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Purpose – This paper aims to offer a personal reflection on the 2012 joint conference of the American Society for Cybernetics and the Bateson Idea Group, "An Ecology of Ideas". The intent is to raise awareness, through examples, of ideas – and their associated ways of thinking – that the author tends to take for granted in the work as systems theorists as well as in everyday life, yet ideas that confound the very social issues the conferees were trying to address. Design/methodology/approach – The thoughts expressed arose after five days of listening to presentations and discussions, both formal and informal. The approach is conversational, with a desire to stimulate further conversation. Findings – Certain versions of systems theory – whole systems, purposeful systems, systems theory as ideology – rely on ideas that although written about extensively in philosophical and socio-political works go unchallenged in everyday life. Three of these ideas – hierarchy, purpose, belief – are embedded in the way of talking about, and the language used to formulate, solutions to social problems. The suggestion is to avoid or suspend these ideas so that alternatives can be considered. Originality/value – Idea avoidance offers those who study social change and/or those who participate in making it happen a way to escape the stuckness of ideas so ingrained in the everyday ways of thinking that they go unnoticed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the contribution of community-based research to the self-organisation of Civil Society and in particular to community engagement, policy processes and social change. Design/methodology/approach – Starting from communities own issues and organisational structures, this paper presents a methodology to create spaces for social transformation. Its approach was designing engagement programmes of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with communities’ partnerships, supported by constructed conversations, workshops and fieldwork, coproducing knowledge within community structures. Findings – The research offers evidence that supporting community empowerment and engagement with community-based research needs a deep understanding of participatory social processes. It makes visible that researchers should have more opportunities to focus their research on communities rather than on collecting data to respond to funders. Research limitations/implications – Though community self-organisation happens one way or the other effective self-organisation processes cannot be taken for granted and need further studies and elaboration. Despite current efforts it requires more studies to understand social systems and develop stronger links to active citizenship policies. Practical implications – This research contributes to communities’ engagement in policy processes and highlights the enabling role of HEIs. Originality/value – It rearticulates participatory approaches to active citizenship and learning in communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report about research how Society 5.0 balances Industry 4.0, responsible economic development and resolution of social problems by advancement of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in organizations. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing from organization, sustainable development and social functionalism theories, the authors designed an integral model of CSR in line with goals of a forward-looking and socially responsible society. This study includes analyzing of present governing principles, multidisciplinary and multifunctional consideration and developing of integral framework for CSR in organizations. Findings: This study's findings suggest incorporation of technology in models of CSR, a regionally grounded solving of individuals' social problems and changing of CSR's environmental, social and economic dimensions according to circumstances of Society 5.0. Practical implications: This study has created guidance for improvement of CSR practice in organizations through its responsible operating and behavior grounded on the governing environmental and social circumstances in modern society. It also revealed new possibilities for interest-based usage of human-centered society among individuals and organizations. Originality/value: The reported study proposed an integral model of CSR for solving the main social problems with usage of advanced technologies in responsible economic growth founded on circumstances of Society 5.0, previously not considered in literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Much information is hidden from consumers including social and environmental violations, poor labour practices and unethical economic activities. This paper aims to present a model for both consumers and corporations that can assist in empowering consumers when making purchasing decisions by bringing the behind the scenes information to the buyer. A responsibility rating is provided at each step in the production chain. