Governance for sustainability: learning from VSM practice

Purpose – While there is some agreement on the usefulness of systems and complexity approaches to tackle the sustainability challenges facing the organisations and governments in the twenty-first century, less is clear regarding the way such approaches can inspire new ways of governance for sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to progress ongoing research using the Viable System Model (VSM) as a meta-language to facilitate long-term sustainability in business, communities and societies, using the “Methodology to support self-transformation”, by focusing on ways of learning about governance for sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – It summarises core self-governance challenges for long-term sustainability, and the organisational capabilities required to face them, at the “Framework for Assessing Sustainable Governance”. This tool is then used to analyse capabilities for governance for sustainability at three real situations where the mentioned Methodology inspired bottom up processes of self-organisation. It analyses the transformations decided from each organisation, in terms of capabilities for sustainable governance, using the suggested Framework. Findings – Core technical lessons learned from using the framework are discussed, include the usefulness of using a unified language and tool when studying governance for sustainability in differing types and scales of case study organisations. Research limitations/implications – As with other exploratory research, it reckons the convenience for further development and testing of the proposed tools to improve their reliability and robustness. Practical implications – A final conclusion suggests that the suggested tools offer a useful heuristic path to learn about governance for sustainability, from a VSM perspective; the learning from each organisational self-transformation regarding governance for sustainability is insightful for policy and strategy design and evaluation; in particular the possibility of comparing situations from different scales and types of organisations. Originality/value – There is very little coherence in the governance literature and the field of governance for sustainability is an emerging field. This piece of exploratory research is valuable as it presents an effective tool to learn about governance for sustainability, based in the “Methodology for Self-Transformation”; and offers reflexions on applications of the methodology and the tool, that contribute to clarify the meaning of governance for sustainability in practice, in organisations from different scales and types

Integrated sustainability management for organizations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose the Viable System Model (VSM) as an effective model to base the analysis of organizational sustainability (long-term viability). It is specifically proposed as a model to integrate the various sustainability tools, and as the basis for designing a unified Sustainability Management System. Design/methodology/approach – The VSM is used as an organizational model to examine three prominent sustainability standards: ISO 26000, ISO 14001 and ISO 14044. A generic manufacturing company is used as a template; and its typical business processes are related to each of the VSM’s components. Each clause of the three sustainability standards is then mapped on to the VSM model. These three models are integrated into one, by analysing the differences, similarities and complementarities in the context of each VSM component, and by identifying common invariant functions. Findings – In all, 12 generic sustainability functions are identified. ISO 26000 has the widest scope; ISO 14001 is focused primarily on internal measurement and control (System 3), while ISO 14044 is a complex performance indicator at the System 3 level. There is a general absence of System 2. Each standard can be regarded as a distinct management layer, which needs to be integrated with the Business Management layer. Research limitations/implications – Further research is needed to explore the specifics of integration. Practical implications – This integration should not be based on creating distinct roles for each management layer. Originality/value – The paper uses the insights of organizational cybernetics to examine prominent sustainability standards and advance sustainability management at the business level

A systemic integration approach to designing interagency responses to wicked problems

Wicked problems are open-ended, highly interdependent issues that cross agency, stakeholder, jurisdictional, political and geopolitical boundaries. This confounds governments because policies and budgets tend to be aligned within these boundaries and not across them, making it difficult to bring the appropriate talent, knowledge and assets into an interagency approach to tackling whatever wicked problem is at hand.Many governments realize the need for a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to tackling large complex issues, and have employed various methods to achieve interagency and other private/public partnerships. One approach is to employ experts (sometimes called Czars) who are in charge of specific policies and can coordinate input from across government and private entities. Other organizational approaches have focused on forming high-level committees and task forces made up of representation from stakeholder organizations. These approaches are intended to increase cross-government information sharing, identify best-practices, and generate reports that include recommendations to policy makers. However, the formation of these vehicles can be ad hoc and not designed holistically to handle the complexity of wicked problems where interdependencies abound and the perspectives and values of agencies and other stakeholders can often be in conflict. Other complaints about forming these ad hoc groups include the slow, long-term process required to build trust; one agency typically takes the lead, creating problematic power relationships when their own inevitably partial perspective starts to override the perspectives of other agencies; difficulties of reaching agreement on crosscutting agendas; too many meetings; inaction in the face of the above difficulties; and missed opportunities. The research described in this paper was conducted to develop and evaluate a new Systemic Intervention approach to designing interagency meta-organizations. The term meta-organization is used because it is important to note that this does not have to mean a new official bricks-and-mortar organization, but an organization nonetheless. The term “interagency” is sometimes used to mean this meta-organization. It is a multi-method approach that combines the viable system model (VSM) as the organizational design instrument with participatory problem structuring methods and boundary critique

