wind started from humble beginnings with a simple, but powerful idea — that a community could own and operate its own wind farm for the benefit of the entire community.

The Hepburn Renewable Energy Association (now known as SHARE), with the help of many, established Hepburn Wind. In July 2007, 23 members came together and voted to form the co-operative and vote in the first board. In just four years Hepburn Wind grew to almost 1900 members and are proud of their role in establishing the community renewable energy movement in Australia. Their achievements include:

built a $13.5m wind farm, the first in the country to be initiated and owned by a community
almost completed commissioning and already begun generating clean, safe energy for our community
raised more than $9.6m from the community, been awarded $1.7m in state government grants and secured a $3.1 financing facility with Bendigo Bank
joined up almost 1900 members, mostly locals
entered into an innovative power off-take agreement with Red Energy that will enable supporters to purchase locally generated power, while at the same time delivering significant financial benefits to the community
applied the co-operative legal structure where members have equal voting rights (ensuring democratic control) but share returns in proportion to their investment
developed the most generous benefit sharing program of any wind farm in the country, which will give special benefits to those living closest to the project as well as returning well in excess of $1m to the Hepburn Wind Community Fund over the next 25 years.
set a new standard for community engagement and support for a wind farm — recognised with a recent honour, the Victorian Premier’s Sustainability Award for 2011.

Earlier this month the Clean Energy Future package completed its passage through the Australian parliament. From the middle of next year there will be in place the beginnings of the policy framework that will usher in a lower pollution future.

As well as pricing carbon pollution, the full package mandates the establishment of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). The CEFC will direct $10 billion of the funds collected from the big polluters towards driving commercial investments in clean energy.

Hepburn Wind, Embark and their many supporters have worked hard to establish the community energy sector. With almost 60 groups nationwide starting their own journey of community power, it is important to ensure that the CEFC gets behind this sector.

The CEFC is currently seeking advice on the design of the $10 billion program — this is a great opportunity for systemic perspectives to be heard. Community groups, environment organisations, expert and passionate individuals need to advocate for the inclusion of community renewable energy into the mandate of the CEFC.

Hepburn Wind's key messages concern three basic requirements for supporting the community energy sector:

recognise the value of engaging the community in the clean energy transition by specifically including community energy projects
ensure that community projects are not ruled out due to their relatively small scale
make provision for early stage equity investment in community projects

The community energy sector warrants specific attention in the construction of the CEFC as it will underpin community understanding of and support for both clean energy policy and the roll out of clean energy infrastructure. This seems to me to be an essential climate chnage adaptation strategy for Australia and to make systemic sense - distributed, resilient, networked community enterprises make sense in a climate change world where surpise and breakdown in the face of extremes will be more common.

Submissions must be emailed to cefc@treasury.gov.au by 5.00pm Thursday 8 December. Anyone can make a submission.

2011-12-04T14:59:00.000+09:00

Using systems thinking to good effect

I have made postings before about how the Munro Review of child protection and social work practice drew heavily on systems thinking and advocated more systemic practice. It is pleasing that good work is emerging in this field influenced by the report's findings and the enthusiasm of local staff in Hackney.

2011-12-04T11:39:00.002+09:00

The 'howlers' are in the ascendency?

I began this post some months ago, but never quite finished it despite the plethora of examples that demonstrate my point. I wrote then: After nearly three months away from Australia I have returned to find that the 'howlers' have flourished in my absence. Barbara Kingsolver's potent metaphor from her book The Lacuna fits all too well, unfortunately. She says, referring literally, but not metaphorically, to a troup of Mexican monkeys:

'In the beginning were the howlers. [Their howling] would start with just one: his forced rythmic groaning like a saw blade. That aroused the others near him, nudging them to bawl a long with his monstrous tune. Soon the maroon-throated howls would echo back from other trees...As it was in the beginning, so it is every morning of the world' (p. 3)

I find myself very unsettled, and not unlike Kingsolver's young protagonist who, subjected to the daily tirade from the howlers, wakes terified 'at every day's dawn'.

Clearly, and thankfully, I am not the only one worried. But those who worry as I do are drowned out it would seem by the howlers. Sean Carney illustrates my point well in his article in the Saturday Age when he says of the howler-in-chief:

"Since he became leader in December 2009, he [Tony Abbot] has reduced himself almost to a political parody - a politician who can rail and complain and harness community anger and generate fear but himself appears to stand for hardly anything, including the words from his own mouth."

Barry Jones pursues a similar line of argument to mine when he claimed during the week: 'intelligent discussion all but extinct'. What is it about Australians? More and more they seem to portray all the worst features of those trapped in an island state, where news of difference and reasoned debate merely trigger even more outrageous howling. My cousin, a therapist, relates a story about a German client, a young woman here because of her relationship with an Australian lad, disturbed because she has yet to encounter anyone in her circle able to engage in civilised critical discussion. Having been in the reverse situation when young, with a German girlfriend, I can relate to her experience. I cannot imagine any Australians I know in Australia sitting in a mixed sauna discussing the latest news of the Baader-Meinhoff gang and the antics of Helmut Schmidt. But that was how it was in Munich in the 1970s.

In many ways the Murdoch press in Australia is the main megaphone for the howlers. But how it works is not straightforward. Some years ago when Vice Master of Wesley College at the University of Sydney I helped the students run a guest speaker program. One of the more interesting speakers was Wendy Bacon, then a well recognised and 'radical' journalist. She was asked whether she had ever had stories censored by her employers (Murdoch, Packer, Fairfax). Her answer was revealing. My memory of her answer was that to her knowledge she had never had a story censored or blocked by her employer. Instead, she said, the main form of censorship was self-censorship by journalists themselves. They knew that if they wanted to keep their job, or to get another job in Australia, they had to observe certain rules. Concentration of ownership in the press has increased since Wendy gave this talk so I imagine that self-censorship has become even more insidious. There is good evidence for this today in an article by Wendy Bacon in The Age where she reports a revealing exchange with News Corp (Australia) CEO John Hartigan:

"I emailed Hartigan some questions. They included: Do you consider that bias by newspapers in cities where only one company owns a newspaper could ever be an issue? How do you monitor whether fair means of reporting the news are being applied across the company? What auditing or monitoring mechanisms do you apply? Are there occasions when you do take up matters of bias with editors? Do you think that it would be a good idea if the Australian Press Council became an independent body with funding from both media and other sources, including government?

I received this reply:
''Your bias against our organisation over many years and the errors and omissions in your recent New Matilda piece renders your right to answers from me completely redundant. It is deeply troubling to me and to all of our editors that someone like you has any role in teaching young journalists in Australia.''

Hartigan did not elaborate on my errors or omissions. Nor, to my knowledge, has he pointed these out to online magazine New Matilda (which has a policy of publishing corrections)."

It is a pity freedom of information legislation cannot be used to find out what was discussed at the recent meeting of News International senior staff at Rupert Murdoch's Californian ranch. Given the power News International has, the intentions of FoI legislation would, in this instance be better directed at News International than governments.

I agree with Martin Flanagan, whose witty piece today sums up the week of Murdoch theatre in tremendous style, when he says:

"I hope the debate about journalism that the News of the World has triggered hits Australia like a tsunami"

Since I wrote this piece Murdoch junior has reappeared before the House of Commons Committee in the UK highlighting to us all the inadequacy of his answers. In Australia an inquiry has been mounted and is now underway. I fear its terms of reference are inadequate to the circumstances. Particularly telling is recent research released from Wendy Bacon's academic group which concludes:

" The first of a two-part analysis of Australian press coverage of climate change, A Sceptical Climate, has found that between February and July this year negative coverage of the carbon policy across 10 major newspapers outweighed positive coverage by 73 per cent to 27 per cent. Report author Professor Wendy Bacon said the overall result was driven by News Ltd group publications (82 per cent negative versus 18 per cent positive), compared to a more balanced result for the Fairfax press (57 per cent positive articles outweighing 43 per cent negative)."

News Corp is clearly the verdant forest for modern day howlers!

2011-11-09T17:36:00.000+09:00

Storms over Melbourne

2011-10-29T08:03:00.003+09:00

Release of Insight Maker

Systems Thinking World has just advised of the first general release, on Friday, October 21, 2011, of Insight Maker - a FREE web based drawing and simulation package.

Insight Maker was designed as a modeling and simulation environment but it also does Rich Pictures, Mind Maps, Dialogue Maps and Causal Loop Diagrams with ease.

Please refer to the overview at this site for further insights as well as a list of the new features in the general release.

Feedback from users is welcome.

2011-10-29T08:00:00.000+09:00

New Book from Bernard Scott

Second-order cybernetician, Bernard Scott has had a collection of his papers published recently. Bernard is well know as a scholar of 'conversation theory' as developed by Gordon Pask.

2011-10-28T08:33:00.001+09:00

The geoplitics of water and dams

This article provides valuable insights into the current status of the geopolitics of water, particularly the China, Laos, Burma 'triangle':

"The Mekong and Irrawaddy rivers, though unconnected and hundreds of miles apart, are both integral to life in Southeast Asia, supporting millions of people and more than 1,200 species of animals, including freshwater dolphins and-in the Mekong-giant catfish.

Now, in an energy-hungry age on the continent, the rivers share another distinction, as wellsprings of financial temptation for the struggling countries that rely on their flow, Laos and Myanmar (Burma). Both countries are grappling with decisions on whether to build massive hydropower dams on the two significant rivers. The projects could put fragile ecology and associated livelihoods at risk, but the dams could help the two countries reap billions of dollars by exporting the megawatts to China and Thailand, two neighbors with rapidly growing energy demand......."

2011-10-25T19:57:00.000+09:00

Thinking clearly about China?

The achievements of China within the paradigm they have pursued have been so impressive that it is sometimes easy to be seduced by the numbers. In his recent thought provoking talk at the LSE, Malcolm Turnbull made the following observations about China:

'Population – 22 to 20 per cent
Poverty (< $US1.25/day) – 38 to 15 per cent
Manufacturing value added – 5 to 11 per cent
Steel production – 12 to 39 per cent
Foreign reserves – 3 to 22 per cent
Resident-owned patent filings – 1 to 15 per cent
Telephone lines – 1 to 29 per cent
Internet users – 0 to 15 per cent
Carbon emissions – 11 to 20 per cen'

Acknowledging the great achievements of the last 30 years, Turnbull goes on to say:

'Finally, consider the environment. Over millennia floods and famines have seen off many an Emperor – tangible evidence that he had lost the mandate of heaven. China faces some of the most severe environmental challenges in the world. Some are direct consequence of global warming; as the Himalayan glaciers melt more water becomes available when it is not wanted, in winter, and less when it is, in summer.

At the same time, industrial pollution of the air and water is so severe that it’s a political issue – what good is it to have a television or a car if you cannot breathe the air or drink the water?

And China’s ability to feed itself is threatened by diminishing water availability. Agriculture on the northern plain is largely irrigated using groundwater which has been unsustainably extracted to a point where wells are running dry. Water can be desalinated or pumped from the south for cities, but that is too expensive for farming.'

Following an excellent analysis Turnbull asks: what is to be done? Amongst his many suggestions none question the current development trajectory, nor suggest how China, Australia (as a major suppier of environmentally damaging resources) and other resources intensive countries might address the fundamental environmental conundrum that the current trajectory delivers.

So it is hard to get one's thinking straight. Much, for example, has been said about the BRIC countries. Yet as Ha-Joon Chang argues in this article they are unlikey to rescue the world from meltdown:

'So with Japan still reeling from its two "lost decades" (drenched in QE), the only hope seems to be the emerging economies, such as China, India, Brazil and South Africa. Yet can they save us from worldwide economic stagnation? The answer is a definite no. Even with three decades of growth and 1.3 billion people, China's economy is still just over 8.5% of the world's (as of 2009), so whatever it does pales in significance compared to what goes on in the rich world. Moreover, it faces the challenges of deflating its huge property bubble without creating a financial crisis and managing its intensifying social conflicts – it experiences thousands of riots and strikes every year. And its dependence on exports makes it vulnerable to crises in the rich world.'

What will emerge?

2011-10-24T12:10:00.001+09:00

Insensitive heavy-handedness only increases alienation

I wonder to what extent the Mayor of Melbourne and the Premiers of Victoria and NSW did their homework to fully appreciate why there has been a wave of protest around the globe, before insensitively sending in the police to close protest camps down in Sydney and Melbourne? A useful place to start would have been with the US situation. Central to the US protests is the extreme inequality that has developed in the US economy over the past 30 years.

According to todays Age, Australia now has a three speed economy. Alienation, inequality and disillusionment with our governance institutions prevail in several of these 'economies'. Under such circumstances protest seems a legitimate form of social action.

2011-10-24T09:46:00.001+09:00

Excellent systemic account of the Euro crisis

My thanks to Bruce Legay for drawing my attention to this New York Times piece entitled: It’s All Connected: An Overview of the Euro Crisis. The question becomes how to act on such systemic understandings. My own experience suggests interventions that move damaging positive feedback processes in to virtuous negative feedback processes - but what these might be is beyond my experience. The latter could involve some institutional innovations within the Eurozone designed to provide more resilience in future - the current arrangements have clearly failed. Many commentators are comparing the Greek situation with that of Argentina. On the surface these arguments seem to make sense, although in this posting the author refutes this claim, going on to say:

"There is no clear answer to what will happen or what should happen. There is a big mess out there. Once is certain though. The similarities between Argentina and Greece point to another worrying development. The citizens won’t be able to suffer the burdens of austerity any longer more (especially when they are made to pay for the bloated public servants). When that happens the situation will be beyond saving by the IMF, the EU and the ECB."

I wonder if allowing Greece to default within an institutionalised firewall is not a good strategy, whilst maintaining transfer payments from the rest of the EU, much as has happened over the last 30 years? One thing is clear that without transformation of Greek institutions the situation is likely to reoccur.

2011-10-22T07:48:00.003+09:00

Postcard from China 4

From a water culture perspective one of the most interesting aspects of our trip was a visit to Dujiangyan, in Sichuan Province. Established in 256 BC during the Qin Dynasty this is now a World Heritage site. It is regarded as one of the three outstanding hydraulic engineering feats of the Qin dynasty (along with with the Zhengguo Canal in Shaanxi Province and the Lingqu Canal in Guangxi Province). It is particularly interesting because 'unlike contemporary dams where the water is blocked with a huge wall, Dujiangyan still lets water go through naturally. Modern dams do not let fish go through very well, since each dam is a wall and the water levels are different' (see wikipedia).

I found what was said and observed by the majority of our group, as well as our local hosts and staff of CTGPC, to be fascinating. Almost all, including the content of the talk given by the guide in the associated museum, focused on the technology. For them it was the fact that the technology and its different elements had been conserved for over 2000 years that was the main achievement. Certainly the elegance of the technology is impressive. But in contrast what interested me was how, as a sociotechnical system, the governance arrangements had been conserved as operationally effective through wars, earthquakes, many dynasties etc. It took some perserverance to have satisfactory answers and I suspect there is more to be said on the matter. One reason it has been conserved , it would seem, is to do with the strategic importance of the irrigation system in that part of central China. The emperor (or would-be ruler) who commanded this irrigation system with security of food supply had one of the keys to ruling China. Food availability is central to political power in China. For this reason all rulers invested in the management and upkeep of the irrigation system. I imagine there have been other institutions invented over the 2260 years that have helped.

The rebuilding of nearby Dujiangjan City, following the effects of the 2008 earthquake were impressive. I hope also that new technologies have been incorporated into the rebuilding that make them more secure in future.

Visiting Dujiangan City invies a reflection on how sustainability can be understood as a structurally coupled social-biophysical system. Dujiangan survives and functions effectively because the coupling between the social and the biophysical has remained viable for over 2000 years. From a long-term perspective it is hard to imagine that major dams will achieve the same longevity. In my previous email I adressed the complexities of upstream management that have to be addressed in the Yangtze. And despite the short and medium term social benefits through flood mitigation we know that in the long-term the fertility of the whole lower Yangtze flood plain will be diminished by preventing regular flooding and associated silt deposition.

In some ways it could be claimed that Dujiangan survives because it is in systemic harmony with its context. China, along with the rest of the world faces a great challenge to innovate in ways that produce systemic harmony. According to the Global Times (October 13) China will invest 4 trillion Yuan (US$628 billion) in water conservation in the next decade. But as the article notes, how the money is spent will determine how effective it will be. I will go further and claim that how effective it will be will entirely depend on the type of thinking that informs the decision making. Unfortunately I doubt if systems thinking and practice (see the OU STiP program) will be the driving force. According to the article 20 percent of future expenditure will be on farmland irrigation projects, 38 percent on flood control and disaster prevention, 35 percent on water supply projects and the rest for water and soil conservation as well as 'ecological construction'.

The underpinning discourse in the Global Times article is one of business as usual, in an attempt to gain ever more control. It says 'China aims to harness more than 5000 rivers...reinforce 5,400 reservoirs...' On our visit we even heard of a proposal (perhaps entirely fanciful, perhaps not) to reduce the height of the Himalayas so that China could get more rain from the 'Indian' monsoon. In this commitment to technical and scientific modernism China, along with many other countries, demonstrates a commitment to a way of thinking and acting that whilst necessary, is certainly not sufficient for today's circumstances.

