About this Research Topic
While there has been, in recent years, much work on questions of organizations and sustainability, this has yet to take full advantage of insights available from long-standing and ongoing discourses concerning organizational governance, in general, and more specifically, governance that facilitates sustainability. Organizational and Second Order Cybernetics, are directly concerned with a matter central to advancing Governance for Sustainability: the relationship between purpose and performance, manifest through iterative, active learning. Together with other Complex Systems theories, and related Hermeneutical turns in social theory and the humanities, they are inspiring new ways to reframe the pivotal governance question of which co-evolutionary dynamics between humanity with Earth’s ‘natural’ self-organizing processes are to be sustained.
Current unsustainable patterns of interaction between individuals, institutions, and their environments are harming both communities and nature and there is growing consensus that addressing this requires radical, systemic change. Such change, which is related to system identity, depends upon developing consciousness about the failure of the current extractive global economy and about the need to cultivate a sustainability ethos where individual and organizational self-governance is directly linked to social and ecological environmental impacts. This is a question of taking responsibility for the consequences, immediate or delayed, of one’s actions. We all, as a species, need to learn how to take decisions in our personal and organizational contexts, which contribute to preserving the functioning of the Earth’s ecosystems and the dignity of its peoples. These changes are necessary to achieve the sustainable development goals at every level from individuals to global.
These above-mentioned theories [Organizational and Second Order Cybernetics, Complex Systems theories, and related Hermeneutical turns in social theory and the humanities] have pioneered the basic principles of self-organization, complexity management and governance of networked organizations, all of which are inspiring innovative ways to stimulate a more effective transition towards societies based on a sustainability ethos. However, being that an organization is what it does - that is to say, that organizational identity is a product of a dynamic relationship between purpose and performance – the question of how to create sustainable organizations cannot be neatly separated from questions concerning their purpose. A critical view of complex systems theories also contributes with the understanding that how self-organization manifests is always, ultimately, with the practitioner, so dealing with self-governance for sustainability is also a matter of self-determination.
These approaches offer theorists and practitioners new lenses through which to engage issues of agency and responsibility arising with the challenges of the Anthropocene. Many have demonstrated how they can be employed to move the world quickly and humanely towards the massive, global, systemic change that is urgently required to avoid catastrophic outcomes. This special issue will illustrate how cybernetic and complex systems inspired approaches contribute to this end, at theoretical and practical levels.
Progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in most countries has not been seen at the required pace, while much effort continues to be directed toward doing the wrong things better. This is related, in part, to current governance structures being dominated by the antiquated, dualistic presumption that impartial science concerning sustainability can objectively advise an informed policy regarding how best to proceed, despite ample empirical evidence to the contrary. Cyber-systemic approaches pose the question of implementation differently, asking why purpose is not being manifest in performance and how this can be addressed. This places questions of governance, self-determination, and responsibility center-stage, and provides a platform for incorporating insights from the accumulated human wisdom of many different cultures across the world, which is often articulated in terms of responsibility.
Pioneers in cybernetics and complex systems approaches to governance for sustainability have suggested and experimented with new approaches to management and governance inspired in heterarchical, polycentric and participatory approaches that are not yet widely known in traditional academic circles. They have opened-up new paths for theorizing and applying alternative paradigms of management and governance, guided by principles of self-organization, creative collaboration, and responsibility to others. This is beginning to demonstrate impacts, via specific trends in organizational design, in certain sectors such as agriculture, education and hospitality, in the establishment of whole ecoregions, and, in some cases, at the level of government. These are the kinds of bold and courageous responses that are urgently needed if humanity is to directly engage the daunting array of challenges of the Anthropocene, but they still lack widespread adoption and they require further theorizing and critical evaluation.
Outstanding questions
- What kind or organization provides a more flexible and adaptive response to the current environmental crises and associated demands for change?
- How to design organizations and networks to better guarantee their adaptability and resilience?
- What governance structures, strategies, and processes are more effective for fully addressing the global sustainability agenda?
- What are effective initiatives for organizations and societies to support a faster transition towards sustainability?
- How may sustainability initiatives promote self-governance for sustainability at both individual and organizational levels?
- In what ways can more effective governance structures and practices drive sustainability in organizations?
- How is it possible to manage the sustainability paradox between human autonomy and social responsibility?
- How is it possible to reconcile purpose and performance in sustainability governance?
- To what extent and in what ways is it possible to cope with the epistemological predicament of complexity: understanding the role of the sacred, the spiritual and wellness of mind for sustainability; taking on board ecological and intergenerational responsibility; engaging respectfully with indigenous knowledge?
- What can we learn from success stories of cybernetic and complexity inspired approaches to governance on effective ways to stimulate systemic changes towards more sustainable practices and establish deep (triple loop) learning?