Diseño de un modelo administrativo para empresas enfocadas en la industria del software y la media digital de Parquesoft Pereira

El desarrollo del presente proyecto constituye el diseño de un modelo administrativo que contiene los formatos de procesos, procedimientos y de funciones para las empresas enfocadas al desarrollo de software y media digital de ParqueSoft Pereira; con el fin de fortalecer la gestión administrativa para cada una de las empresas según la etapa de desarrollo en la que se encuentran. Su estructuración se basó en la revisión de los procesos de acompañamiento que realiza ParqueSoft Pereira y el modelo estratégico de emprendimiento propuesto para la industria del conocimiento llamado ParqueSoft.Tree (The Real Engine for Entrepreneurial Ecosystem).The research presents the design of an administrative model, that consists of processes planning, procedures and job description manuals for ParqueSoft Pereira´s companies which are focused on software development and digital media, in order to strengthen the administrative management for each one of them according to their development stage. The research methodology involves the review of the accompaniment processes carried out by ParqueSoft Pereira´s and the strategic entrepreneurship model proposed for the knowledge industry known as ParqueSoft.Tree (The Real Engine for Entrepreneurial Ecosystem)

Trends in U.S. Public Awareness of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (1999-2010): 2009 General Population Toplines

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Trends in U.S. Public Awareness of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (1999-2010): Study Brief

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Unravelling the chemistry behind the toxicity of oil refining effluents: from characterisation to treatment

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonAdequate wastewater management is a crucial element to achieve water sustainability in the petroleum refining sector, as their operations produce vast quantities of wastewater with potentially harmful contaminants. Treatment technologies are therefore pivotal for stopping these chemicals from entering the environment and protecting receiving environments. However, refining effluents are still linked to serious pollution problems, partly because little progress has been made in determining the causative agents of the observed biological effects, resulting in non-targeted treatment. Here it is shown that naphthenic acids, which have been reported as toxic and recalcitrant, are important components of refining wastewater resulting from the processing of heavy crude oil and that they have a significant contribution to the toxic effects exerted by these effluents. Furthermore, it was found that their chemical stability makes them highly resistant to remediation using Pseudomonas putida and H2O2/Fe-TAML (TetraAmido Macrocyclic Ligands) systems under laboratory conditions, and only sequential aliquots of Fe-TAML catalysts and H2O2 showed to partially degrade naphthenic acids (50 mg/L) within 72 hours. Results suggest that a combinatorial approach of Fe-TAML/H2O2 followed by biodegradation might improve current treatment options, but further optimisation is required for the biological treatment. These results can serve as a starting point for better environmental regulations relevant to oil refining wastewater resulting from heavy crude oil, as naphthenic acids are not currently considered in the effluent guidelines for the refining sector. Furthermore, the degradation of naphthenic acids under mild conditions using Fe-TAML/H2O2 systems indicates that these catalysts hold promise for the remediation of refining wastewater in real-life scenarios.Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation – COLCIENCIA