In the Global Times of October 14 news that 'China will make grass-roots work experience [of 2 years] a requirement for civil service hopefuls eyeing central and provincial-level posts..' seems to be the out-of-the-box thinking that is required. It is certainly something that could be emulated in Australia, and extended to Parliamentary advisors! Impetus for the change comes from the Chinese Academy of Governance.

2011-10-21T09:08:00.003+09:00

Postcard from China 3

Our Australian Water Culture Delegation was sponsored by the Australia-China Council, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia, through the project Linking Australia and China - a "Bridge of Water Culture". The hosting organizations were the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGSNRR), the China Three Gorges Corporation (CTGPC) and the Shaanxi Normal University in Xi'an. We had a packed but informative schedule. Our hosts received us with great warmth and hospitality at each venue.

The Three Gorges Dam is a mammoth undertaking and a major feat of engineering. It is the largest dam of its type in the world. The Yangtze River, which once flowed at an average depth of 10m, now stands at 135 m at the dam wall. The water backs up 650km to the city of Chongqing, one of the four provincial level cities in China (with Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai). As is well known it is also highly controversial. We were shown good evidence of significant flood control, at least 10 times in the period 2004-10, with significant downstream flooding averted particularly in 2010.

The dam contains 33 turbines producing hydro-power. The data for CO2 emission reductions and tonnes of coal saved are impressive as are enhanced river transport efficiencies. In other words the dam is clearly delivering certain social and economic benefits. Having met Academican Lu Youmei, one of the driving forces behind the dam, and the first CEO of CTGPC, I can appreciate that the dam was the outcome of a long political process within the Party. When modernisation won out the dam was inevitable; it is symbolic of China's chosen pathway over the last 30 years. That said, Lu Youmei and current Vice Chairman Fan Qixiang, clearly appreciate the range of systemic difficulties that lay ahead. I will turn to some of these in a moment. What is not clear however, is whether having developed world's best expertise in what they do, CTGPC will follow the path of another engineering company that started by building dams, namely the Australian Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC). Experience suggests that such companies actively pursue opportunities to conserve and further develop their existing expertise. They move from the work of building a system in response to a problem to looking for a problem to retain the system they have built! CTGPC is currently constructing further dams on the Jinsha River, an upstream tributary of the Yangtze. They aim to have four new dams completed in 10 years. These will have double the current power generating capacity of the Three Gorges Dam. Around 300,000 people will be affected - many fewer than the 1.2-3 million affected by the Three Gorges Project. Over lunch I learned that CTGPC were in discussions in over 30 countries about possible hydro opportunities. I expect these include countries along the Mekong and in Burma.

On a cruise up the river from the dam some of the issues that confront CTGPC, as managers of the dam, became apparent. The rise in water levels has, in places, undermined the steep walls of the valley. We saw work actively trying to avoid landslips, and thus added siltation. After impoundment of water a number of seismic events were triggered. There is substantial investment in seismic monitoring. Water qualty is also clearly an issue. A colleague counted hundreds of floating shoes and thongs on our relatively short boat journey. But it is probably what cannot be seen that is more of a worry. It was reported that water quality was generally level 2 or 3, but I failed to find out what this really meant.

Water quality is a much wider problem than that in the Three Gorges Dam. In fact, along with water availability, it is probably the main environmental problem in China today. The China Daily of October 15-16 reports that:
"China has only a quarter of the world's average in terms of fresh water resources, ranking 110th in the world. Among 600 Chinese cities, more than 400 suffer from an insufficiency of water, 110 seriously, including some along the Yangtze River, the country's longest river. Worse the decades-long rapid economic growth means the country's limited water resources are increasingly threatened by pollution. Statistics show that more than 70 percent of China's rivers and 60 percent of its underground water resources are polluted to different degrees."

The complexities of the water issues facing China can be gleaned from the issues now facing CTGPC. These include the extensive diffuse pollution coming from agriculture (nitrogen and phosphorus mainly), sewage from the many upstream cities, towns and villages and of course, industrial pollution and acid rain. Given the size of the overall river system upstream from the dam this is a massive issue with many siloed ministries involved, meaning that concerted action amongst the many stakeholders is difficult to achieve. Algal blooms have increased in the dams. We heard little about other organisms and invertebrates in the river system other than some substantial breeding and preservation actions. There is a Yangtze River Commission which in theory has oversight but in our various conversations the governance of rivers consistently emerged as a major issue - not only within river basins but between river basins. Clearly more systemic and adapative water governance is needed as CTGPC are finding - they now have to deal with 5-6 other "owners" of upstream dams and power generators i.e., they are not the sole provider on the Yangtze.

Having seen on my last visit the massive south-north canal that transfers water from the wetter south to the drier north, including Beijing, I was surprised to discover that it is not linked to the Three Gorges Dam, but another relatively minor tributary of the Yangtze which enters downstream of the dam (if there is any water left, that is!). China's second most important river, the Yellow River, only has one twentieth of the the water resources of the Yangtze. Alarmingly much of the water in the Yellow and Hai River (further north) is used before they get to the sea i.e., current levels of demand are not sustainable. Part of China's predicament was explained by Lu Youmei. The high rainfall period in the Yangtze is in the summer, and this is also the time of maximum flood risk - currently 950 million cubic m of run-off enters the sea from the Yangtze. Unfortunatly, some view this as lost water! At the moment, and for the forseeable future, there is unlikely to be enough storage capacity to save more water in the period of excess whilst at the same time fulfill flood mitigation responsibilities. The corollary to this is that in winter, flows are low and power generation is generally well below peak capacity. It is also dangerous for the Yangtze river itself, and associated river traffic, to transfer too much water in winter. For example, the Yangtze currently has a very low flow so only 13 turbines were operating during our visit.

Another major problem in China is groundwater depletion as well as contamination. I was well aware of this from our prevous research visit spent on the North China Plain in Hebei Province around Lake Baiyangdian. In fact the long term scenario for water in this vital breadbasket of China is very worrying. A telling example of the issue became apparent in our visit to Xi'an. One of the cultural and thus tourist landmarks is the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. During our visit the guide advised us against climbing it as it had begun to lean, much as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, because of the falling water table under the city of Xi'an. I hope the spectacular 'dancing water fountains', newly installed nearby, were not exacerbating the problem as they were clearly a great civic amenity.

In the 12th Five Year Plan period (2011-15) China has vowed to address the water issues. The report in the China Daily cited earlier describes this as a 'determination to bring the country's fast gowing economy onto a more sustainable and greener track'. The governament is demanding that 'water usage for every 10,000 yuan-worth [of] GDP be reduced 50 percent by 2020 from the 2008 level and an additional 40 percent after 2020.' In this same article Beijing is held up as an example that others might follow: 'Coupled with a considerable decline in energy intensity, the water consumption for every 10,000 yuan of GDP in the capital has declined considerably [how is not specified], decreasing to 24.9 cubic meters in 2010 from 49.5 cubic meters in 2005.' These are policy developments that should be welcomed, but are they enough? How will they be enforced? The same article ends by stating that: ' To ensure the 100 percent realization of the national energy and water saving targets mapped out, the country should hold accountable officials whose regions fail to attain these targets and lay down a set of strict punishment measures'! In future provinces that use more water than they are allocated will be penalised.

The policy response by China is ambitious, but is it too much a captive of concepts such as eco-efficieny? Improving the environmental performance of a single car ultimately achieves little if the rate in the overall growth of cars means that all gains per car are overwhelmed by gross outputs. The same arguments can be applied to the metric of water savings per unit of GDP. Already China appears to be approaching CO2 outputs per capita similar to the main developing countries. Now is not the time for reform - change that makes the wrong strategy more efficient - rather it is time for transformation - invention that creates the right thing to do in the circumstances.

2011-10-19T08:45:00.001+09:00

Postcard from China 2

One of the most inescapable features of this visit for me was the air pollution. Not only was it in Beijing with its 21 million people but also in Chengdu (14 million), and to a lesser extent Xi'an (7 million). However the most disturbing experience was at the Three Gorges Dam and in the Yangtze River Valley upstream. It also had its amusing side. We were taken to the main viewing platform for the dam wall, but like all tourists that day there was no wall to be seen. The smog was too thick. As ever technology saved us! We left with an excellent photo of ourselves with the dam wall clearly visible in the background all thanks to photoshop (or some such similar program)!

In the Global Times of the 3rd October a report entitled 'gloomy outlook for pollution targets' gives some background to what we were experiencing. According to the article the first six months of this year had seen a 6.17% rise in nitrogen oxides released into the atmosphere compared with the previous year. The official target is for a 1.5 percent reduction in 2011! Of course this is an average - how was it calculated? The article does not make that clear, but the rise is likely to have been much, much higher in some places. As the article says "nitrogen emissions, which are a major cause of acid rain and smog, are harmful to the human respiratory system and can cause cardiovascular disease."

Before leaving for China I had been writing up some of the history of my own family in Hackney and Bethnal Green, now suburbs of London. London was the first mega city. It had major pollution problems which began in the 1830s and 1840s as industrialisation progressed. The effects of pollution was probably one of the reasons my ancestors emigrated to Australia. As we travelled through China I could not help but wonder when and how the Chinese will turn the corner on air pollution in the face of ever growing cities, increasing car numbers, industrial development and frequent inversion layers over cities.

A timely paper in the journal Ecological Economics makes apparent the situation in London that my ancestors had encountered. This figure (courtesy of David Pannell and the author) shows that London did not start to turn the corner, to reduce pollution, till about 1900. There was an almost 80 year period before things started to get better. As the graph shows incidence of deaths due to bronchitis peaked at about the same time as pollution (total suspended particles). The challenge for China is to devise strategies to turn the corner. Nitrogen oxides come mainly from cars and coal-fired thermal power plants. Apparently nitrogen oxides now excede sulfur dioxide as the major pollutant of air, and thus of acid rain. This is a classic systemic problem as nitrogen oxide and ammonia (which comes mainly from animal waste and garbage) accumulate in the water which, according to the article 'is the most serious pollution problem in China'.

I cannot help but consider what might have happened for China, and the rest of the world, had Deng Xiaoping, the reformer who led China towards a market-based economy, and his contemporaries not bought in to the failing western economic model. The environmental externalities of car-based economic development - in terms of pollution, congestion and the transformation of identity (consumerism and mobility) - were already well known when reforms began. This is not to say that China should have remained static - but another pathway was already apparent, and if pursued may have left us all in a better position. That said it may be that China will pull something out of the hat and follow the trajectory achieved by London over a century ago. If so we will all benefit. At the moment I am not optimistic.

There have of course been both substantial critiques as well as champions of China's chosen pathway. Writing in 1997 Joshua Muldavin analyzed environmental degradation in rural China as structurally embedded in China's rapid economic growth in the post-Mao era. He wrote:

"A critical assessment of the Chinese hybrid economy challenges standard views of the reforms. The overall environmental problems of state socialist agriculture in China have been aggravated following the agrarian reforms of the current regime. Rather than mitigating negative trends, marketization and privatization have brought new, qualitatively different, environmental problems. Resource decline and its attendant social problems are not limited to aspects of transitional economy but are a fundamental part of the new hybrid system."

There are still about 860 million rural inhabitants of China. What their fate is to be is uncertain.

In a remarkably frank interview in the same issue of Global Times, Huang Nbo, a business tycoon (China's 161st richest man) who has just purchased 300 square km of Iceland (and former official in the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee), comments on business ethics and the current pathway. He said:

" I think moral ambiguity is overwhelming... ...I have a sense of guilt accumulated over the years over the inevitable immorality in business transactions, including the damage we cause to the environment and forcing people out of their homes to give way for real estate development. We achieved development, but it was done through brutal means."

I felt pensive as I returned to Australia - then saddened when flying into Tullamarine to be greeted by an inversion layer and a discernable smog haze over Melbourne. Members of the Committee for Melbourne who advocate for a city of 10 million people ought to travel to China and learn from the situation there, before it is too late.

2011-10-17T19:59:00.001+09:00

Postcard from China 1

As I write I am homeward bound having just finished a short study tour in China as part of an “Australian Water Culture Delegation” organised by the Australia China Centre on Water Resources Research (ACCWRR). In this series of Postcards I reflect on various experiences and thoughts during the 9-day trip.

Beijing

(i) Back in Beijing for the second time. It was the end of the National Holiday week and Tiananmen Square was well decorated with many local tourists on hand. The amount of smog was my first impression – worse then in an earlier visit in May-June. The air quality, as I outline below, was a recurring theme. As a group of seven we became amiable fellow delegates.

(ii) Apparently Mao’s portrait is renewed every holiday – if so we saw the fresh one!!

(iii) The imperial Palace was as impressive as my first visit. The crowds interfered with the stronger virtual images I continue to hold of previous emperors and their courts gained from various movies. I expect it to be my last visit to the palace.

(iv) As with last time a visit to the Lindang Hutung was a highlight. A short guided tour this time made it all the more interesting. It seems tragic to me that so much of the old has been lost from around central Beijing.

(v) An evening walk to the Birdsnest stadium and parts of the Olympic village reacquainted me with the creativity of the architecture. The striking lighting of the key buildings created an eerie effect in the smog. I sensed the complex was underused and undergoing further (re)development. Someone later told me it was. The main activity was a rock band launch of the new Audi car!! A celebration of consumerism!

(vi) Free hotel internet (all week) is a great boon. Although I was unable to load this Blog all week though – no problems with the BBC or ABC.

(vii) A smoggy drive to the Great Wall on Sunday morning. My first visit. Now I have seen it and walked on it. I pity the builders and soldiers who have manned it over the centuries. I did not walk far – on the steep climb part I opted for caution, not wanting to expose my lungs to dragging in lots of smoggy air! As with most of our visit there were large numbers of local tourists – more than outsiders.

2011-08-25T08:08:00.000+09:00

Simon Caulkin - insightful as ever

After his departure from the Observer/Guardian it took a little while for Simon to get back into what he does best: insightful, systemic journalism which unpacks the failures and successes of management actions. He now has a new website - you can subscribe for the latest aricles (highly recommended) or wait a while until they move into the public domain. Below are links to some of his recent pieces. For anyone interested in John Seddon's work (see my last post) I recommend the article 'Police Intelligence'.

Saving capitalism from itself (This article is only available at present to paid-up members, as is)

It's management, stupid

Other recent articles include

Trust in organisations: who stole it, how can we get it back?

Recovery: you can't get there from here

The rules of power

Police intelligence

Suicide bomb at Wapping: family mansion in flames

2011-08-19T13:56:00.000+09:00

John Seddon in Oz

I have made earlier postings about John Seddon's work He is scheduled to be in Sydney and then Melbourne at the end of the month. I recommend attendance if you can make it. This column by Simon Caulkin is worth looking at in its own right as well as for getting a feel for the sort of change that Seddon and his colleagues facilitate.

Lessons from the front line: What works and what doesn’t in UK public sector reform | Professor John Seddon

Wednesday 31 August, 3pm to 5pm (followed by wine and canapés)
Dixon Room, State Library of NSW, Shakespeare Place Sydney (Mitchell Wing entrance)

Cost: $22 (NSW IPAA members) or $44 (non-members), includes canapés and drinks following the presentation.
RSVP here. Limited places so register now This event is being organised by CPD and IPPA, registrations are being coordinated by IPPA

Join the Centre for Policy Development & the Institute of Public Administration Australia (NSW) for a seminar with Professor John Seddon, providing insights into the UK government’s radical reforms of the public sector – with some lessons for Australia. Read John’s thoughts on Big Society here.

Through the Blair years John Seddon gained a reputation as a leading critic of public sector reform. His 2008 book, Systems Thinking in the Public Sector: the failure of the reform regime… and a manifesto for a better way, was read by Cameron’s policy team while in opposition and was thought to be ‘going too far’; but in some ways Cameron’s new coalition government has gone further. The target-setting regime is over and the Audit Commission is to close. On other fronts, Seddon remains a strident and informed voice against UK government policy, arguing that ministers seek policy-based evidence rather than evidence-based policy.

Seddon is as vociferous about what works. Those who follow his ideas achieve performance improvements that represent economic benchmarks. In this unique seminar John Seddon will talk about what works, what doesn’t work and he will offer up some clear advice for Australia:

Why change should start with studying (no plan required)
How studying can reveal counter-intuitive truths (e.g. managing costs drives costs up)
How managing value drives costs out of public services while improving service delivery
How conventional approaches to sharing services lead to massive and costly failure
Why economy of scale is a myth
Why targets and inspection/regulation make performance worse
Three steps to sharing services that are guaranteed to maximise efficiency and improve service
How to get knowledge; studying service organisations as systems, the prerequisite to effective and profound improvement
The role of central government; constructive things to do and things to avoid
An evidence-based view of current UK government initiatives, including the Big Society.

The seminar is being presented as part of CPD’s Public Service Research Program. To download “The State of the Australian Public Service: An alternative report”, visit the program webpage. Be sure to sign up to our email list here [link] to get the latest updates.

About Professor John Seddon

John has received numerous academic awards for his contribution to management thinking. Originally an occupational psychologist, John was persuaded by Deming’s obvious truth, that we, mankind, invented management and we can change it. John has developed methods to help managers of service organisations change from a conventional command-and-control design to a systems design.