The Special Issue seeks to bring together a broad range of contributions from innovative complex system analysis and social theory fields to help understand governance for sustainability in the Anthropocene: inspired in complex systems approaches and attention to the dynamics of complexity, regarding creative practice in business, communities, and governments. Specifically, we aim to clarify, through practical examples, an underpinning theory of systemic change, where managing change is changed, through more systemic thinking and acting, thereby enhancing capabilities for more sustainable self-governance.
Current unsustainable patterns of interaction between individuals, institutions, and their environments are harming both communities and nature and there is growing consensus that addressing this requires radical, systemic change. Such change, which is related to system identity, depends upon developing consciousness about the failure of the current extractive global economy and about the need to cultivate a sustainability ethos where individual and organizational self-governance is directly linked to social and ecological environmental impacts. This is a question of taking responsibility for the consequences, immediate or delayed, of one’s actions. We all, as a species, need to learn how to take decisions in our personal and organizational contexts, which contribute to preserving the functioning of the Earth’s ecosystems and the dignity of its peoples. These changes are necessary to achieve the sustainable development goals at every level from individuals to global.
These above-mentioned theories [Organizational and Second Order Cybernetics, Complex Systems theories, and related Hermeneutical turns in social theory and the humanities] have pioneered the basic principles of self-organization, complexity management and governance of networked organizations, all of which are inspiring innovative ways to stimulate a more effective transition towards societies based on a sustainability ethos. However, being that an organization is what it does - that is to say, that organizational identity is a product of a dynamic relationship between purpose and performance – the question of how to create sustainable organizations cannot be neatly separated from questions concerning their purpose. A critical view of complex systems theories also contributes with the understanding that how self-organization manifests is always, ultimately, with the practitioner, so dealing with self-governance for sustainability is also a matter of self-determination.
These approaches offer theorists and practitioners new lenses through which to engage issues of agency and responsibility arising with the challenges of the Anthropocene. Many have demonstrated how they can be employed to move the world quickly and humanely towards the massive, global, systemic change that is urgently required to avoid catastrophic outcomes. This special issue will illustrate how cybernetic and complex systems inspired approaches contribute to this end, at theoretical and practical levels.
Progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in most countries has not been seen at the required pace, while much effort continues to be directed toward doing the wrong things better. This is related, in part, to current governance structures being dominated by the antiquated, dualistic presumption that impartial science concerning sustainability can objectively advise an informed policy regarding how best to proceed, despite ample empirical evidence to the contrary. Cyber-systemic approaches pose the question of implementation differently, asking why purpose is not being manifest in performance and how this can be addressed. This places questions of governance, self-determination, and responsibility center-stage, and provides a platform for incorporating insights from the accumulated human wisdom of many different cultures across the world, which is often articulated in terms of responsibility.
Pioneers in cybernetics and complex systems approaches to governance for sustainability have suggested and experimented with new approaches to management and governance inspired in heterarchical, polycentric and participatory approaches that are not yet widely known in traditional academic circles. They have opened-up new paths for theorizing and applying alternative paradigms of management and governance, guided by principles of self-organization, creative collaboration, and responsibility to others. This is beginning to demonstrate impacts, via specific trends in organizational design, in certain sectors such as agriculture, education and hospitality, in the establishment of whole ecoregions, and, in some cases, at the level of government. These are the kinds of bold and courageous responses that are urgently needed if humanity is to directly engage the daunting array of challenges of the Anthropocene, but they still lack widespread adoption and they require further theorizing and critical evaluation.
Outstanding questions
- What kind or organization provides a more flexible and adaptive response to the current environmental crises and associated demands for change?
- How to design organizations and networks to better guarantee their adaptability and resilience?
- What governance structures, strategies, and processes are more effective for fully addressing the global sustainability agenda?
- What are effective initiatives for organizations and societies to support a faster transition towards sustainability?
- How may sustainability initiatives promote self-governance for sustainability at both individual and organizational levels?
- In what ways can more effective governance structures and practices drive sustainability in organizations?
- How is it possible to manage the sustainability paradox between human autonomy and social responsibility?
- How is it possible to reconcile purpose and performance in sustainability governance?
- To what extent and in what ways is it possible to cope with the epistemological predicament of complexity: understanding the role of the sacred, the spiritual and wellness of mind for sustainability; taking on board ecological and intergenerational responsibility; engaging respectfully with indigenous knowledge?
- What can we learn from success stories of cybernetic and complexity inspired approaches to governance on effective ways to stimulate systemic changes towards more sustainable practices and establish deep (triple loop) learning?
The Special Issue seeks to bring together a broad range of contributions from innovative complex system analysis and social theory fields to help understand governance for sustainability in the Anthropocene: inspired in complex systems approaches and attention to the dynamics of complexity, regarding creative practice in business, communities, and governments. Specifically, we aim to clarify, through practical examples, an underpinning theory of systemic change, where managing change is changed, through more systemic thinking and acting, thereby enhancing capabilities for more sustainable self-governance.
Keywords: Governance, Viability, Sustainability, Complex Systems, Performance, Autonomy, democracy, paradigmatic change, extractive and non-extractive economies, catastrophes and shake-ups, policy
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