Markus Schwaninger
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Biography
Markus Schwaninger is a Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Management and Strategy, University of St. Gallen (Switzerland). Research focus: Organizational intelligence, corporate transformation and learning, systemic issues of sustainability. Methodological orientation: Systems approaches; emphasis: Organizational Cybernetics (Viable Systems, Variety Engineering), System Dynamics. Studies in Economics, Sociology and Management at Universities in Austria (Salzburg, Innsbruck), Switzerland (St. Gallen) and France (Aix-Marseille). Habilitation and venia legendi at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland (UNISG). Memberships: WOSC-World Organization of Systems and Cybernetics (advisory board), International Academy of Cybernetics and Systems, System Dynamics Society, ISSS-International Society for the Systems Sciences, GWS-Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialkybernetik, BSSS-Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (Fellow). Markus has researched, lectured and consulted internationally. Research residencies abroad: MIT-Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S.A.; Columbia University, U.S.A.; UBC-University of British Columbia, Canada; Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Brazil; Universidad de los Andes, Colombia; Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica, Brazil. Founder of the System Dynamics Group at the Institute of Management and Strategy, UNISG. Publishing: Long-standing Managing Editor of the System Dynamics Review. His publications amount to roughly 250, in six languages, including 15 books.
Sessions
CyberSystemic Tools for Organizational Advancement
CyberSystemic Tools for Organizational Advancement, by Markus Schwaninger. The approach outlined in this chapter helps to enhance the connectivity and synergy of exponents from different fields: Their capabilities are fused in joint efforts towards organizational advancement – not just in economic terms but in a much broader sense. This is a conceptual-theoretical contribution. First, the concept of Management is explored from a cybersystemic stance. Second, Systemic Management is analyzed as a key to Organizational Intelligence. To bind these components together, an integrative Framework for the Design and Development of Intelligent Organizations is proposed. This framework has five dimensions rooted in the research tradition of systemic management: Activities, Structure, Behavior, Basic Parameters, Time. For each one of these dimensions cybersystemic tools are proposed. The presented concept is applicable to organizations of all kinds, but also to societies at large, to social initiatives and movements. The study is an effort to open paths to a new organizational paradigm: one that transcends the technocratic, unidimensional, reductionist approaches to management. The quest is for viability and development, - making possible humane organizations and a sustainable future that is worth living for.