2011-08-15T12:22:00.000+09:00

The State of the Australian Public Service: An Alternative Report

Today the Centre for Policy Development released The State of the Australian Public Service: An Alternative Report, as part of its Public Service program.

The report’s key findings include:

a widening gap between the anti-public servant rhetoric of some politicians and commentators and the positive attitudes held by Australian citizens about public servants and the services they deliver and

a decline in the ratio of public servants per capita in contrast to claims of public service ‘bloating’.

Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has declared the Coalition’s plans to slash public spending and axe at least 12,000 public servants’ jobs if they gain government at the next election in a rush to bring the budget to surplus. In recent days it has been revealed the Coalition plans to cut public spending by $70 billion, shutting down entire government departments.

The Australian Public Service (APS) employs approximately 160,000 people across 133 agencies, making it one of our largest employers and most significant investments. The staffing of the APS generates heated debate in the media as well as in Parliament. Views are polarised. But what do we really know about the APS? And does much of the rhetoric match up to the reality?

The State of the Australian Public Service analyses 20 years of opinion research on the public service. The report finds evidence of a disconnect between frequent public service ‘bashing’ by politicians and commentators and generally positive views of the public sector in the general community.

Most Australians are willing to forego income to pay for public services. There’s a strong preference for services to be provided by the public sector: twice as many people support public over private provision of health and education for example.
Our research into long term staffing trends also contradicts the portrayal by some politicians and media commentators of a public sector that is ‘bloated’.

“To return the ratio of APS staff to Australian citizens to 1991 levels would require increasing APS staffing to approximately 214,000, an increase of approximately 50,000 staff.”

Unless the community expects less of the public service or the APS is able to deliver its services with significantly fewer employees, the argument that we have a ‘bloated’ public service is baseless.
The report also finds that the APS is an increasingly top-heavy workforce that does not reflect the diversity of the Australian community, with Indigenous Australians and people with a disability under-represented, and women under-represented in the senior ranks.

Dr James Whelan, the report’s author and Director of CPD’s Public Service Program said, “British Prime Minister David Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ vision entails cutting the public sector budget by ₤80 billion, freezing wages and calling for tenders for most services. At a time when the public service is under attack in the UK, Canada, New Zealand and the US, Australian politicians who are tempted to follow suit should be aware of Australian voters’ strong support for the public sector.”

CPD’s The State of the Australian Public Service offers an accessible handbook of all you need to know about attitudes toward the public service and staffing trends.

2011-08-15T11:31:00.001+09:00

Climate skeptics and white conservative men

I recommend the articles on this site as an antidote to the climate skepticism being fostered by News International (see today's Herald Sun) and Australia's howler-in chief.

In particular take a look at the article by David Roberts called:"Stuff white people like: denying climate change". Here is an extract:

"There's a study running soon in the journal Global Environmental Change called "Cool dudes: The denial of climate change among conservative white males in the United States." It analyzes poll and survey data from the last 10 years and finds that ... are you sitting down? ... conservative white men are far more likely to deny the threat of climate change than other people.

OK, that's no surprise to anyone who's been awake over the last decade. But the paper goes beyond that to put forward some theories about why conservative white men (CWM) are so loathe to accept climate change. The explanation is some mix of the following, all of which overlap in various ways:

First there's the "white male effect" -- generally speaking, white males are less concerned with a variety of risks. This probably has to do with the fact that they are less exposed to risk than other demographics, what with running things and all.
Then, as Chris Mooney notes, there's the "social dominance orientation" of conservatives, who see social life as following the law of the jungle. One's choice is to dominate or be dominated; that is the natural order of things. Such folk are leery of climate change solutions premised on fairness or egalitarianism.
Then there are the well-understood "system-justifying tendencies" of conservatives. The authors explain that conservatives ...
... strongly display tendencies to justify and defend the current social and economic system. Conservatives dislike change and uncertainty and attempt to simplify complexity. Further, conservative white males have disproportionately occupied positions of power within our economic system. Given the expansive challenge that climate change poses to the industrial capitalist economic system, it should not be surprising that conservative white males' strong system-justifying attitudes would be triggered to deny climate change."

I also recommend his follow up article: "How do you solve a problem like conservative white men?" There are some good arguments here which resonate with my own view that we have gotten ourselves into the wrong conversation. It is not that climate change is not important it is just that it is the wrong framing of the issue. We needs conversations of hope and transformation as well as ones that embrace the complexity of our situation - the intersections of loss of biodiversity, resource, particularly oil depletion, income inequality, urban congestion and city dysfunction and post carbon societies.

2011-08-15T10:23:00.002+09:00

To Mr. and Mrs David Cameron from Nathaniel Tapley

Much has been written on the riots in Britain and no doubt there will be many theses produced in the coming few years. Having spent May to July in Europe, much of it in England, I must admit to not being surprised that the riots have occurred, deplorable though all such acts are. In the many pages of analysis look for those that address the systemic factors that have given rise to the riots but perhaps more importantly look to the future and ask: starting from here how is the situation to be dealt with systemically?

For me one key issue to look at is the English schooling system and the very low percentage of students who go on to A levels. In some ways aspects of the schooling system are designed to produce alienation - and this has nothing to do with teachers and the many well intentioned people who contribute to schooling. It is a long-standing structural problem in my view - yet to be fully overcome despite recent innovations.

But this is only one aspect of a complex situation. Natt Tapley points to another important facet - that is the role models that leaders provide, and in this respect his letter is a beauty. Nothing alienates more than those who cannot walk the talk - it is bad enough when those who do not know that that is what they do prognosticate but even worse when this behaviour is pursued knowingly.

2011-08-15T09:50:00.008+09:00

REDD-plus at the crossroads in Papua New Guinea

Some of the politics and institutional complexity around REDD schemes are well analysed in this article by Colin Filer of ANU. The potential for systemic failure seems significant. As in so many other contexts Colin's conclusion that: "Programme and donors grow increasingly despondent about the prospects for effective institutional reform" highlights the domain in which so much systemic failure rests.

2011-07-29T08:43:00.000+09:00

The Financial Crisis and the Systemic Failure of Academic Economics

A paper I have just been sent by a colleague seems to be highly germane and worth a read. Systemic failure indeed! It comes from a "one week of intense discussions within the working group on ‘Modeling of Financial Markets’ at the 98th Dahlem Workshop, 2008." The abstract reads:

"The economics profession appears to have been unaware of the long build-up to the current worldwide financial crisis and to have significantly underestimated its dimensions once it started to unfold. In our view, this lack of understanding is due to a misallocation of research efforts in economics. We trace the deeper roots of this failure to the profession’s insistence on constructing models that, by design, disregard the key elements driving outcomes in real-world markets. The economics profession has failed in communicating the limitations, weaknesses, and even dangers of its preferred models to the public. This state of affairs makes clear the need for a major reorientation of focus in the research economists undertake, as well as for the establishment of an ethical code that would ask economists to understand and communicate the limitations and potential misuses of their models."

The corresponding author is from the University of Kiel, Department of Economics, Olshausenstraße 40 D-24118 Kiel.

2011-07-19T13:49:00.000+09:00

Scenarios for climate change adaptation

The research team working on the VCCCAR Scenarios for Climate Adaptation project have released the final set of resources developed during this project.

The aim of the Scenarios for Climate Adaptation project has been to strengthen knowledge about the most effective ways to develop and use scenario based strategies to improve climate change adaptation decision making. We have drawn on recent Victorian and Australian experience to produce a set of resources – including both a Guidebook for Practitioners and a Full Report – for Victorians involved in policy-making, engagement and planning for adaptation to climate change.

The following key project resources are available:

·         Scenarios for Climate Adaptation – Guidebook for Practitioners

·         Scenarios for Climate Adaptation – Policy Brief

·         Scenarios for Climate Adaptation – Full Report: Executive Summary

These resources as well as the Scenarios for Climate Adaptation – Full Report and a range of additional project papers and materials are available on the project homepage.

2011-07-17T14:46:00.001+09:00

Lacunae in the body politic

Barbara Kingsolver's novel 'The Lacuna' is a story, even metaphor, for our times. It brings vividly to attention a complex web of injustices, wrong turns taken, pettinesses and the creation of institutions in our governance that drives out compassion, the legitmacy of others. These are the lacunae of our times. Given this interpretation it seems to me that Maureen Corrigan's review misses the point.

The basic storyline can be gleaned from this excellent review. I concur with Schillinger's observation that:

'“The Lacuna” can be enjoyed sheerly for the music of its passages on nature, archaeology, food and friendship; or for its portraits of real and invented people; or for its harmonious choir of voices. But the fuller value of Kingsolver’s novel lies in its call to conscience and connection.'

There are some wonderful lines:

p.207 " "But newspapers have a duty to truth," Van said. Lev clicked his tongue. "They tell the truth only as the exception. Zola wrote that the mendacity of the press could be divided into two groups: the yellow press lies every day without hesitating. But others, like the Times, speak the truth on all inconsequential occasions, so they can deceive the public with the requisite authority when it becomes necessary".

p.321 ""But people desire fair governmant. You say that constantly." "They want to believe in heroes, also. And villains. Especially when very frightened. It's less taxing than the truth.""

p.429 "Politics here now resemble a pillow fight. Lacking the unifying slogan (Win the War), our opposing parties sling absurd pronouncements back and forth, which everyone pretends carry real weight. How the feathers fly. The newsmen leap on anything, though its all on the order of "Four out of five shoppers know this is the better dill pickle", assertions that can't be proven but sway opinion. "Dance for the crowd" is the new order, with newsmen leading the politicians like bears on the leash. Real convictions would be a hindrance. The radio is at the root of the evil, their rule is: No silence, ever. When anything happens, the commentator has to speak without a moment's pause for gathering wisdom. Falsehood and inanity are preferable to silence. You can't imagine the effect of this. The talkers rising above the thinkers."

p.633 "Universal declaration of rights of the howlers:

Article 1: All human beings are endowed with the god-given right to make firewood from the fallen tree.
Article 2: Any tree will do. If it is tall, it should be cut down. The quality of the wood is no matter, the tree asked for it by growing tall. A decent public will cheer to see it toppled.
Article 3: Rules of normal kindness do not extend to the celebrated person.
Article 4: All persons may hope to become celebrated.
Article 5: It is more important to speak than to think.
Article 6. A howler must choose one course or the other: lie routinely, or do so only on important occasions, to be more convincing (The Trotsky tenet)."

2011-07-17T13:49:00.000+09:00

Handing over conscience and control

In todays Sunday Age, Guy Rundle, in an insightful article 'Attack of the Hacks' makes the following point worthy of further consideration:

"The trouble is that big organisations headed by a personalty cult (and News Corpoation is surely that) work by turning people into the opposite of human beings, into gaining meaning in their lives by handing over conscience and control to the organisation, a process that occurs across News's global organisation"

Bruce Guthrie, who has insider knowledge of Australia's News Corp, says in the same edition:

"I can save [Senator Bob Brown] and his colleagues a lot of trouble, particularly on the question of media concentration: not only is Murdoch's dominance of the print media here inappropriate, it's downright undemocratic. The Brits have been having conniptions last week over his control of 40 per cent of their newspapers. If it was 70 per cent [as in Australia], they'd be tearing down Big Ben. And, of course, they're outraged by News's trashing of journalistic ethics."

My point exactly.

Not only does Rundle's point apply to News Corp - take the Federal Opposition in Australia and the specific case of Greg Hunt, the coalition spokesperson on the environment. I have been to hear Hunt speak when Malcolm Turnbull was still leader of the opposition. He spoke with wit, authority and authenticity about.....hang on...exactly the opposite position to that he and the coalition now espouse. The old cliche of lying straight in bed at night comes to mind. To make matters worse we are being exposed to his now carping and inane comments. Around 6am this morning on ABC News Radio listeners were subjected to his now poverty-stricken arguments. What lousy interviewing as well.

To paraphrase Guy Rundle: all politicians lose their humanity and integrity when they succumb to the cult of personality and attempts to gain power at any cost. The Opposition, and Hunt in particular, have built an egotistical disdain for the moral and practical framework Australia has to build to exist in a post-carbon future.

2011-07-17T11:34:00.002+09:00

Adam Curtis: Revise and Resubmit

Controversial British film maker Adam Curtis has created another thought provoking television trilogy: All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, which was screened on BBC2 beginning on Monday May 23rd. As with his former series, The Trap, he touches on systems and cybernetics and gives them a strong critique - some justified but much intellectually spurious. However, let me say from the outset that it is good that these programmes are made. I only wish there was more TV that engaged with the important themes that preoccupy Curtis. That said, television is problematic as a medium for material that purports to be intellectually serious. Had these programmes been academic papers submitted for publication I would have recommended 'revise and resubmit'!

Curtis's meta-theme is compelling: that theoretical positions and associated narratives are taken up and institutionalised in uncritical ways - and in the process we have been seduced into believing we have no agency for creating purposeful change. These theories, or explanations, become the new orthodoxies of the times and the understandings that arise shape technological designs, the ambitions of the designers, generate new research programmes and create adherants and prosletysers. Although he does not say it in these terms explanations if accepted change who we are. Curtis's example in his third programme, The Monkey In The Machine and the Machine in the Monkey, about Armand Denis's films that told the world about Africa particularly his 'fanciful stories about Rwanda's Tutsis being a noble ruling elite originally from Egypt, whereas the Hutus were a peasant race', is a compelling example of how explanations are taken up and become institutionalised in our practices with, as in this case, appalling unintended consequences.

Similarly Curtis' example of the ecosystem concept explored in his second programme, The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts is a fascinating story except that the surrounding scholarship is shoddy and, from my perspective, leads Curtis himself into proferring explanations as worthy of critique as those in his spotlight.

As I outline in a recently published essay, there is "replete within the academic literature confusion over the concept ‘system’ and whether ‘system’ is an epistemological device, a way of knowing about the world and thus a choice to be made in context sensitive ways, or an ontological claim i.e. a claim that systems are ‘real’ and thus describable objectively. This confusion extends to the concept ‘ecosystem’ itself. The term ecosystem was coined in 1930 by Roy Clapham to mean the combined physical and biological components of an environment. British ecologist Arthur Tansley (1935) later refined the term, describing it as "the whole system, … including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment". Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as mental isolates. In Tansley’s original conception ‘ecosystem’ was a neologism coined to work as a conceptual or epistemological device, and which, like all systems involves boundary judgments – a bringing forth – by an observer. However, over time the concept ecosystem has come to be reified as existing independently of those who make the boundary judgments that distinguish any system of interest." In pursuing the common practice of making concepts real we deny our own capacity for learning and change, and thus agency.

Curtis' scholarship breaks down because he fails to see how explanations and their reification operate in social systems - through institutions and social and artifactual technologies. He is also somewhat out of date in his critique of systems and cybernetics, as are many others. Perhaps it is the demands of TV that consistently takes Curtis into profering conspiracies or conspiracy-like scenarios. Like Curtis I deplore many of the explanations that we have conserved, sometimes over decades if not centuries, and that plague contemporary life and our abilities to be political in a small 'p' sense. Curtis's own strategies for resistance (his films aside) are rarely made entirely clear and the inklings we are offered hardly seem inspired. His own theoretical, epistemological, possibly theological, and ideological commitments are never clearly articulated. Hence the ground on which he chooses to stand to offer his critique is hidden from view except that he rails, in a limited way, against the failure to take power into account, to believe that we can make the world a better place and do politics.

An up-to-date enagement with systems scholarship, as exemplified say through the OU's new MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice, would reveal for Curtis that other pathways to resistance (in the Foucauldian sense) are possible - and in my view more productive than framing all possibilities through a limited lens on power. Curtis reminds me of some current and former academics I have known who in their concerns about power consistently enact the very theories that concern them: the world seen through a narrow lens of power predisposes practices that are all about power games rather than say cooperation, mutual concern and accommodation of difference.

From my perspective Curtis would do better to highlight the lack of epistemological and systemic awareness and pluralism that creates a perverse scientism - as exemplified by Dawkins et al - and the lack of reflexivity in just about all that we do. These limitations also apply in the systems and cybernetics fields, as I outline in my recent book. For that reason members of the systems and cybernetics communities would do well to view Curtis's latest offering and use it as a trigger for reflection on what it is they do when they do what they do!

2011-07-15T15:45:00.000+09:00

Fancy a Conference in Vienna?

5th International Heinz von Foerster Congress.

Again, the University of Vienna will be the venue of discussions on the efforts as well as the effects of Heinz von Foerster's work and life.

It is only one of the special aims of this year's conference to celebrate von Foerster's 100th birthday. As to celebrating his work, we deem it appropriate to start with implications of Heinz von Foerster's early works, as represented by his early quantum-physical interpretation of memory and by his seminal work on self-organizing systems in the early 1960ies. Accordingly, this year's conference moves along two quite different and nevertheless related tracks

• Emergent Quantum Mechanics (primarily targeted audience: physicists); convened by Gerhard Grössing

• Emergence and self organisation in the worlds of society and nature (primarily targeted audience: specialists in sciences and humanities, and a general audience); convened by Albert Müller and Karl H. Müller

There is a conference web-site online (to be updated permanently throughout the next months)

The conference will take place at the main building of the University of Vienna from 10th to 13th November 2011. There will be special seminars before and after the conference, and a series of documentary films on topics related to cybernetics to be seen at a Viennese cinema.