Estadística para las ciencias sociales y humanas I

En esta cartilla haremos una breve introducción al curso, hablaremos de qué es la estadística descriptiva, los conceptos de población, muestra, variable, participante y dato. Estos conceptos son fundamentales para poder comprender el carácter científico de la psicología, además, son la base que nos permitirá comprender el papel de la estadística en esta importante disciplinaUNIDAD 1 ¿Qué es la estadística y por qué la estudiamos? -- UNIDAD 1 ¿Cuál es el proceso que debemos seguir para recolectar datos? -- UNIDAD 2 ¿Por qué hablar de tipo de variables? -- UNIDAD 2 ¿Qué es la medición? -- UNIDAD 3 Medidas de Tendencia Central -- UNIDAD 3 Medidas de forma -- UNIDAD 4 ¿Que son las Tablas de Frecuencia? -- UNIDAD 4 Representación Gráfic

Diseño e implementación de una política de seguridad alimentaria desde un enfoque de redes de políticas públicas nación-territorio

En los últimos tres lustros, el problema de la inseguridad Alimentaria y nutricional ha inspirado la creación de Política pública alrededor del tema a escala nacional y territorial siguiendo las recomendaciones dadas por expertos y entidades especializadas en el tema, sin embargo, los indicadores siguen siendo preocupantes, especialmente a nivel subnacional. Este trabajo analiza cuál ha sido el proceso de diseño e implementación de la política pública de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional y la dinámica en la toma de decisiones por parte de los diferentes actores sociales e institucionales, haciendo una propuesta de análisis desde el fortalecimiento de redes de políticas y la necesidad de un abordaje multicausal , multisectorial y territorial.In the last three lustrums, the food and nutrition insecurity problem has inspired the creation of public policies around this issue at a national and territorial level, following recommendations given by experts and specialized institutions , however, indicators are still worrying, specially at a sub-national level. This work analyzes the Nutritional and Food Security Public Policy design and implementation and the dynamics in the decision-making by the different social and institutional stakeholders, with a proposed analysis departing from the policy networks strengthening and the need for a multi-cause, multi-sector and territorial approach.Magíster en Estudios PolíticosMaestrí

Praxeological analysis of teaching methods : a bridge between research and practice

Es deseable que los buenos resultados obtenidos en las investigaciones sobre la utilización de los métodos activos de enseñanza sean alcanzados en la práctica docente en diversos contextos. Para ello, es necesario comprender las características específicas de los métodos de enseñanza, así como las eventuales transformaciones necesarias para adecuarlos a diferentes contextos. En este artículo proponemos utilizar el constructo de “Organización Praxeológica”, proveniente de la Teoría Antropológica de lo Didáctico, como herramienta para el estudio de los métodos de enseñanza. Desde esa perspectiva, los métodos son vistos como conocimientos institucionalizados - social e históricamente legitimados - que pueden ser estudiados en términos de praxis (tipos de tareas y técnicas) y del logos (discursos tecnológicos y teóricos). Ilustramos estas ideas con la construcción de una organización praxeológica para el método conocido como Team-Based LearningÉ desejável que os bons resultados obtidos em pesquisas com métodos ativos de ensino sejam alcançados na prática docente em diversos contextos. Para tanto, é necessário compreender os métodos de ensino em suas especificidades, assim como as eventuais transformações necessárias para adequá-los a diferentes contextos. Neste artigo propomos o uso da Organização Praxeológica, oriunda da Teoria Antropológica do Didático, como ferramenta para o estudo de métodos de ensino. Nessa perspectiva, os métodos são vistos como conhecimentos institucionalizados – social e historicamente legitimados – que podem ser estudados em termos de práxis (tipos de tarefa e técnicas) e do logos (discursos tecnológicos e teóricos). Ilustramos essas ideias com a construção de uma organização praxeológica para o método Team-Based Learning .It is desirable that the good results obtained in research on the use of active teaching methods be achieved in teaching practice in various contexts. To this end, it is necessary to understand the teaching methods in their specificities, as well as the possible transformations necessary to adapt them to different contexts. In this paper, we propose the use of the “Praxeological Organization” construct, grounded in the Anthropological Theory of Didactics, as an analytical tool for the study of teaching methods. In this perspective, the methods are seen as institutionalized knowledge – socially and historically legitimated –, which can be studied in terms of praxis (types of tasks and techniques) and logos (technological and theoretical discourses). We illustrate our theoretical proposal with the establishment of a praxeological organization for the teaching method known as Team-Based Learning