Amar Nayak
Xavier Institute of Management, XIM University
Biography
Amar KJR Nayak is a Professor of Strategy and Chairperson of AIESS Centre, Xavier Institute of Management, XIM University, and President, AIESS Society, Bhubaneswar, India. He also chairs the AIESS Global Consortium, and is VP, International Federation for Systems ResearchIn his over three decades of engagements in field/action research and policy formulations to resolve complex problems in reality, Amar founded the All Interacting Evolving Systems Science (AIESS) that explains the phenomena of change, whether regeneration or degeneration, in reality. He also developed the Ecosystemic Transdisciplinary Action Research (ESTAR) Methodology to operationalize Regenerative & Flourishing Ecosystems. The axiology of nothingness of any individual entity in a system, while recognizing the complementary role of every entity in a system, with the weakest other-centered intentionality (WOCI) in a system, are the foundations to Balance and Coherence to his Regenerative Ecosystemic Science. While he has adopted several methodologies from reductionist to systemic methodologies to study and resolve issues in ten different economic-political-social-ecological dimensions/systems/sectors, he primarily adopts ESTAR in his current pursuits towards regenerative living, education, design, and operationalizing regenerative ecosystems in the fast degenerating natural, rural, urban, and industrial ecosystems.
Sessions
Ecosystemic Transdisciplinary Action Research: An AIESS-Based Methodology for Regenerative Organisational Cybernetics
Purpose: Contemporary organisational challenges increasingly transcend organisational boundaries, involving interconnected ecological, social, institutional, governance, and economic systems. While the Viable System Model (VSM) provides a powerful framework for understanding organisational viability, there remains a need for methodologies that support ecosystemic diagnosis, embeddedness, collaborative learning, intervention, and regeneration across interacting systems within an ecosystem. This paper introduces Ecosystemic Transdisciplinary Action Research (ESTAR), developed within the All Interacting Evolving Systems Science (AIESS) paradigm, as a complementary methodology for addressing these challenges. Methods: ESTAR combines ecosystemic diagnosis, transdisciplinary knowledge co-creation, participatory action research, and iterative regenerative intervention. The methodology is grounded in four foundational axioms of AIESS—interconnectedness, interdependence, interactions, and intentionality—and operationalises them by systematically identifying ecosystem dimensions, their critical factors, variables, and regenerative processes. Findings: The paper presents a methodological framework that demonstrates how ESTAR enables researchers and practitioners to diagnose evolving complexity, facilitate collaborative learning among multiple stakeholders, and design interventions that strengthen organisational viability while enhancing ecosystem balance, coherence, and regenerative capacity. The approach complements cybernetic principles by extending analysis beyond organisational recursion to the dynamics of interacting variables in an ecosystem. Implications/Contributions: ESTAR contributes an emerging methodology for organisational cybernetics by integrating systems science, transdisciplinary inquiry, and action research into a coherent ecosystemic framework. It offers a practical approach for extending VSM-informed practice toward regenerative organizations and ecosystems.