Registration is possible from now onwards. To register as a participant of the conference, please send an informal e-mail to hvf11.zeitgeschichte@univie.ac.at using 'registration' as a subject line. There is no registration or entrance fee.

The 5th International Heinz von Foerster Conference is sponsored by the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research, the City of Vienna, and Blaha Büromöbel. Co-organizers are the Heinz von Foerster Society, WISDOM, Dept. of Contemporary History, University of Vienna, Austrian Institute for Nonlinear Studies in cooperation with the American Society for Cybernetics.

We ask you to distribute this information among your respective communities

Gerhard Grössing
Albert Müller
Karl H. Müller

2011-07-15T15:35:00.002+09:00

Emergent Interest in Cybernetics ...or?

The American Society of Cybernetics recently received the following request. Does this represent an upsurge in interest or further uncritical pursuit of all things cybernetic as with Adam Curtis? Any offers?

"My name is Claire Perrier and I am currently working with the filmmaker Philippe Borrel who is directing a 90 minute documentary about the convergent technologies revolution for the French and German cultural channel Arte TV. I am in charge of the research and collecting of the archive video footage. The film is produced by the French production company Cinétévé and will be broadcasted in 2012.

The filmmaker will talk in his film about the beginning and the history of the cybernetic sciences and researches. I am looking for some archival footage that would tell this story : interviews from the first cybernetic scientists like Norbert Wiener, the Macy conferences, other meetings, researches, interviews, archival news, etc... Anything that would allow us to tell this story and show how the cybernetics started. We are looking for archival footage, but if none existed, we would also be interested in archival photographies.

I would be very grateful to you if you could tell me who I should contact for this research or where I could find such archives.

Thanks a lot for your answer and please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further information regarding this project.

Best regards,

Claire

Claire Perrier de la Bâthie
Archive footage researcher
Cinétévé
4, Quai des Célestins
75004 Paris - France

2011-07-15T13:37:00.000+09:00

Insightful Analysis of how Murdoch Operates

Thanks to the Daily Telegraph's Chief Political Correspondent it is possible to gain useful insight's into how Rupert Murdoch and News Corp have operated so successfully within the realm of political power. My thanks to Roy Madron for drawing it to my attention.

Simon Caulkin adds additonal useful insights (see Suicide bomb at Wapping: family mansion in flames). Simon asks whether the challenge to democracy that News Corp has come to be could have been exposed if a newspaper chain that operated as a Trust (rather than as a fully private business intent on maximising shareholder return) did not exist? It was after all the Guardian and particularly Guardian journalist Nick Davies who have done the most to bring about this expose.

I have been back in Australia all of a week and the Murdoch press is appalling. There is no balance and they, with Abbot, cultivate a climate of fear that is ethically indefensible. As Julia Gillard implied yesterday much of what is published is crap! Under the circumstances it makes a mockery of
John Hartigan, chairman and chief executive of News Limited, claims that "at a time when “disturbing events continue to unfold in London”, it was “offensive and wrong” to connect the behaviour of the UK arm with the Australian newspaper titles." I disagree. This is exactly what should be done. And the last people to check what has or has not happened is News Corp itself, as the evidence from senior management in the UK only too clearly shows.

2011-07-15T13:04:00.001+09:00

ANZAM Conference in Wellington NZ

Bob Cavana writes: 'Just a short note to let you know that our deadline for papers, posters, workshops etc for the ANZAM conference (in Wellington on 7-9 December 2011) has now been extended until 21 July 2011.

Please visit www.anzamconference.org for full paper and workshop submission information.

We are also hoping to have a meeting at the ANZAM conference of professionals/practitioners & academics interested in systems & complexity methods and applications in management.

We look forward to seeing you all at the ANZAM conference in Wellington in December.

2011-06-12T20:20:00.002+09:00

Patrick Leigh Fermor touched the heart

I have generous and perceptive in-laws who realised that like them, the writings of Patrick Leigh Fermor, who has just died aged 96, could touch the heart. I am grateful for their gifts. In her Observer obituary Jan Morris says 'Leigh Fermor made of the genre [travel writing] a lovely instrument of grace, humour and reflection'......'travelling with him was like simultaineously travelling through several ages' .....'a complex soul, but with a stillness at the heart of him'. I detect in his passing a shift of an era, or perhaps that is merely my sense of loss for a talent capable through his writing of changing one's appreciative setting (to quote Geoffrey Vickers) in ways that I now mourn.

In a piece in yesterdays Guardian, Artemis Cooper, his biographer is quoted as saying that the long anticipated final book of his travel trilogy, begining with 'A Time of Gifts' (1977) followed by 'Between the Woods and the Water' (1987) will be forthcoming. I hope so.

2011-06-12T16:58:00.001+09:00

New Book on Murray Darling Basin Plan

The book “Basin Futures: Water Reform in the Murray-Darling Basin” has just been published electronically by ANU E Press. You can access the book here or order a hard copy. For those interested Phil Wallis and I have the following chapter in the book:

Ison, R.L. & Wallis, P. (2011) Planning as Performance. The Murray-Darling Basin Plan. In Grafton Q & Connell, D. eds. Basin Futures: Water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin, ANU ePress, Canberra.

The official launch of "Basin Futures: Water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin" will be by Senator Nick Xenophon, Independent Senator from South Australia at Parliament House (Canberra) on Tuesday 21 June at 10:00 am.

2011-06-05T02:41:00.000+09:00

Humberto Maturana in Sardinia

It was good to catch up with Humberto, Ximena Davilla and Pille Bunnell in Sardinia at the University of Sassari. They were in Sardinia to run a workshop entitled Reflexive Circles in Cultural Biology and its ecocultural background. As always in conversation with Humberto I gleaned new distinctions. Humberto, Ximina and colleagues have renamed their organisation in Chile to the Matriztic School of Santiago. At 82 Humberto remains mentally and physically agile even if looking older (as we all do).

The final day was devoted to presentations from a range of speakers to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of Juan Francisco Varela.

It was also good to return to Sassari and the University where I have been a Visiting Professor in the past.

2011-06-04T22:25:00.007+09:00

Brasilian Postcard 3: Bonito and the Pantanal

I have long wanted to make a visit to the Pantanal, one of the biggest wetland complexes in the world. I can now say I have been there but only just. We spent a week based at Bonito, which for reasons that are not really clear to me has become a centre for ecotourism - much of it Brasilian. There seemed to be many star-struck young couples - perhaps honeymooners - intent on placing themsleves in almost every photo they took. We stayed at the delightful Hotel Pousada Aguas de Bonito and mixed quiet days with full days out and about, usually on a tour with a guide - mainly Portuguese speaking.

Bonito, in the south of Matto Grosso do Sol state is on a limestone plateau from which many of the tourism highlights derive. But it is not the Pantanal! Highlights around Bonito in ranked order were:

1. Swimming with fish in the Silver River (Rio da Prata) south east of Bonito; just as we were about to enter the water a Tapir plunged in ahead of us and swam past. This was unusual - something our guides had not experienced before. The water was crystal clear - the fish huge and varied and a delighful experience overall. Over lunch (also good) we chatted with two German guys doing a six month motorbike trip around the south of South America - see their trip blog. If I were only a little younger!

2. Late afternoon on the same day we went to Buraco das Araras - a large sinkhole that is a major nesting site for macaws. Our timing was perfect as macaws in significant numbers were flying back to roost whilst we were there. They are impressive as they swoop in.

3. We had another good day - despite the rough roads - at Boca da Onca. It is advertised as 11 water falls - see photos - with an 866 step climb to finish off. Not much wildlife and wrong time of day for the birds but enjoyable none-the-less.

4. We had fun - including great water fights - on a boat trip along the Formoso River

5. The blue lake cave (Gruta do Logo Azul) was worth seeing - but not a highlight. It is quite close to Bonito and can be done in half a day - as can the boat trip on the Formoso River (which flows into the Miranda River).

The best day for me was our trip to the Pantanal - Fazenda San Francisco. From Bonito it was a long day - and made me realise that given another opportunity I would not base myself in Bonito to see the Pantanal - not that I regret seeing much of what Bonito had to offer. I cannot remember spending a more enjoyable day in a long time - perhaps 30 new species of birds to see, deer, capybora etc. This was also a good example of how agriculture and ecotourism can be combined in a private enterprise activity, though I remain concerned that private enterprise alone cannot conserve all that demands conservation or protection.

2011-06-02T04:22:00.014+09:00

New Systems Book by Rosalind Armson

At an event at the Open University (UK) office in London last night we had a celebratory launch of the new STiP (Systems Thinking in Practice) postgraduate programme along with the four new books co-published by the OU and Springer as part of the initiative. The event was recorded so look out for a future Blog with links to the posted material. A highlight of the night was a presentation by Helen Wilding who spoke from the perspective of someone who has studied both core courses in the new STiP programme and who has consequently engaged with all four books.

As I have made earlier posts about these books I will not say more here other than to say that in the first presentation of the courses which these books support they have all successfuly delivered on their design intentions. The books are:

Systems Thinkers

Systems Approaches

Systems Practice

Social Learning Systems

Rosalind Armson's new book was also launched having been published (by Triarchy Press) only that day. Here is what the publishers have to say about this book:

The fifth of Peter Senge's disciplines was Systems Thinking. (I know you knew that). They say The Fifth Discipline sold more than a million copies.

Triarchy authors John Seddon, Russ Ackoff, Bill Tate, Sally Bibb and Graham Leicester all harp on about Systems Thinking.

The result? A lot of people know Systems Thinking is a good thing but not many actually know how to do it. Which may be why we often get asked to recommend a practical guide to Systems Thinking. Now we can.

Rosalind Armson is a respected and experienced teacher of Systems Thinking. In her new book, Growing Wings on the Way: Systems Thinking in Messy Situations, she weaves together the professional and the personal benefits of being able to 'systems think' with her own case studies. Then she sets out the techniques that work best in approaching 'messes' (with rules and practical advice on each one):

Escaping Mental Traps (History, Habit and Action Traps, Double Binds, Value Rigidity)
Diagnosing with Multiple-Cause Diagrams
Drawing and using Rich Pictures and Influence Diagrams
Understanding messes with Systems Maps
Building Human-Activity System Diagrams
The 5Es (Efficacy, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Elegance, Ethics)
Viewing messes through an Understandascope

If you've ever had to face a mess (from running a national health service to a departmental reorganisation, a company merger or caring for your elderly mother) this book has everything you need to unravel it.

Whether you’re new to Systems Thinking or an old hand, the book helps you work with your own messy situations. It’s aimed at managers, team leaders, strategists, policy makers, students and people with mothers.

I have read Growing Wings and can unreservedly recommend it. These five books constitute a major milestone and a synthesis of the Open University's systems teaching and scholarship since it began in the early 1970s. Former OU student and Systems consultant Mike Haynes, amongst others, has endorsed Rosalind's book.

“A Systems Thinking primer! This easy-to-read book makes systems theory accessible to those who do not have time for intensive study but need help in structuring and solving complex problems… A resource masterpiece!”
Mike Haynes, Consultant

Rosalind Armson was, until last month, Senior Lecturer in Systems at the Open University. She has had a key role in Systems teaching and research in the UK and internationally and is widely respected for her grasp of the subject and her ability to communicate it.

As an independent consultant she has worked with banks, development agencies, energy providers, the voluntary sector, governments, health-care practitioners and many others.

She has delivered Systems Thinking workshops in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, South Africa and Europe.

2011-05-24T00:34:00.000+09:00

Brasilian Postcard 2 - Ecotourism and the nature of nature

Ecotourism has been central to both weeks in Brasil. And the experience overall has been a delight. In the first week, along with a small group of Systems scholars, we explored different parts of the National Parks Aparados da Serra and Serra Geral accompanied by a young guide who, with a partner, had set up an ecotourism business. As the week progressed several colleagues and I began to be concerned about the praxis of guiding and the mental models that underpinned this praxis as well as the management of the parks complex. It became clear that the dominant mental model was one of humans outside nature, the conservation of a pristine nature devoid of humans except as sensitive (controlled) voyeurs of the landscape. The dominant practice of guiding was to relate the facts of the matter - not to engage with the situation. Talking dominanted listening.

In the National Parks the mental model was one of conserving 'natural systems'; there was only limited place for agro-ecosystems. Many people had been ejected from within the perimeters of the park and it appeared that a lot still awaited compensation from the State. Some examples of new agro-ecosystems development concerned with biodiversity managment and types of forest/crop permacultures were beginning to appear. These had support from the Santa Caterina State extension service (EPAGRI), so perhaps the barriers between these mental models may break down over time. The buildings for drying and curing tobacco - one of the main former crops - were common in the park as were bananas - both organic and non-organic. Experience in many parts of the world suggest that unless local people become stakeholders in the park and its governance then the social and ecological objectives will be hard to meet.

The araucaria forest on the plateau was particulalry spectacular. This forest is clearly is in need of more extensive conservation and it is a shame, in the scheme of things that so much of the land bordering the parks has been turned over to cattle grazing on low quality tropical grass pastures.

Cattle are clearly built into the psyche of most rural inhabitants in this part of the world - they still provide draft power for small holders as well as being central to many sporting activities.

It was a challenge for most of us to be in the landscape - to listen and silence the internal voices - perhaps a 'pathology' of the now urbanised world we inhabit.

2011-05-23T22:38:00.002+09:00

Brasilian Postcard 1 - 'diverse perceptions'

Brasil must be getting it right - they know how to keep bottled beer cold. By a particular Australian standard this might be the height of cultural achievement. Having just spent two weeks in Brasil I am left with a myriad of perceptions which undoubtedly say as much about me as they do about Brasil. Here are some.

This is my third visit to Brasil since 2002 and now, more than before, it seems important not to leave Brasil out of any discourse about emerging 21st century states i.e., China, India and Brasil need to be used in the same phrase. Of course the development challenges remain enormous - as they are for China and India. This came home to me in a particular way. We spent one week based in Bonito and travelled out by mini-bus to different ecotourism destinations. Many of these trips were on dirt roads (see photos). Four of these journies involved back-breaking travel over side-tracks. Side tracks are those rough tracks which run alongside the main road when it is being prepared for surfacing with bitumen. In the 1950s and 60s side tracks and dirt roads were very common in Australia. These days most Australians, Europeans and Americans probably never encounter one. They are symbolic of the massive public invstement that is being made, and still needs to be made, in transport infrastructure. But with this form of development exploitation - possibly over exploitation - can quickly follow.
The land cleared for soybeans, corn, sugarcane in Matto Grosso do Sul state is immense. Brasil is now an integral part of the global grains trade with strong ties into China and Europe (supply) and the USA - signs for varities and chemicals from Dow, Cargill, Dekalb, Agremon etc litter the road from Campo Grande to the south. I am told that weeds that are Roundup resistant are already becoming a major issue in soybean production. From a systems perspective this was to be expected.
During my stay I had news of a BBC report about expansion of rainforest clearing in Matto Grosso - the state immediately north from where I was. The report said:

'Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest has increased almost sixfold, new data suggests. Satellite images show deforestation increased from 103 sq km in March and April 2010 to 593 sq km (229 sq miles) in the same period of 2011, Brazil's space research institute says. Much of the destruction has been in Mato Grosso state, the centre of soya farming in Brazil. The news comes shortly before a vote [in the Brasilian Parliament] on new forest protection rules.

Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said the figures were "alarming" and announced the setting up of a "crisis cabinet" in response to the news. "Our objective is to reduce deforestation by July," the minister told a news conference.'

Whilst meeting with colleagues from Santa Caterina in the National Parks Aparados da Serra and Serra Geral, another example of the systemic failure of public policies became apparent. Brasil has legislation making it illegal to harvest and use native tree species (though as can be seen from the BBC report this is not really effective as all regulations require resources for enforcement and these are just not available). But the policy is delivering other unintended consequences. We learnt of people who would like to replant native species but because the legislation precludes them harvesting any of what they plant they instead turn to exotic Eucalyptus which sits outside the ban. They can then selectively harvest the eucalyptus for personal use and income.
One of the books I have been reading here in Brasil is Tim Jackson's 'Prosperity Without Growth' (2009). In the context of Brasil - and elswhere he poses some big questions - but ones that need to be asked. I do not feel optimistic.
I am intrigued by the possible systemic implications of the rapid expansion of evangelical religion in Brasil. A further decline of the Catholic church? Release through diversity as in the UK in the 18th and 19th centuries? A precursor to a largely atheistic state? In Bonito with about 20,000 people there were Assemblies of God and Assemblies of God (Primitive) churches plus at least five other evangelical variations. The Catholic church was not apparent! In Campo Grande (population about 800,000) there are five Morman churches and countless other evangelical denominations.
Brasilian breakfasts are a delight. So are the people - though it is hard going for English (only) speakers compared to some other countries. Of course the reverse is true as well - and people have been extremely polite and welcoming.
Sohisticated schemes such as recycling - which is widespread and easy to use combine with a propensity for kitsch - as with the jaguar phone booth in the mainstreet of Bonito.

