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'.

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.'

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.

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.

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.

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)

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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:

1. System dynamics (SD) developed originally in the late 1950s by Jay Wright Forrester
2. Viable systems method (VSM) developed originally in the late 1960s by Stafford Beer
3. Strategic options development and analysis (SODA: with cognitive mapping) developed originally in the 1960s by Colin Eden
4. Soft systems methodology (SSM) developed originally in the 1970s by PeterCheckland
5. 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:

1. What are the situations where systems thinking helps?
2. What does it entail to think and act systemically?
3. How can practices be built that move from systemic understanding to action that is systemically desirable and culturally feasible?
4. 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.

.

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!

Arriving in 2010 - breaking a blogging silence

What do we carry forward into 2010 that has the potential to contribute to, or constrain, systemic transformation of how we humans think and act? In 2009 the latter - constraints - have dominated and driven me into a blogger silence. But societal transformation is closely coupled to personal transformation so after a short holiday in a marvelous setting (see photos) I have regained some of my enthusiasm to seek out and contribute to ways forward. But moving forward involves recognising and negotiating what constrains as much as developing something that is new.

In this spirit I hope to post, over the next weeks, a range of material that points to both opportunities and constraints for more systemic and adaptive governance.

The photos - from the top: (i) The remaining 'apostles' on the Great Ocean Road, south-western Victoria; (ii) 'London Bridge' Great Ocean Road; (iii-iv) Views of the Bay of Islands, Great Ocean Road; (v) view from the lounge, Battery Point, Port Fairy; (vi) 'The Crags' - fossilised roots - what needs to happen to so many of our own institutions!

Web petition in support of Paul Krugman

Geoffrey Hodgson has organized a web petition in support of the following words by Paul Krugman:

"Few economists saw our current crisis coming, but this predictive failure was the least of the field’s problems. More important was the profession’s blindness to the very possibility of catastrophic failures in a market economy ... the economics profession went astray because economists, as a group, mistook beauty, clad in impressive-looking mathematics, for truth ... economists fell back in love with the old, idealized vision of an economy in which rational individuals interact in perfect markets, this time gussied up with fancy equations ... Unfortunately, this romanticized and sanitized vision of the economy led most economists to ignore all the things that can go wrong. They turned a blind eye to the limitations of human rationality that often lead to bubbles and busts; to the problems of institutions that run amok; to the imperfections of markets – especially financial markets – that can cause the economy’s operating system to undergo sudden, unpredictable crashes; and to the dangers created when regulators don’t believe in regulation. ... When it comes to the all-too-human problem of recessions and depressions, economists need to abandon the neat but wrong solution of assuming that everyone is rational and markets work perfectly." (New York Times, September 2nd, 2009.)


If you agree, please sign and forward to others:
SIGN "Revitalizing Economics After the Crash" ON
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/revitalizing_economics?e

In November 2008 the Queen asked why so few Economists had foreseen the credit crunch.

'Ten leading British Economists write to Her Majesty, claiming that the training of economists is too narrow: “Mathematical technique should not dominate real-world substance.”

During a visit to the London School of Economics in November 2008, the Queen asked why few economists had foreseen the credit crunch. Dated 22 July 2009, she received an answer from Professors Tim Besley and Peter Hennessy. This was widely quoted in the British press.

Ten leading British economists – including academics from top universities, three Academicians of the Academy of Social Sciences, academic journal editors, a former member of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and the Chief Economic Advisor the Greater London Authority – have responded by writing their own response to the Queen. They note that the letter by Professors Besley and Hennessy fails to consider any deficiency in the training of economists themselves.

Following similar complaints by Nobel Laureates Ronald Coase, Wassily Leontief and Milton Friedman, the ten economists argue that economists has become largely transformed into a branch of applied mathematics, with little contact with the real world. The letter by Professors Besley and Hennessy does not consider how the preference for mathematical technique over real-world substance diverted many economists from looking at the whole picture.

The ten economists uphold that the narrow training of economists – which concentrates on mathematical techniques and the building of empirically uncontrolled formal models – has been a major reason for the failure of the economics profession to give adequate warnings of the economic crises in 2007 and 2008.

The ten signatories also point out that while Professors Besley and Hennessy complain that economists have become overly ‘charmed by the market’, they mention neither the highly questionable belief in universal ‘rationality’ nor the ‘efficient markets hypothesis’, which are both widely taught and promoted by mainstream economists.

The ten economists call for a broader training of economists, involving allied disciplines such as psychology and economic history, as well as mathematics.'

Sigantories to this letter included at least three Australians - Peter E. Earl, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia, and author of Business Economics: A Contemporary Approach, John Foster, Professor of Economics, University of Queensland, Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and President Elect of the International J. A. Schumpeter Society and Geoffrey C. Harcourt, Emeritus Reader, University of Cambridge, Emeritus Professor, University of Adelaide, Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences, Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.