2011-04-24T10:13:00.005+09:00

UK-based Systems Conferences and Events

Over the northern summer there are two Systems conferences being held in England and one event. For anyone living in and around London or visiting on the 31st May you are cordially invited to a launch of our four new books prepared for the new MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice (STiP) programme at the Open University Office in London (Camden - see attached) from 6-8pm. (Please note the RSVP). The first conference is the ISSS conference at the University of Hull. The second is the UKSS conference. Details follow.

1. Official Launch of new suite of books for STiP Programme at OU - May 31st, London

For further background on STiP see my earlier posting.

2. ISSS
The 55th Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences will be held at Hull University Business School, Hull, UK from July 17-22, 2011.

Theme: All together now – working across disciplines: People, principles and practice

Important Dates

April 30, 2011: The end of early, discounted registration.
May 15, 2011: The deadline for full papers. Only ONE submission per registered participant will be accepted for the conference.
June 1, 2011. The final deadline for abstracts, recognising that abstracts may not be developed into full papers for this conference. Only ONE abstract per registered participant will be accepted for the conference.
June 1, 2011. The deadline for poster abstract submission. Posters are exempt from the one abstract/paper submission rule.

Special integration groups (SIGs) and exploratory sessions are being planned in the following areas (see the website for contact details for each group):
Agent-based Social Systems
Arts-based Inquiry
Balancing Individualism and Collectivism
Critical Systems Theory & Practice
Designing Educational Systems
Economic and Financial Systems
Evolutionary Development
Foundations of Information Systems
Hierarchy Theory
Human Systems Inquiry
Information Systems Design and Information Technology
ISSS Roundtable
Living Systems Analysis
Medical and Health Systems
Organizational Transformation and Social Change
Research Towards General Theories of Systems
Service Systems Science
Socio-Ecological Systems
Spirituality and Systems
Student SIG
Systemic Approaches to Conflict and Crises
Systemic Approaches to Poverty and Disadvantage
Systems Applications in Business & Industry
Systems Biology and Evolution
Systems and Mental Health
Systems Modeling and Simulation
Systems Pathology
Systems Specific Technology
What is Life and Living

Social Programs
There will be a welcome reception on Sunday evening, July 17. The conference banquet will be held on Thursday, July 21.

The registration fee includes:
* The program/abstract book
* 2011 CD-ROM proceedings
* Reception on Sunday July 17
* ISSS membership fees for 2012
The registration fees also includes tea/coffee breaks and lunches from Monday to Thursday.

The registration fee does not cover accommodation or transportation expenses to and from the conference site.

Accommodation ranges from very well-appointed University rooms to mid- and upper-range hotels.

For further details please check the website or contact isssoffice@dsl.pipex.com

3. UKSS

UK Systems Society Conference 2011

Thursday 1st Friday 2nd September 2011 St Anne¹s College, University of Oxford

Call for Papers and Workshops & AGM announcement

Paper submission is open from now until 31 May 2011; Registration opens 21 March 2011

The Future of Systems Learning¹

Keynote Speakers:

Professor John Naughton, University of Cambridge (1st Sep.)

Dr. Martin Reynolds, Open University (2nd Sep.)

The Conference Committee invites contributions from Systems thinkers, whether academic or practitioners. Solicited contributions can be in the form of full papers, posters or proposals to organise a pre-event workshop. Particular topics of interest will include for this year, but are not restricted to, the following:

Pedagogy of Systems and developing Systems skills
The value of Systems learning for the individual, the organisation and society
The professionalisation¹ of Systems practice: why, how, what, when
Systems teaching and training case studies
Linking Systems research and professional practice with teaching and learning
Delivering Systems skills below Higher Education

Full papers are invited relating primarily to the areas outlined above. All submissions will be peer-reviewed by at least two members of the refereeing panel (in respect of academic works) or editorially reviewed by the general and programme chairs (in respect of accounts of Systems practice). Papers will be available in electronic format during the conference, and a small number of high-quality papers will be selected for publication to a special edition of the Society¹s official journal, the Systemist, to be published following the conference. Please note that eligibility for publication in this special issue will also depend upon at least one of the authors registering for and attending the Conference.

Contributors who do not wish to submit full papers can consider submitting posters. Posters will be displayed at special sessions during the conference.

The Committee also invites ideas for a half-day workshop with the intention of selecting one as a precursor to the main conference event. Attendance of the workshop will be charged additionally to the main event. The selected workshop facilitator will be awarded a complimentary place to attend the conference. Workshop topics may vary and can include introduction to particular Systems methods and techniques that are of interest to the Systems community, hands-on practical applications etc. If you intend to submit a bid for a workshop, please explain in a single A4 page the aim and learning objectives of your proposal, the intended format, any special requirements for equipment, facilities or software etc.

Conference Committee
Conference Chair: Theo Tryfonas, University of Bristol, UK
Refereeing Panel Chair: John Davis, University of Bristol, UK
Refereeing Panel: Rick Adcock, Cranfield University, UK
Peter Bednar, University of Portsmouth, UK
Laurence Brooks, Brunel University, UK
Sarah Cornell, University of Bristol, UK
Jeremy Hilton, Cranfield University, UK
Ady James, UCL, UK
Maria Karyda, University of Aegean, GR
Vasilis Katos, Democritus University of Thrace, GR
Spyros Kokolakis, University of Aegean, GR
Laura Lacey, Cranfield University, UK
Neil McBride, De Montfort University, UK
Steve McIntosh, Cardiff University, UK
Steve Probert, Higher Education Academy, UK
Ian Roderick, Schumacher Institute, UK
Frank Stowell, University of Portsmouth, UK
Joanne Tippet, University of Manchester, UK
Christine Welch, University of Portsmouth, UK
Leroy White, University of Bristol, UK
Jennifer Wilby, University of Hull, UK
Mike Yearworth, University of Bristol, UK
Louise Yngstrom, Stockholm University, SE

Key Dates
Deadline for workshop proposals                   30 April 2011
Deadline for paper submission                        31 May 2011
Feedback to authors                                      30 June 2011
Registration opens                                          21 March 2011
Early bird period ends                                    30 June 2011

Submission Guidelines
Papers should be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format using Times New Roman typeface and 12pt size. Major headings should be 14pt size. All figures and tables must be supplied in camera-ready format, within text and in a form that will still be legible if reduced by up to 50%. Papers should conform to the Harvard referencing standard to a maximum of one side of A4. A title page must be provided and should include the title of the paper, author name(s), affiliation, address and abstract of 100-150 words with a maximum of 5 relevant key words. Submission is via email to submissions@ukss.org.uk

Printed poster dimensions should be no larger than A1 size and submitted electronically in .pdf, or .ppt format only to the same address as above submissions@ukss.org.uk .

UKSS AGM 2011
During the conference the UK Systems Society¹s annual general meeting will take place as usual. This is scheduled for September 1st, 5pm at the conference venue.

For fees and other details contact the organisers by emailing conference2011@ukss.org.uk or go to the web site.

St Anne¹s College is situated in the heart of the University town of Oxford, conveniently placed for rail and coach links and within walking distance of the City Centre. It is situated in 5 acres of pleasant grounds. Accommodation is in modern rooms with tea and coffee making facilities. All conference sessions are in rooms adjacent to the accommodation.

2011-04-21T16:55:00.002+09:00

Listening - the 2011 ASC Conference

Ranulph Glanville, President of The American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) writes to announce a conversational conference on the theme of

LISTENING
He says:

'We regard listening as the key act that turns talking into conversation. However, we use these words metaphorically, and not just literally: we do not mean to concentrate on the aural senses, but on the idea that it is the recipient who gives meaning to what they hear. This is how they release the potential in a statement made by another into conversation, whether the conversation is in words, acts, gestures, or indeed any other medium of communication. This can lead to the development of understanding of the other so important in human relations (perhaps specially in fields such as psycho-therapy, management, education and music).

Our conference is organised around informal and generous conversations in small groups, but has space for formal paper presentations and performances. We are also inviting experiential workshops. The conference itself will be held in Richmond, Indiana, USA, and begins in the evening of 10 August and runs to the evening of 13 August 2001. There is a sliding scale of charges. For those attending, there are free add-on events before and after.

Please visit the conference web site. Note, applicants for the conference need to fill in a statement of interest (no more than a paragraph).

To get a sense of last year’s conference, please visit this web site.

We hope to welcome you to our conferences!'

2011-04-21T05:53:00.001+09:00

Peter Senge Videos

Pegasus are now sellling the following two videos. If anyone has looked at them I would be interested in your feedback.

Senge on Leadership

View clip

In this powerfully engaging video, Peter Senge speaks in plain, straight-to-the-point language about crucial leadership issues facing all organizations as they work to create the results they really care about. From proposing alternative roles for leaders that go beyond the destructive hero-CEO myth to underscoring the central position of trust and relationships in collective endeavors, Senge zeros in on pivotal organizational challenges and points a way ahead for all who see themselves as leaders.

Senge on Change and Learning

View clip

In this gripping discussion, Peter Senge illuminates the crucial role of learning in any successful organizational change effort and helps us understand ways to get beyond frustrating barriers to learning. He underscores the importance of focusing on the human dimension in the workplace and the remarkable capacity of inspired people to work together in service of a larger goal. Perhaps most important, he dispels the illusion that leaders can spearhead organizational change without being ready to change themselves.

2011-04-20T17:44:00.000+09:00

Reprieve for Mekong

Further to my last posting the meeting held yesterday deferred a decision to proceed with the Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong in Laos. Apparently 'the Lao PDR proposed to proceed with the dam [whilst] Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam called for an extension to the decision-making process, citing concerns about transboundary impacts and knowledge gaps that require both further study and public consultation'.

2011-04-19T15:27:00.000+09:00

Along the Mekong - do we know what we do?

An article in today's Age reminds me of what I have not been thinking and writing about since my recent visit to Cambodia and Laos. Why? Well because it is just too damn depressing! So what is happening along the Mekong?

"Today, the four countries that share the lower reaches of the Mekong River will announce whether they agree to the construction of a controversial dam that could forever alter the character and natural diversity of one of the world's longest and most bountiful rivers." (Thomas Fuller)

Please read Thomas Fuller's piece to explore why this is bad enough, but unfortunately there is more, much more. The proposed Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong in Laos is only the tip of the veritable iceberg of intervention and exploitation in the vast Mekong river system. This is a wicked, wicked problem if ever there was one! A vast river system that underpins ecological processes and species lifecycles that we do not fully understand; six countries (China, Burma, Laos Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam) all concerned to develop...or exploit their 'own' natural resources and despite a Mekong River Commission as Fuller notes, "all four countries retain.. the right to build dams with or without agreement by neighbouring countries."

Whilst in Laos amongst water engineers and policy advisers I had figures quoted to me of 1.5 million people's livelihoods being threatened by dams in the Mekong-fed Tonle Sap lake system in Cambodia. In all hundreds of dams and diversions are on the drawing board for the Mekong and its tributaries.

There are of course groups trying to work with key stakeholders to avoid catastrophe, groups like M-Power. If ever there was a context calling out for systemic and adpative water governance this is it.

2011-04-10T08:39:00.001+09:00

Not convinced by my earlier post ....read about why radiation is bad

In my earlier posting I outlined a series of systemic arguments as to why George Monbiot had missed the point ...as have all those other nuclear apologists. The following day Peter Karamoskos had a well written article published in The Age as to why radiation is bad and refuting some of George Monbiot's main arguments. This is what Peter had to say:

"With the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl looming, the pro-nuclear lobby is in overdrive.
You have to hand it to the nuclear industry and its acolytes. In the middle of the second-worst nuclear power disaster in history at Fukushima, and with still no end in sight, you would think they would respond with contrition, humility and profuse mea culpas. Not on your life. The industry representatives and its acolytes came out swinging in full denial attire.

Ziggy Switkowski, former chair of ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) and a proponent of nuclear power for Australia, claimed "the best place to be whenever there's an earthquake is at the perimeter of a nuclear plant because they are designed so well", and then quickly added: "On the other hand, you know, if the engineers do lose control of the core, then the answer becomes different."

Strident nuclear advocate Professor Barry Brook gave assurances in his running commentary that seemed ironically prescient of what was about to happen, stating ''I don't see the ramifications of this as damaging at all to nuclear power's prospects'' and that ''it will provide a great conversation starter for talking intelligently to people about nuclear safety''.
Other arguments trotted out by pro-nuclearists about how safe nuclear power is demonstrated their chutzpah more than their good judgment. My favourite: the justification for nuclear power is that it kills fewer people than the coal industry. Ignoring the false choice this proposition entails, what does it say about the safety culture of the nuclear industry when one of its selling points is that it kills fewer people than the competition?

But more insidious and objectionable is the creeping misinformation that the nuclear industry has fed into the public sphere over the years. There seems to be a never-ending cabal of paid industry scientific ''consultants'' who are more than willing to state the fringe view that low doses of ionising radiation do not cause cancer and, indeed, that low doses are actually good for you and lessen the incidence of cancer. Canadian Dr Doug Boreham has been on numerous sponsored tours of Australia by Toro Energy, a junior uranium explorer, expounding the view that "low-dose radiation is like getting a suntan". Toro must have liked what it heard because it made him a safety consultant for the company in 2009.

Ionising radiation is a known carcinogen. This is based on almost 100 years of cumulative research including 60 years of follow-up of the Japanese atom bomb survivors. The International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC, linked to the World Health Organisation) classifies it as a Class 1 carcinogen, the highest classification indicative of certainty of its carcinogenic effects.

In 2006, the US National Academy of Sciences released its Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation (VII) report, which focused on the health effects of radiation doses at below 100 millisieverts. This was a consensus review that assessed the world's scientific literature on the subject at that time. It concluded: ". . . there is a linear dose-response relationship between exposure to ionising radiation and the development of solid cancers in humans. It is unlikely that there is a threshold below which cancers are not induced."
The most comprehensive study of nuclear workers by the IARC, involving 600,000 workers exposed to an average cumulative dose of 19mSv, showed a cancer risk consistent with that of the A-bomb survivors.

April 26 marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. The pro-nuclearists have gone into full-spin-ahead mode, misrepresenting the latest UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation) report on Chernobyl.

Two days ago on this page, George Monbiot (''How the anti-nuclear lobby misled us all with dodgy claims''), citing the report, wrongly plays down he death toll. He correctly states that the report found 6848 cases of thyroid cancer in children, although he fails to acknowledge it was due to the effects of radioactive iodine in the nuclear fallout. The number of cases will continue to increase, according to the US National Cancer Institute, for a further 10 to 20 years.

Thyroid cancer is easy to detect because it is normally a rare cancer. Most other cancers caused by radiation are not that easy to detect above the high background natural rates of cancer. It is the proverbial needle in a haystack scenario - but in this case the needles (radiation-induced cancer) look the same as the hay (other cancers). What the report therefore said was that statistical limitations and large uncertainties precluded being able to single out any radiation-induced cancers. It did not say there have been no cancers, as Monbiot and others claim, or that none will develop, only that it is not possible at this stage to detect them.

IARC states that ''by 2065, predictions based on these models indicate that about 16,000 cases of thyroid cancer and 25,000 cases of other cancers may be expected due to radiation from the accident and that about 16,000 deaths from these cancers may occur''. Whether we will be able to detect them when there will also be more than 1 million other cases of cancer over this period is debatable. But every one of these excess cancers is a tragedy for each victim and their family, and is no less so simply because cancer is a common disease.

George Monbiot should read properly the BEIR VII report that Helen Caldicott gave him - all 423 pages."

2011-04-03T19:31:00.001+09:00

Listening - a great focus for the 2011 ASC conference

ASC President Ranulph Glanville and host Larry Richards advise that the ASC 'summer conference, planned to consist of a central three day event and pre- and post-conference events, will be on the theme of "Listening" following the success of this format at the 2010 Troy conference.

It will be held August 9 - 15, 2011, in Richmond, Indiana, with the main conference beginning Wednesday evening with a reception and performance and ending Saturday evening with a conference dinner and guest speaker. The theme is "Listening" and current details are available at the conference web site: http://www.asc-cybernetics.org/2011. There will also be some pre-conference sessions and a post-conference study session.

2011-04-03T19:11:00.004+09:00

George Monbiot has lost it - at least his systemic awareness!

George coming out in support of nuclear was I thought the last straw. It has been hard to take the myriad nuclear apologists who blythly contend that post-Japan it will be business as usual on the pathway to uranium enriched nirvana! So many folk just do not get it from a systemic perspective - yet others see the systemic implications clearly so why not George? The reasons we should not proceed are of course multi-faceted and not amenable to systematic (compared to systemic) explication. But lets try. Firstly how the issue is framed needs attention and choice. I find framings that are technological, or economic as a starting point totally inadequate. Let's start by framing nuclear fuel expansion as a social, particularly governance, issue with many of the characteristics Rittel and Webber attributed to 'wicked problems'. Framed in this way a set of systemic issues are readily apparent associated with how risk is perceived and managed, how corporate power is unaccountable in Japan (and elsewhere), how capability to act in the face of surprise and breakdown is inadequate, how slow the national and international response has been and how poorly coordinated it seems, and perhaps worst of all, how the nuclear issue undermines, through loss of attention and resources, the humanitarian response to the needs of victims of the tsunami. There is no technological fix for the failure of human institutions and the goverence regimes they support and in all of our planning we should make allowance for this inescapable 'truth'.

These and other thoughts have been my companion as I listen to the BBC, read my paper or talk to colleagues. What are some of the issues ...in no particular order: (i) investment in nuclear will soak up important capital that is better invested elsewhere; (ii) in chasing a nuclear holy grail we admit to a business as usual energy future, rather then reshaping or transforming our energy future; (iii) uranium mining and nuclear power plants are all heavily dependent on water - thus mines are over exploiting and contaminating groundwater resources and/or requiring investment in energy demanding desalination plants. Generating plants will also have to be located near urban areas as well and near water sources; (iv) the Earth is ulitimately a moving, changing set of materials in process - thus long-term waste storage is ultimately never safe; (v) the total supply of uranium is not that great, etc - see Ian Lowe's Quarterly Essay for further background.

Today at least my breakfast, as I read my Sunday Age, was not accompanied by indigestion and indignation. Thank heavens for John Vidal. In his article John, who has visited Chernobyl argues that:

"It was grim. We went from hospital to hospital and from one contaminated village to another. We found deformed and genetically mutated babies in the wards; pitifully sick children in the homes; adolescents with stunted growth and dwarf torsos; foetuses without thighs or fingers and villagers who told us every member of their family was sick."

Vidal's timely and compelling piece highlights what the nuclear apologists fail to acknowledge - that we pursue this technology at our peril because, ultimately, we are not capable of managing it - it will forever surprise us in ways that will continue to undermine the quality of life of all - through the harm we do each other and future generations through accident, war, terror or plain old fear, our impacts on other species and thus, ultimately, what it means to be human.

2011-01-02T14:49:00.002+09:00

Reframing poverty and where it is

This article by Andy Sumner (The new bottom billion) makes a good case for reframing the way we consider poverty and its distribution. An emergent issue from the analysis is that it brings into focus growing income inequlity in all nation states. Different framings require different policies and actions. As Sumner argues:

'The new bottom billion has reshaped the demographics of poverty. This calls for a renewed development narrative, one that focuses on inequality and shared responsibility.'

2011-01-02T14:38:00.001+09:00

Joining up the dots on climate change - yet still contested

I was impressed by the article by Age journalist Adam Morton which joins up 'many of the dots' in an accessible way that allows a reading of what is happening across the globe on the weather front. For example Morton writes:

'"The climate is changing," the National Climatic Data Centre's Jay Lawrimore told the paper. "Extreme events are occurring with greater frequency, and in many cases with greater intensity."

Munich Re reported that its database of natural catastrophes showed the number of extreme weather events such as windstorms and floods had tripled since 1980 "and the trend is expected to persist".
Not everyone working in the area is comfortable with linking the current shift in extreme events with greenhouse gases. There is disagreement in the scientific literature over whether extreme weather disasters have started to worsen.'

Scepticism remains strong, however meaning that this year is likely to be difficult politically in Australia in terms of achieving a price on carbon. The Independents and Greens together ought to manage to tip the balance in transitioning towards a post-carbon society, after all it is more than climate change per se.

2010-12-23T06:31:00.002+09:00

Ecosystem Services: Pricing to Peddle?

This article by Brian Czech raises some timely, systemic issues concerning ecosystems services. I recommend some of the follow-up postings as well e.g. David Bean.

'On November 15, five nations issued a complaint about a UN initiative called the “Global Green New Deal.” These nations claim that “nature is seen [by the UN] as ‘capital’ for producing tradable environmental goods and services.” They express their concern about the “privatization and the mercantilization of nature through the development of markets for environmental services.” They also declare their “condemnation of unsustainable models of economic growth.”

For the purposes of this week’s Daly News, it matters little who these nations are, nor does it matter if their interpretation of the Green New Deal is completely accurate. What does matter is that their complaint ripens our attention to a widespread and growing controversy about the implications of valuing ecosystem services.

The good news from the Green New Deal is that ecological microeconomics (such as valuing ecosystem services) has risen from the recesses of academia into the realm of international diplomacy. The bad news is that ecological macroeconomics (such as limits to growth) apparently has not. Let’s take a look at the implications.

The primary distinction of ecological economics, in contrast with conventional or “neoclassical” economics, is that ecological economists recognize limits to growth and a fundamental trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection. The economic pie can only get so big even if all its pieces are correctly priced, including ecosystem services. Because the economic pie can only get so big, society must also pay greater attention to fairly distributing the pieces. In order to protect the environment, and to help allocate resources in the fairest manner, it helps to recognize the economic value of ecosystem services. That’s what ecological microeconomics is all about; estimating the value of natural capital and ecosystem services.

In mainstream economic circles, on the other hand, limits to growth are seen as nonexistent or too far off to worry about. That leads to a nonchalant attitude about fairness; just grow the economy because a “rising tide lifts all boats.” Traditional economists don’t mind valuing ecosystem services, however. As long as the prices are right, and markets are established, ecosystem services can be allocated efficiently, just like steel and milk into guns and butter.

The valuation of ecosystem services provides some common ground for neoclassical and ecological economics. That should be a good thing. However, common ground can be a minefield, too. Many a well-meaning bureaucrat and diplomat are stumbling toward the landmines.

Perhaps the two most common concerns about valuing ecosystem services are: 1) Many ecosystem services are beyond the ability of humans to estimate the value of, much less to “price” for the market. “Value of the ozone layer? Priceless.” 2) The valuing of ecosystem services begs a market, then monetization of the services such that they are viewed as commodities to be traded like hogs or hoola hoops. For many cultures this offends the senses of dignity and harmony with the natural world. “Would you take 40,000 hogs for the climate regulation provided by that forest over there?”

But my concern is with another problem; namely, our inattention to where the money comes from to pay for services such as water filtration, carbon sequestration, pollination, etc. There seems to be an attitude that, if we just throw enough money at a problem, we’ll solve it. And that is precisely the attitude that creeps in when ecological microeconomics is not complemented with a healthy dose of ecological macroeconomics. Markets convey the idea that you can have as much as you want as long as you pay the right price; ecological macroeconomics says the total is limited and the right market price should simply ration the limited total. And if the total is not limited then it is hard for the price to be “right”.

We especially need more awareness of the trophic origins of money. Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it does come from the ground in a very real sense. The amount of money available for the purchasing of guns, butter, hogs or carbon sequestration originates from the agricultural and extractive surplus that frees the hands for the division of labor.

In other words, it is not the ozone layer that “generates” money for throwing at its priceless service. Nor does the North Pole “generate” the money for ecotourists to witness it. What generates money is activity on the ground – on the farm, in the forest, in the fishery – that gives everyone else their food, as well as the materials for their clothing and shelter. Everyone else is then free to work in the manufacturing or service sectors. With plenty of surplus, the economy can even support bankers, actors, and financial engineers who set up markets for trading carbon permits. That’s the trophic structure of the human economy.

The more our farmers, loggers, and fishermen produce, the more money we’ll all have for the bank, the movies, and trading in biodiversity credits. But of course the more we ask them to produce, the more environmental impact we’ll have. If you insist on growing the economy and protecting the environment, eventually the bank and the theatre will be empty; your money’s going straight to the ecosystem services market. It’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Now consider the other side of the coin, so to speak. We often hear about the investment in the Catskill Mountains watershed that provides clean water to New York City. I’m all for it! But it’s no example of reconciling the conflict between economic growth and environmental protection. What do the growthers think they’re going to do in that watershed: open hog farms and build high-rises? No, by “investing” in that natural capital a decision was made to keep the land relatively free from intensive economic activity. That’s not the kind of investment they like to hear about in New York City, at least not on Wall Street.

So I’ll stop short of saying, “Let’s encourage all the ecological microeconomics we can get.” Let’s encourage some of it, while realizing that there are only so many ecological economists to go around. Let’s encourage far more study and practice of ecological macroeconomics. With microeconomics, let’s help to demonstrate what’s at stake when we mine an aquifer or pull up a fishery. But more importantly, let’s not peddle those ecosystem services like they’re rubber boots. Remember where the money comes from to pay for them: the liquidation of natural capital stocks somewhere else. That’s ecological macroeconomics, and that leads to a steady state economy where some of those precious ecosystem services stay where they belong: out of the market.'

2010-12-11T13:21:00.003+09:00

Snow in Scotland - more systemic effects

Drennan writes: 'By the way, regarding systemic effects of the snow, here are a few more.

1) We all need food supplies etc but of course the big stores are all operating on the "Just in Time" system - which means a delay of a day or so means the stores start running out of food.

2) People hear about this difficulty on the news and so they buy twice as much as usual to "stock up" - except for the indigenous rural Scots who stock up at the start of November every year - and the result is the shops empty quicker.

3) This is all made worse by the fact that the TESCOs and ASDAs have outcompeted the small town centre bakeries etc which have often closed. The TESCOs etc of course buy in bulk from bulk producers and hence the great majority of the bread eaten in Scotland is all made in three huge bakeries near Glasgow.

4) However, once an articulated lorry delivering supplies jack-knifes on a motorway, huge traffic jams build up behind it and breakdown vehicles or road gritters that would make the road driveable can not get through. A few of these and the whole system jams up! We have of course developed a delivery system largely dependent on just in time deliveries by large lorries, and business based mainly on car commuting workers who get caught in the snarlups.

5) This of course means tankers cannot reach the main oil refinery, which means that petrol stations start running out of fuel for sale, which means even those that can move to deliver may run out of fuel.

6) In the meantime, amid the political blame game that is going on, the first minister for Scotland announces that we will have to get used to more such extreme weather conditions in Scotland - enter Climate Change.

All the best - it is thawing now but forecast to freeze up by Monday'

2010-12-09T09:12:00.000+09:00

News from Scotland

A report from my friend Drennan. The systemic effects are readily apparent!

'Just to let you see we are buried in it here. We have about one metre with plenty freeze thaw cycles to create icy roads, huge icicles hanging from buildings and traffic chaos. The central belt of Scotland was caught completely off guard and ended up with miles of motorway filled with hundreds of cars filled with people overnighting in them at -17 degrees centigrade. My sister .. ended up marooned at her daughter's house and her daughter marooned at her mother's house after abandoning her car on the motorway and walking miles overland to a functioning railway station to get some transport.

Meanwhile, we have been going down to -20 centigrade at night. A thaw is forecast but I hope to goodness it is a slow one or here come the floods! This could be a long hard winter here. It is only the start of December,
the volcanic explosion in Iceland has created a dust layer, the Gulf Stream (North Atlantic Drift) has weakened, and El Nino is doing things that encourage a cold season also.

The last broadcaster who referred to a Winter Wonderland has been strangled and another was taken to the edge of the village and snowballed to death.

We stay at home and drive nowhere. We couldn't go many places. All the hill passes seem to be permanently blocked. Nobody has any winter tyres for sale - they all went to Germany. Hope all goes well with all of you.'

2010-12-08T18:18:00.002+09:00

Effective use of Systems in policy review and development

The Munro Review of Child Protection in England by Professor Eileen Munro of LSE has released a first report entitled: 'A Systems Analysis'. It is recommended reading for anyone interested to see how good systems thinking and practice can help to frame and structure an important inquiry such as this one. It also highlights the role that Systems capability can play in formulating public policy and effecting good governance. David Lane, Reader in Management Science at LSE is providing expertise in Systems in support of the review.

In introducing this report Prof. Munro describes how it:

'sets out the systems approach I am taking to understand how reforms interact and the effect these interactions are having on practice. It is at the front line where they come together, at present creating an imbalance and distortion of practice priorities.'

In outlining the report's approach to Systems is argued that:

'A systems approach will help this review to avoid looking at parts of the child protection system in isolation, and to analyse how the system functions as a whole. Social workers and other professionals accept many previous reforms were well intended but their interaction and cumulative effect on frontline practice have had unintended consequences. A systems approach will help to understand how and why previous reforms have had both beneficial and adverse consequences and how the review might improve how the system supports social workers and other professionals to protect children and young people better in the future.

The review will use systems theory in two ways. First, the review will look back at past reforms to explain what has happened, with systems theory providing a strong basis to build the review’s understanding. Second, the intention is to use systems theory analysis to look forward – with systems theory helping the review design an improved approach. The first leads naturally to the second since what is needed is a stronger understanding of the system and analysis of how aspects of the system interact with each other before the review recommends any further changes.'

For more background see this clip or this article.

2010-11-18T18:07:00.001+09:00

This Is Your Brain on Metaphors

My friend Bruce, in the middle of reading my book, has kindly alerted me to this article by Robert Sapolsky. Here is a sample:

'This neural confusion about the literal versus the metaphorical gives symbols enormous power, including the power to make peace. The political scientist and game theorist Robert Axelrod of the University of Michigan has emphasized this point in thinking about conflict resolution. For example, in a world of sheer rationality where the brain didn’t confuse reality with symbols, bringing peace to Israel and Palestine would revolve around things like water rights, placement of borders, and the extent of militarization allowed to Palestinian police. Instead, argues Axelrod, “mutual symbolic concessions” of no material benefit will ultimately make all the difference.'

2010-11-14T12:30:00.001+09:00

Follow-up from this year's ASC conference

News about this year’s conference.
•    Judy Lombardi made a slide show of the conference;
•    Lev Ledit, with Judy Lombardi, made a 35 minute movie from the video material recorded during the event;
•    You may like to hear Ernst von Glasersfeld’s after dinner speech, which formed a theme in Lev’s movie.

Of course, you are still welcome to explore the whole site. It is very rich, and still being added to!
Meanwhile, we are working on proceedings which will be published next year in a double volume of Kybernetes. There are also reviews of the conference: Claudia Westermann’s will appear in Leonardo—the Arts and Science Journal—on line in November (and may also appear in hard copy); and 2 reviews, one by Stuart Umpleby and the other by Michael Hohl and Stefan Wiltschnig will appear together in issue 1 of Kybernetes in 2011. Finally, ASC President Raulph Glanville has written an assessment that will appear in Cybernetics and Human Knowing, as the ASC column, by the end of the year, together with the text of Ernst’s talk. urls will be posted on the conference site, when they are available.

2010-11-14T12:17:00.002+09:00

Cybernetics of Cybernetics—a competition

Ranulph Glanville, President, of ASC (the American Society for Cybernetics ) and his committee are delighted to announce a competition (open to all, prize fund up to US$ 1500) to propose cybernetic ways in which a Society for cybernetics might be organised and behave. This follows a suggestion from Margaret Mead, the founding mother of cybernetics summarised below. Submissions should be received by noon, GMT, on 31 January 2011. Full details can be found on the ASC website.

The ASC welcomes your interest and your suggestions!

Brief Background Description

In 1967, Margaret Mead, one of the original attendees at the Josiah Macy Jr. conferences and the founding mother of cybernetics, presented a paper (published in 1968) called “Cybernetics of Cybernetics” to the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC). Following on from a suggestion by Gregory Bateson, at the end of her address Mead proposed that the ASC should consider itself as a cybernetic body, and apply cybernetic insights and techniques to its own organisation and operation.

Although Mead proposed a number of specific questions the ASC could ask about how it might be run (see full quote here), her suggestion received little attention. Rather, the title of her paper (given to her by Heinz von Foerster) became used more generally in the application of cybernetics to cybernetics, or second order cybernetics.

The “Cybernetics of Cybernetics” paper thus leaves two legacies. The ASC has come to recognise the need to take up Mead’s original challenge and address the conflict that occurs when a cybernetic society is not run according to cybernetic principles. The ASC can be seen as convention-bound in its operation, which is particularly odd for a cybernetic society.

The ASC (and no doubt other societies) needs ideas and renewal, and we are looking to competition entries for inspiration and direction developed from cybernetic principles. As the established home of second order cybernetics, these cybernetic principles should reflect, preferably, second as well as first order cybernetics.

2010-11-13T20:43:00.002+09:00

Passing of Ernst von Glasersfeld

This evening I came home to news about Ernst's death this morning, 12 November 2010, at 7am US east coast time. Ernst was seen by some as the originator of 'radical constructivism'. I was fortunate to see him again at the recent ASC Conference in Troy, upstate New York where he gave, as always, an erudite talk as the conference after dinner speaker. He was clearly pleased to be amongst that community even though his deafness made connection difficult. Reports of his death at the age of 93 are beginning to appear.

See a synopsis of his work here.

2010-11-13T09:39:00.000+09:00

Some current research projects

I have made links under News to some research projects that are currently under way. One is a collaboration with RMIT and others under the auspices of VCCCAR. We are responsible for one of the work packages:

Exploring local narratives (12 months)
Adaptation activity is strongly influenced by perceptions of risk either driven by underlying value and belief systems, or recent personal experience of weather-related extreme events, or as built into historical institutional arrangements and practices. How different actors perceive climate risks and differentiate risk from uncertainty (and how they think these will impact their activity) will ultimately be a critical influence on how individuals and organisations respond. This cross cutting theme will look at the narrative settings and the historical institutional basis which major stakeholder groups bring to their engagement with climate change adaptation. It is intended that work in each of the case studies will deliver theoretical and methodological advances as well as changes in understandings and practices amongst key stakeholders. The exact focus of the narratives will be identified according to the interests of local stakeholders.

I am also involved in the Building common understanding of climate adaptation scenario approaches and strategies project.

2010-11-07T16:54:00.004+09:00

New UK White Paper in the pipeline

CIWEM have circulated advice about the Natural Environment White Paper. It seems that this paper is a key one from which several other policy documents and strategies will be developed. The item said:

'Last week Laura Grant from CIWEM attended the Natural Environment White Paper (NEWP) stakeholder meeting. For anyone unaware the NEWP is the first since 1990 and will be published in April 2011. The NEWP will set the framework for the Government’s priorities for the natural environment and how these will be delivered.

It will incorporate biodiversity, the marine environment, rivers, air and soils, ecosystem services and will also provide the overarching framework for the Water White Paper.

There are 4 key themes:

Natural Value – ecosystem services, interdependencies within the natural environment, making a strong case for its economic value

Big Society – communities to have bigger roles in protecting and enhancing the natural environment, a healthy natural environment is key for local jobs, public health etc

The Big Picture – environmental decisions don’t stop at administrative boundaries, landscape scale approaches, looking at multiple benefits to tackle issues such as flooding and climate change

Think Global act local – impact on natural environment overseas, getting our own house in order, we rely on healthy natural environment abroad for food, preventing climate change

And three Crosscutting challenges:

Climate change – adaptation, mitigation and renewable energy
Demographic change – and patterns of consumption
Incremental impacts – piecemeal degradation of the environment

There still seems to be significant scope for influencing what is included in the white paper. As such it is important to respond to the consultation ..... The discussion document summary gives a good overview and includes the questions ......There is a survey monkey questionnaire that you can fill in .....'

2010-11-07T16:35:00.000+09:00

It could never happen here

A warning against systemic failure received from a colleague:

'we’ve all heard about the red mud disaster in Hungary. But it could never happen here …see the .. image of Gladstone, apparently a much larger basin than the one in Hungary, and much closer to the Great Barrier Reef. '

2010-11-07T15:36:00.001+09:00

Great Aussie-style animation about main climate patterns

Only someone with true Aussie sensibilities could have designed this innovative website. The DPI are to be congratulated on their creativity.

2010-11-07T15:30:00.001+09:00

The Management Myth

Thanks to Roy Madron for pointing out this article by Matthew Stewart. It is well worth a read, making the case that: 'most of management theory is inane, .... If you want to succeed in business, don’t get an M.B.A. Study philosophy instead'. Our OU Systems courses cater for a range of needs and interests but they are at the 'applied philosophy' and sometimes 'applied epistemology' end of the spectrum, thus conforming to Stewart's dictum.

2010-11-07T11:38:00.001+09:00

An example of Systems Practice

Demos have several recent reports likely to be of interest because of the situations of concern. Most call out for some type of systems thinking and practice, as exemplified by the report entitled: Proof Positive. The following account comes from the Demos website:

'We know a fair amount about what works in improving the well-being of children, but we struggle to do this at scale. This is illustrated by the significant socioeconomic inequality between children that exists today in spite of a decade of ambitious public service reform and increased investment.
Proof Positive explores two questions. First, how do we get practices that are proven to improve children's outcomes embedded within services for children, such as children's centres and schools? What kinds of systemic reforms can be successful in spreading evidence-based, effective programmes at the local level? Second, what is the scope of other types of systemic reform in improving children's outcomes?

The pamphlet argues we need a better understanding about how systems can be made more efficient. We need systems that make better and more widespread use of evidence-based practice. But we should not underestimate the impact that changing processes and structures can have on child outcomes – and the evidence base around this needs further development.'

2010-10-07T16:19:00.000+09:00

New film about Gregory Bateson

Phillip Guddemi from the ASC advises that Nora Bateson's film about her father Gregory Bateson's work is now complete, and is being premiered at a number of film festivals. It has just been shown as part of the Vancouver (Canada) film festival, and there will be a premiere in San Francisco on October 10th. And if you happen to be able to make it to Italy there will be three premieres in November.

2010-10-07T15:35:00.001+09:00

The evolving organisation

More systemic insights into the functioning...or not ... of organisations from Simon Caulkin.

2010-10-03T15:03:00.002+09:00

New global water map showing regions most at risk

'About 80% of the world's population lives in areas where the fresh water supply is not secure, according to a new global analysis.... Researchers compiled a composite index of "water threats" that includes issues such as scarcity and pollution. The most severe threat category encompasses 3.4 billion people.'

This is one of the reasons I am involved in developing a systemic and adaptive governance R&D program at Monash. Collectively we have to be in a position to respond systemically.

2010-10-03T14:54:00.001+09:00

You are what you eat...or is there more to it than that?

A recent article by Emma John in The Observer, (Sunday 19 September 2010) makes a pretty convincing argument that it is what we eat more than what we do that accounts for our weight. In a list entitled: 'Snack attack: how long it takes to burn off 10 favourite foods' the following examples are given:

'One portion of Tesco lasagne (560 cal): 45 minutes of spinning
One slice of Domino's pepperoni pizza (198 cal): 45 minutes of swimming
Morrisons' chocolate-chip muffin (476 cal): 58 minutes of climbing
Packet of Walkers cheese and onion crisps (184 cal): 35 minutes of frisbee
Subway tuna wrap (310 cal): 1 hour and 10 minutes of body pump
Bacon sandwich on white bread (430 cal): 58 minutes of football
Coffee Republic ham and cheese toastie (436 cal): 1 hour and 30 minutes of netball
Granny Smith apple (62 cal): 15 minutes of weightlifting
M&S hot cross bun (159 cal): 20 minutes of skipping
Mars bar (280 cal): 50 minutes of aqua aerobics'

This is quite a convincing argument and ought to make those with shares in gyms more than a little anxious about their investments. On the other hand there are some systemic factors not addressed. Weight loss and body image are, after all, not mere biological issues. Exercise produces endorphins which in turn can be linked to moods and predispositions to depression. The manners of living that are conserved in eating, drinking and exercise are also likely to be significant. I delight in the 'slow eating' in France when staying with friends and the mix of foods - but find it hard to recreate the same features in my own home in another cultural context. The creation of 24 hour cities in the UK and Australia has escalated binge drinking and other unintended consequences. We also know far too little about how different bodies react to foods in terms of the feelings of satiation and emptiness. Add to this how little we know about the microbial ecologies of our digestive system and how this may interact with different foods! All in all there is much still to be learnt about this topic - some of the wasted resources used on poorly designed gym activities and dieting fads would be better spent in a systemic national well-being strategy!

2010-08-23T17:11:00.000+09:00

What prospects for meaningful systemic improvement of Australia's governance?

My spirits were lifted this morning listening, on ABC News Radio, to interviews with the various independents who, following Saturday's Australian election, are likely to hold the balance of power in the next Federal Parliament. It was not so much that I agreed with all that was said, but that what was being said was, in contrast to the election campaign a breath of fresh air, a different discourse, and one in the main dominated by conviction, concern for citizens and for the country and beyond. Whilst there are many interesting commentaries on what did or did not happen in the election, and no doubt many more to come, Ross Gitten's analysis stood out for me.

However none of the mainstream commentators seem to have taken up the point, made in my CPD essay, that what we are experiencing is the systemic failure of governance. The Westminster model as now enacted is no longer fit for purpose, whether in the UK or here. The parallels with the UK result are intriguing and just as there are resonances there are also important differences. What is worrying of course is that our system of governance, and the historical ways of enacting it by the main stream parties, will militate against innovation and change on the back of the fresh perspectives brought by the independents and Greens who, after July, will contol the numbers in the Senate. Fortunately GetUp seems to be on the case. They argue today that:

This moment provides an historic opportunity for GetUp members to push for much needed parliamentary and democratic reform that would never happen under the usual two party dominance of parliament.

Just a few months ago, the balance of power in the UK's new Parliament created the potential for desperately needed democratic reforms, giving new power to ideas like preferential voting, parliamentary process reform, political transparency and more. But despite early hopes, reform has stalled. In Australia we can't let that happen. It is these moments that our movement is made for.

This will take more than good intentions - it will require new skills, understandings, generosity but also significant innovation in new forms of horizontal governance as discussed in my CPD essay.

2010-08-21T16:22:00.003+09:00

Obituary and background material for Russ Ackoff

Russ Ackoff was a significant influence on those responsible for organising Systems teaching at the Open University (UK) in the early 1970s. 'Messes' and 'difficulties' became key concepts in almost every Systems course. As educators these concepts were very useful pedagogically, but like all neologisms, after time they tend to become reified as 'things' in the world, rather than as useful constructs with which to engage situations.

2010-08-21T16:04:00.003+09:00

Some recent books and reports advocating systemic understandings and practices

Val Brown and colleagues have put together a very useful book: Tackling Wicked Problems Through the Transdisciplinary Imagination with some challenging conclusions. It would be good if we could embed more of this thinking and practice in our Universitys and policy circles.

That said a spate of recent reports recognise the need for policies and practices that are more systemic. These include:

A recent report by Ruth Beilin and Nicole Reichelt (published by the Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment) called 'Community landcare: A key player in building social-ecological resilience networks?'.

The organisation representing the Chairs of Australia's regional NRM bodies has published the report "Australia's NRM governance system: foundations and principles for meeting future challenges".

It sets out 10 principles for future NRM governance arrangements: continuity; subsidiarity; integrated goal settings; holism; systems approach; relationship orientation; resilience; knowledge and innovation; accountability; and resposiveness and adaptability.
From the project Improving economic accountability when using decentralised, collaborative approaches to environmental decisions. It is called 'Economic evaluation of investments in natural assets under community-based environmental governance: Developing and testing a method'.

The book 'Resilience and Transformation: Preparing Australia for Uncertain Futures' is now available from CSIRO Publishing. The book 'explores what factors contribute to Australia's resilience, what trends are apparent, and what actions are required to better prepare us for the immediate and longer term future'. Edited by Steven Cork, with a foreword by Brian Walker, the book contains 21 chapters by authors that include Theresia Citraningtyas, Richard Eckersley, Peter Newman and Susan Nicholls. There's a chapter from Graham Marshall called 'Governance for a surprising world'.

2010-08-21T15:06:00.000+09:00

The UK's National Program for IT in the National Health Service

Anyone following this Blog will know that I have made several posts about the state of the £12 billion National Program for IT (in England & Wales). This saga has run and run but perhaps it is to run no more? A group of 23 accademics back in 2005-6 pointed out its many systemic failings and to a large extent their concerns have been justified as the following article exemplifies:

'The National Programme for IT in the NHS is set to end in its current guise, with plans tabled for further deep cuts, and the name NHS Connecting for Health to be dropped. E-Health Insider understands that a far-reaching review of the National Programme and Connecting for Health was completed by the coalition government last week, as part of a wider review of all public sector IT major projects. The recommendations of the review was due to be evaluated today by a panel chaired by government chief information officer John Suffolk. Assuming it is approved, a ministerial announcement expected to follow within the next two weeks.

Sources indicate that the binding nature of the LSP deals with CSC and BT mean they will not be axed, but instead allowed to run down or expire. In the case of CSC - expected to be pushed hard to deliver further savings - its current contract runs until 2016. Savings beyond the £600m required by the previous government - which included an agreed £100m from the BT London contract, and a yet to be agreed £300m cut from CSCs three LSP deals - are expected to be announced. EHI has been told that further cuts will come from CSC and perhaps London, together with the unspent monies in the south. One source told EHI that the situation was still in flux, with it not being clear where final decisions would be taken. The drive for savings, however, is being led by the Cabinet Office, with the DH said to be playing second fiddle. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is said to have begun negotiations with CSC by demanding 30% savings from CSC's £3 billion NHS IT contracts, or up to £900m. EHI has been told that CfH will disappear as a brand and the already much reduced agency will be dramatically scaled back. Over the past month an exercise described as "hold and let go" has been going on to identify what core responsibilities the DH Informatics Directorate should retain and relinquish. Far more emphasis will instead be placed on local decision making, interoperability, shared records, clinical portals, and best of breed. "The national programme will become 'a' programme, rather than 'the' national programme," said one source. In effect trusts are being given greater choice, though with little central funding to help them exercise it.

An indication of the swinging nature of cuts to come has already been provided in the last month's termination of the Microsoft NHS enterprise licensing deal. One EHI reader described the end of the Microsoft deal as: "Dumping cost out from the centre", pointing out that trusts had already set budgets "and now is certainly not the time to get new local funding".

Many of the responsibilities of CfH are expected to be taken on the Department of Health Informatics Directorate, particularly its Technology Office. This will focus on standards and interoperability, together with ongoing management of contracts.'

2010-08-21T14:50:00.002+09:00

Systemic failure in action?

Today Australia goes to the polls. Will the outcomes of today epitomise all that is failing in our current governance arrangements? Or will the result, built on the back of a campaign best described as a theatre of the absurd, mark a critical turning point towards change which is better fit for circumstances? In a CPD essay I outline why we need to reinvent our system of governance. Six months ago few would have imagined that Tony Abbot had a good chance of becoming Australia's next PM. Unfortunately the unimaginable has become imaginable. As the future is essentially unknowable then perhaps the emergence of something new, a conversation based on an emotion of hope, rather than fear is as likely as a descent into three years of 'treading water' as a nation while all around us events beg for imaginative, responsible systemic leadership.

2010-08-11T11:24:00.002+09:00

Invitation to a book launch

If you happen to be in Melbourne on Friday 3rd September from 4-5pm you are most cordially invited to attend the launch of my new book (see image below) as part of Melbourne Writer's Festival.

Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate Change World

It will be possible at the launch to order copies of the book at significant discounts. This is made possible by the Festival official sponsor, Readings in conjunction with the publishers, Springer, London.

The launch details are on the Festival program - the venue for the launch of Systems Practice is Feddish Café/Bar & Restaurant.

The book will be introduced by Frank Fisher who is known to many Melbournians. Frank is Inaugural Australian Environmental Educator of the Year [2007-8], Prof. Faculty of Design & Convenor, Graduate Programs at the National Centre for Sustainability, Swinburne University of Technology . Frank is also author of Response Ability and a long time advocate for, and educator in, Systems.

The launch is co-sponsored by Monash Sustainability Institute.

2010-07-31T04:39:00.001+09:00

At the American Society for Cybernetics conference in Troy, New York

The 2010 ASC Conference combines an ASC business and reflection meeting with another three days devoted to 'Cyberetics:Art, Design, Mathematics 2010'. The event has brought together an ecletic mix including four of the Society's Trustees (of which I am one).

The event is hosted by the Architecture group at the impressive Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, established in 1824, in the city of Troy, now part of the Albany conurbation. Most of the conference is being held in the also impressive Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media & Performing Arts Center -see photo below.

Troy reminds me of the city of Ballarat - fine, substantial 19th century buildings established on the back of the city's wealth. In Troy's case industrial and manufacturing exploiting its position on the banks of the Hudson River whereas for Ballarat it was gold. Then urban decline and decay in the 20th century accompanied, so it seems, by disatrous town planning decisions and some terrible architecture. Clearly attempts are now being made to conserve the architectural heritage but there is a slightly down at heel feel, with many empty shops and a 'post global financial crisis' feel.

2010-07-29T21:52:00.002+09:00

A good news story about Governance reform

Just received from Avaaz. Evidence that people working together through a facilitative platform can change things for the better.

'A massive online campaign by the Avaaz community in Brazil has just won a stunning victory against corruption.

The "clean record" law was a bold proposal that banned any politician convicted of crimes like corruption and money laundering from running for office. With nearly 25% of the Congress under investigation for corruption, most said it would never pass. But after Avaaz launched the largest online campaign in Brazilian history, helping to build a petition of over 2 million signatures, 500,000 online actions, and tens of thousands of phone calls, we won!

Avaaz members fought corrupt congressmen daily as they tried every trick in the book to kill, delay, amend, and weaken the bill, and won the day every time. The bill passed Congress, and already over 330 candidates for office face disqualification!

One Brazilian member wrote to us when the law was passed, saying:

I have never been as proud of the Brazilian people as I am today! Congratulations to all that have signed. Today I feel like an actual citizen with political power. -- Silvia

Our strategy in Brazil was simple: make a solution so popular and visible that it can’t be opposed, and be so vigilant that we can’t be ignored.

This victory shows what our community can do - at a national level, in developing nations, and on the awful problem of corruption. Anywhere in the world, we can build legislative proposals to clean up corruption in government, back them up with massive citizen support, and fight legislators who try to block them.

France's Le Monde called our "impressive and unprecedented petition" campaign a "spectacular political and moral victory for civil society." And while this victory may be a first, we can make it the precedent for global citizen action.

Amazingly, our entire Brazil campaign was made possible by just a couple of Avaaz team members, serving over 600,000 Avaaz members in Brazil. The power of the Avaaz model is that technology can enable a tiny team to help millions of people work together on the most pressing issues. It's one of the most powerful ways a small donation can make a difference in the world.
......

We've seen the heart-wrenching movies about street kids and desperate urban poverty in Brazil, and we know that across the world political corruption preys on our communities and saps human potential. In Brazil, our community has helped turn the tide and usher in a new era of transparent, accountable politics. Let's seize the opportunity and begin to fight corruption everywhere it's needed today.

With hope,

Ricken, Luis, Graziela, David, Ben, Maria Paz, Benjamin and the entire Avaaz Team

SOURCES:

The Economist, "Cleaning up. A campaign against corruption":

The Rio Times, "Anti-Corruption Law in Effect This Year":

The story of Brazil's Clean Record law has yet to be told widely in English language media. Here are a few stories in other languages that capture the campaign:

Le Monde, "Operation "clean sheet" in Brazil": (French)

Correio Braziliense, "The arrival of 2.0 activists": (Portuguese)

2010-07-22T18:55:00.013+09:00

New Masters Program in "Systems Thinking in Practice" now underway at the OU

We have just completed the two core courses of our new Masters in Systems Thinking in Practice (STiP)
one of which is already being studied by over 90 students. This first core module is “ Thinking Strategically: systems tools for managing change” (OU code TU811).

The second core module, “Managing systemic change: inquiry, action, and interaction” (TU812) will be presented for the first time in November 2010.

Our STiP Certificate, PG Diploma and MSc are thus ‘launched’ (though an official public launch is likely later this year).

Underpinning this new program is a set of four books co-published by the Open University with Springer, London (see images above). The books are:
(i) Blackmore, C. P. (Ed.). (2010) Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice. Springer: London.

(ii) Ison, R.L. (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World. Springer: London.

(iii) Ramage, M. and Shipp, K. (2009) Systems Thinkers. Springer: London.

(iv) Reynolds, M. and Holwell, S eds (2010) Systems Approaches to Managing Change. A Practical Guide. Springer: London.

I would also like to draw your attention to some of the opportunities that exist to incorporate OU Systems material into you own programs. Several possibilities exist. These include:

(i) use of reciprocal credit transfer arrangements

(ii) licensing or other partnership arrangements

(iii) bespoke continuing professional development

Do please feel free to circulate this amongst your networks

2010-06-27T23:24:00.015+09:00

The water cycle is so much more apparent in Iceland

A global water crisis exists largely because of overexploitation of freshwater resources. Humans have all too often intervened in the water cycle in unsustainable ways. This is happening in river catchments and cities as well. With over 50% of the world's population living in cities it is increasingly important that the cyclic, systemic, nature of the water cycle be better appreciated. Current and future interventions need to be assessed in systemic terms.

As these images from Iceland show the interconnectd nature of the water cycle is apparent in ways that are not so obvious in other countries. And the water is great to drink.

In Reykjavik yesterday I passed small children playing under the sprinkler hose. It is after all mid-summer even if only 15 degrees! Context is everything.

2010-06-19T02:25:00.012+09:00

The ultimate in systemic process?

This week I have traversed the boundary between the Eurasian and the North American tectonic plates. My daughter and I have promised ourselves a trip to Iceland for years - I date our joint interest from a project she did at school about 10-12 years ago. She puts our conviction a little later when as a family we were engrossed with The Earth Story - a fantastic TV series.

Have a look at how these tectonic plates mesh together and see how the mid Atlantic ridge bisects Iceland - a major hotspot on the ridge, and the reason for Iceland's existence. Having seen the TV series it is easy to look at the landscape and imagine the earth's crust as a dynamic flow, moving at about 2cm per annum.

The development and extent of use of geothermal power is also impressive.

2010-05-26T05:58:00.003+09:00

Wikileaks - a much needed new insitutional form?

The last edition of The Sunday Age had a good article on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Of course Australians are only too pleased to claim anyone as their own if they have a hint of celebrity and there is no doubting Assange's mystery and latent celebrity potential (as much as he no doubt abhors the idea).

But what is Wikileaks an example of? Is it a new institutional form that had to emerge as other historical institutional forms, such as universities, now increasingly corporatised, lose their social purpose i.e. as sources of independent, validated knowledge about issues that matter in our world?

2010-05-02T18:45:00.005+09:00

General Stanley McChrystal and the 'sprawling spaghetti diagram'

The media seem unable to deal with the systemic complexity encompassed in a large systems dynamics causal loop model as this recent article demonstrates. On the other hand, as we have known for some time from our 30+ years of teaching Systems diagramming techniques to Open University (UK) Systems students, a diagram produced as part of an inquiry/learning process is not the same as one used for communication purposes. Perhaps McChrystal fell into a common trap that some of our students do?

That said the US is unlikley to extract itself from Afghanistan unless it understands the systemic complexity and acts in relation to that understanding. This is much more than slick powerpoint presentations.

2010-05-02T15:29:00.002+09:00

China, governance and prospects for systemic change

Copenhagen in some ways could be regarded as China's coming out party. By this I mean that it has become either through choice or inescapable circumstances the key to any global-decision making. According to some reports this has caused tensions - did the Chinese Premier really in Copenhagen miss key meeetings because of the potential loss of face? Or was it a simple misunderstanding about invitations as other sources report?

Having visited China for the first time last year I am left feeling concerned with this shift in the global realpolitik, unavoidable though it is. China's emergence will present and exacerbate many systemic challenges, not least within China itself. Climate change is inextricably linked to sustainable water supply and river functioning which is in turn related to how those in poverty or ethnic minorities are treated and enabled to create livelihoods for themselves as research in the UK-based Ecosystems Services for Poverty Alleviation Program (ESPA) is demonstrating.

In many parts of the world and in

China

in particular, water is in a crisis characterized by scarcity, drought, sanitation problems, occurrence of extreme events and changes in rainfall patterns and run-off. China has only one quarter of the average world water resources per person and, in some strategically important areas, such as the North China plain is exploiting its water at unsustainable rates. These pictures taken in Beijing and in the Lake Baiyangdian Catchment in Hebei Province reflect some of the contrasts that are China.

2010-01-24T11:22:00.005+09:00

Claims made for the top 50 sustainability books

The material that follows is from the publisher. What do you think?

‘These are the Top 50 Sustainability Books as voted for by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership's alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. In addition to profiles of all 50 titles, many of the authors share their most recent reflections on the state of the world and the ongoing attempts by business, government and civil society to create a more sustainable future.

THE TOP 50 SUSTAINABILITY BOOKS

Written by Wayne Visser on behalf of the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership

Published 7 December 2009, 200 pp

This unique title draws together in one volume some of the best thinking to date on the pressing social and environmental challenges we face as a society. These are the Top 50 Sustainability Books as voted for by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership's alumni network of over 3,000 senior leaders from around the world. In addition to profiles of all 50 titles, many of the authors share their most recent reflections on the state of the world and the ongoing attempts by business, government and civil society to create a more sustainable future.

Many of these authors have become household names in the environmental, social and economic justice movements - from Rachel Carson, Ralph Nader and E.F. Schumacher to Vandana Shiva, Muhammad Yunus and Al Gore. Others, such as Aldo Leopold, Thomas Berry and Manfred Max-Neef, are relatively undiscovered gems, whose work should be much more widely known.

The profiled books tackle our most vexing global challenges, including globalisation (Globalization and Its Discontents, No Logo), climate change (Heat, The Economics of Climate Change) and poverty (The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, Development as Freedom). Some of these featured thought-leaders are highly critical of the status quo (e.g. David Korten, Eric Schlosser and Joel Bakan), while others suggest evolutionary ways forward (e.g. Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken and Jonathon Porritt). Some place their faith in technological solutions (e.g. Janine Benyus, Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker), while others are upbeat about the potential of business to be a force for good (e.g. John Elkington, Ricardo Semler, William McDonough and Michael Braungart).

By featuring these and other seminal thinkers, The Top 50 Sustainability Books distils a remarkable collective intelligence - one that provides devastating evidence of the problems we face as a global society, yet also inspiring examples of innovative solutions; it explores our deepest fears and our highest hopes for the future. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to tap into the wisdom of our age.

THE TOP 50 SUSTAINABILITY BOOKS

1 A Sand County Almanac Aldo Leopold (1949)

2 Silent Spring Rachel Carson (1962)

3 Unsafe At Any Speed Ralph Nader (1965)

4 The Population Bomb Paul L. Ehrlich (1968)

5 Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth R. Buckminster Fuller (1969)

6 The Limits to Growth Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers and William W. Behrens III (1972)

7 Small Is Beautiful E.F. Schumacher (1973)

8 Gaia James Lovelock (1979)

9 The Turning Point Fritjof Capra (1982)

10 Our Common Future ('The Brundtland Report') World Commission on Environment and Development (1987)

11 The Dream of the Earth Thomas Berry (1988)

12 A Fate Worse Than Debt Susan George (1988)

13 Staying Alive Vandana Shiva (1989)

14 Blueprint for a Green Economy David Pearce, Anil Markandya and Edward B. Barbier (1989)

15 For the Common Good Herman Daly and John B. Cobb Jr (1989)

16 Human Scale Development Manfred Max-Neef (1989)

17 Changing Course Stephan Schmidheiny and Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) (1992)

18 The Ecology of Commerce Paul Hawken (1993)

19 Maverick Ricardo Semler (1993)

20 When Corporations Rule the World David C. Korten (1995)

21 Biomimicry Janine M. Benyus (1997)

22 Cannibals with Forks John Elkington (1997)

23 The Hungry Spirit Charles Handy (1997)

24 Banker to the Poor Muhammad Yunus (1998)

25 The Crisis of Global Capitalism George Soros (1998)

26 Factor Four Ernst von Weizsäcker, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (1998)

27 False Dawn John Gray (1998)

28 Development as Freedom Amartya Sen (1999)

29 No Logo Naomi Klein (1999)

30 Natural Capitalism Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (1999)

31 Business as Unusual Anita Roddick (2000)

32 The Mystery of Capital Hernando de Soto (2000)

33 The Civil Corporation Simon Zadek (2001)

34 Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser (2001)

35 The Skeptical Environmentalist Bjørn Lomborg (2001)

36 Cradle to Cradle William McDonough and Michael Braungart (2002)

37 Globalization and its Discontents Joseph E. Stiglitz (2002)

38 The Corporation Joel Bakan (2004)

39 Presence Peter Senge, C. Otto Scharmer, Joseph Jaworski and Betty Sue Flowers (2004)

40 The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid C.K. Prahalad (2004)

41 The River Runs white Elizabeth C. Economy (2004)

42 Capitalism as if the World Matters Jonathon Porritt (2005)

43 Capitalism at the Crossroads Stuart L. Hart (2005)

44 Collapse Jared Diamond (2005)

45 The End of Poverty Jeffrey D. Sachs (2005)

46 The Chaos Point Ervin Laszlo (2006)

47 Heat George Monbiot (2006)

48 An Inconvenient Truth Al Gore (2006)

49 When the Rivers Run Dry Fred Pearce (2006)

50 The Economics of Climate Change Nicholas Stern (2007)

Conclusion

Mike Peirce, Deputy Director, Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership

FROM THE INTERVIEWS...

The level of change that is going to be forced on our economies, our value chains, our companies and the people who work in business is going to be both profound, and profoundly exciting. There are few times in world history where I would rather have been alive.

John Elkington

We're going to solve these problems: extreme poverty will end by the year 2025. That's what I said in the book and I think that's what's going to happen.

Jeffrey D. Sachs

The simple truth is that there are no companies that are sustainable in the world today; there are none. What we have are companies that are experimenting with pieces of the puzzle.

Stuart L. Hart

Negligence begins tomorrow, because now we know what to do.

William McDonough

In America they said I was trying to tear down Wall Street and that would suck the juice out of the American dream.

Charles Handy

One tends to forget it's not the oil companies that drive our cars; we drive them and burn the fuel. We don't have to do it, and to entirely blame industry for making a profit from selling us petrol is quite naive. The whole of society is in the game together and to single out industry for attack is quite wrong.

James Lovelock

I always remember, on Donella Meadows' office door was a little motto which said 'Even if I knew the world would end tomorrow I'd plant a tree today.'

Dennis L. Meadows

Will our grandchildren know what a company is? ... it seems that the real institutional challenge is to create a new type of institution.

Simon Zadek

I am very sceptical about a moralistic appeal and I'm extremely sceptical about markets providing sustainable civilisation.

Ernst von Weizsäcker

I was just in Borneo watching 19 square kilometres of lush rainforest that had been recreated from scratch in six or seven years. Nobody knew you could do that.

Amory B. Lovins

Environmental concern is still very much a First World concern. Most of the world are still pretty worried about the fact that their kids can die from easily curable infectious diseases.

Bjørn Lomborg

I think there is unfortunately no level of human suffering that causes policy to change.

Susan George

Sustainability is boring. What would you say if I were to ask you about your relationship with your wife? How would you characterise it? As sustainable? If this is the bigger goal - sustainability - then I feel really sorry because it doesn't celebrate human creativity and human nature.

Michael Braungart

I think the system as a whole is structurally unsustainable. That means it has to be transformed. It can't be patched up.

Ervin Laszlo

Read about When Corporations Rule the World by David C. Korten (1995) for free

Review copies are available (hard copy and PDF).

List price: £25.00 / €37.50 / $45.00. Offer price: £22.50 / €33.75 / $40.50.

2010-01-24T06:05:00.026+09:00

Significant investment in new Systems courses and programs by The Open University UK

The Open University UK has recently approved and developed a suite of new awards and courses to be called 'Systems Thinking in Practice'.

The overall program will comprise three possible awards. The first is a Postgraduate Certificate in Systems Thinking in Practice (C72) of 60 OU credit points. A new course due for first presentation in May 2010, ‘Thinking strategically: systems tools for managing change’ (TU811) is a compulsory 30 point course for this award together with another 30 point OU option, or where credit transfer has been arranged, a partner option.

The second award is a Postgraduate Diploma in Systems Thinking in Practice (E28) of 120 OU points. To be awarded the PG Diploma the PG certificate plus another 60 points of study must be completed. ‘Managing systemic change: inquiry, action and interaction’ (TU812) is a 30 point compulsory course with TU811 (above).

The third award is the MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice which is made up of the PG Diploma plus a further 60 points of study.

As a result of the investment made by The Open University in the new Systems awards four new books have been produced and co-published with Springer. The first, now published, Systems Thinkers, is devoted to the individuals who are generally recognised as systems thinkers. This work presents a biographical history of the field of systems thinking, by examining the life and work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses each thinker’s key contributions, the way this contribution was expressed in practice and the relationship between their life and ideas. This discussion is supported by an extract from the thinker’s own writing, to give a flavour of their work and to give readers a sense of which thinkers are most relevant to their own interests.

The second book in the series, ‘Systems Approaches to Managing Change’ due for release shortly, is devoted to the main methodologies that have been developed by Systems scholars and are often deployed as part of systems practice. In their book the five methodological approaches covered are:

System dynamics (SD) developed originally in the late 1950s by Jay Wright Forrester
Viable systems method (VSM) developed originally in the late 1960s by Stafford Beer
Strategic options development and analysis (SODA: with cognitive mapping) developed originally in the 1960s by Colin Eden
Soft systems methodology (SSM) developed originally in the 1970s by PeterCheckland
Critical systems heuristics (CSH) developed originally in the early 1980s by Werner Ulrich.

The third book, Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate Change World, due for release in May 2010 deals with a simple logic:

What are the situations where systems thinking helps?
What does it entail to think and act systemically?
How can practices be built that move from systemic understanding to action that is systemically desirable and culturally feasible?
How can situations be transformed for the better through systems practice?

The book is introduced against the backdrop of human induced climate change. It is argued that climate change and other factors create a societal need to move towards more systemic and adaptive governance regimes which incorporate systems practice. The systems practitioner referred to in this book is anyone managing in situations of complexity and uncertainty – it is not a specialist role or that of a consultant or hired ‘intervener’. Thus the book is structured so as to build a general model of systems practice.

The fourth book, a reader edited by Chris Blackmore called Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice, also due for release in May, is concerned with how social and critical learning systems and communities of practice can inform future systems thinking in action. Her focus is on practice in multi-stakeholder situations that call for collaborative or concerted action within groups.

This is a significant and timely commitment by The Open University. In a research report just released by The Work Foundation called Exceeding Expectation: the principles of outstanding leadership, the first key finding was that outstanding leaders ‘think systemically and act long term….Outstanding leaders achieve through a combination of systemic thinking and acting for the long term benefit of their organisation. They recognise the interconnected nature of the organization and therefore act carefully.’

Citations

Blackmore, C. P. (Ed.). (2010) Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice. Springer: London.

Ison, R.L. (2010) Systems Practice. How to Act in a Climate-Change World. Springer: London.

Ramage, M. and Shipp, K. (2009) Systems Thinkers. Springer: London.

Reynolds, M. and Holwell, S eds (2010) Systems Approaches to Managing Change. Springer: London.

2010-01-22T08:43:00.002+09:00

Simon Caulkin named Columnist of the Year at 23rd Workforce Media Awards

On Tuesday, 19 January 2010 at the Workforce Media Awards Simon Caulkin, former management editor at The Observer, now freelance was named Columnist of the Year “For his gripping, well-written and insightful writing. Simon combines depth of knowledge with an ability to bring alive whatever subjects he covers.”

What could have been added is that he is the best 'systems' journalist in the UK media. Also that this is a fitting rebuke to members of the Scott Trust, publishers of The Observer who recently supported the decision to end Simon's Observer column. It would seem he may have been doing his job too well for some!