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an argument with research findings of how consumers are linked to their purchases, and how these purchases contribute to the current manufacturing cycle and perpetuation of land and labour abuses. Findings – Consumers can influence the product lifecycle of their chosen products. The model provides a mechanism for consumers to purchase items that are in keeping with their worldview. A certifiable standard for corporations is presented. Practical implications – Consumers are provided with a system that they can immediately obtain the responsibility ratings of any of their chosen products in real-time. Companies with low responsibility ratings lose out in their sales revenue and are thus motivated to change their production methods. Companies would compete in an atmosphere of total disclosure regarding social and environmental matters giving rise to a new ethic of consumerism. Originality/value – A new form of consumerism is uncovered, one that takes the recursive nature of consumer actions into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to consider the history of certain modular elements: Truchet tiles, Op-tiles, Kufic tiles, and key-patterns, which occur as ornamental archetypes from Paleolithic times until the present. The appearance of the same ornamental archetypes at the same level of the development in different cultures, distant in space and time can be described from the cybernetics point of view as a specific kind of self-referential systems or cellular automata present in the intellectual and cultural development of mankind. The aim of this research is to show a continuity of the development of ornamental structures based on modular elements used as ornamental archetypes. Design/methodology/approach - Research of the material from archaeological findings, history of art, painting, architecture, and applied arts. Findings - Existence of universal geometrical construction principles based on modularity. Practical implications - Creation of new patterns or designs (e.g. TeX-fonts, tiles, etc.) based on modularity. Originality/value - The paper presents a new explanation of constructions of labyrinths and different Islamic patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Agency development is inherently a process of institutional evolution. The purpose of this part 2 (of a 3 part) paper is to explore development in the political context, producing a cultural model of political development as institutional evolution, explaining how political groups may come to power culturally. This requires a detailed examination of culture and cultural change, and a study of strategic political frames that define political groups seeking support for political power from agents in a political sphere. During cultural instabilities or social crises, frames may become cynical and embrace liquid persuasion and hence populism. Design/methodology/approach: A cultural model for political development is created involving three variables (emotional climate, cultural order and compliance). This enables cultural comparison of different political groups. Strategic political frames are examined to understand how those vying for agency power may attract support from agents in the activity system. Liquid frames are also explored to understand the cynical nature of populism and its contribution to institutional devolution. Findings: A political development theory result that identifies the conditions under which formal political groups can promote frames that may attract support from agents from who they require support to gain agency power status. A model is produced for political development. It explains populism as a thin ideology with a collectivist orientation that uses liquid framing, and it introduces its individualist counterpart, political synergism. Research limitations/implications: The implication of this research is that it will allow empirical methods to be used that potentially enable political outcomes in complex political environments to be anticipated, given additional appropriate measurement criteria. Originality/value: Linking agency and institutional theory to explain the process of development is new, as is its application to the political development process in a political landscape. As part of this linkage, it has been shown how Bauman's concept of liquidity relates to Sorokin's ideas of socio-cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a model of education that is non-reproductive; that is, productive of non-trivial machines. The reason for this is the postulate that society’s main problems are second-order deficiencies, which cannot be fixed by doing what we do better or more intensely, but rather by changing what we do. Design/methodology/approach – This paper proposes several guidelines for non-reproductive education based on Von Foerster’s concept of a non-trivial machine and of legitimate questions, and Ashby’s law of requisite variety. The ideas presented are corollaries and the result of a philosophical fleshing-out of said concepts and laws. Findings – In order to have a non-reproductive education, it is necessary to limit the role of central control and promote self-evaluation in education at every level of recursion: that is, in the relationship between state and educational institutions, educational institutions and teachers, teacher and students and students as evaluators of themselves. Originality/value – First, the concept of genuine self-evaluation is proposed, to distinguish this from what is currently called self-evaluation; which, it is shown, is not truly so. Second, the concept of authentic research is proposed, as distinguished from original research. This is useful for seeing how legitimate questions work at all levels of education. Third, a number of relationships between cybernetics and philosophical thought are established. Fourth, a model for non-reproductive education is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a minimal dynamic two-dimensional map for the relation between citizens’ perception of quality of life (y) and their perception of the city Mayor management abilities (F). Design/methodology/approach – The authors use data from the Ciudades cómo vamos? project and test a simple hypothesis: there is a linear positive correlation between y and F. Following the authors propose a two-dimensional map based on ideas from a statistical regression model and a non-linear dynamical map on the [0; 1] interval. Findings – The authors give evidence that suggests that y and F are not linearly correlated. The authors show that the two-dimensional map, mentioned above, is able to reproduce non-trivial and unsynchronized relations between the variables, as well as the whole range of correlation coefficients. Research limitations/implications – There is a very limited amount of data to work with, therefore it was not possible to explore other possible relations thoroughly. Regarding the dynamical map, the authors are aware that there are still many venues for its study. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first reported attempt at modeling the dynamics between two variables obtained via survey on which perception is a key component of the questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to discuss and conceptually support the statement that a critical and holistic approach to branding requires interplay of the methods and methodologies of different disciplines and the so-called decompositional approach. Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on the thorough secondary research based on content analysis of the studied literature dealing with the methodological approach to brand management and branding, especially the comparison of brand management categorization and development of approaches from the customer centrality and strategic priority to the adaptive and relational paradigms. Findings – The major outcome of this research is the confirmation of the fact that changes of paradigmatic approaches to research are rooted in economic and social changes. The predominance of relational, community, cultural approaches stem from the growth of customers' value and a new role of customers in the economic and social sphere. Research limitations/implications – The topic of branding in management in tourism destinations is still emerging, especially understanding of transition of paradigms and approaches to the research of branding in tourism. Practical implications – Important is the explanation of differences between the approaches to branding and especially the fact that some of the approaches (relational, community and cultural approach) are based on systems-thinking and contribute to the competitive advantage creation. Originality/value – The paper aims to highlight the fact how global social and economic forces and changing cycles (Kondratiev) have influenced the empirical research and the implementation of ideas on economic interventions and social problems topics. This fact embraced major themes in a society and has influenced research on innovation and branding. It might be compelling to discuss the changes in paradigms and explain why social responsibility and other core themes resonate and influence the managerial practices in tourism and the paradigms in research of tourism dealing with brand management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to learn from successful educational frameworks how to inform a possible framework for design education that includes ecological literacy, systems thinking leading to more sustainable and ecological designs. Design/methodology/approach – The author comparing two models for education, the first being that of the Polynesian Voyaging Society which re-emerged as a cultural and educational framework in Hawaii. Second that of the Center for Ecological Literacy in connection with the edible schoolyard. Both frameworks involve systems thinking. Findings – Certain elements that may inform design education. Among these are attention and vision, values, care for nature, culture, community and learning based on systems thinking, exploration and perception of the environment. Language, traditions and a strong local grounding also play a role in the Hawaiian framework. Research limitations/implications – The sources are from personal observations in design education and documentation material provided by educators. The groups with which these principles were enacted are children, whereas my goal is to inform a framework for higher education. Practical implications – The shared characteristics used in the two frameworks might be used to inform curricula for design education from both theoretical perspectives and practical applications. Originality/value – Polynesian voyaging and ecological literacy have both been very successful as educational frameworks since their implementation. Designing is necessary and design education can possibly learn much from these two examples to adapt to future changes. Ecological literacy, an educational perspective, incorporates ideas around sustainability, networks, nested systems, circularity and flows, and using this knowledge to create “sustainable human communities.” Traditionally this is not part of design education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: How to realize social capital "exit from virtual to real" has become not only a hot issue that elicited economists' and the practice field's concern but also a key economic structure problem that the government has to solve urgently. The main purpose of this study is to explore effective methods for social capital to "exit from virtual to real". Design/methodology/approach: The study investigates the realization path of social capital's "exit from virtual to real" by using firm theory and data from the National Bureau of Statistics in China. Provincial panel data are also utilized to empirically test the impact of social capital's de-realization to virtual (or from virtual to real) on economic development and whether the path of social capital "from virtual to real" is valid. Findings: This study analyzes the development status of social funds serving the real economy and the hazards of social funds' "exit from real to virtual," which are mainly viewed as eroding the development of the real economy and causing operating difficulties. On the basis of firm theory, the internal motivation for why social funds flow to the real economy is explored from the perspectives of the needs of the real economy, price and profit. Moreover, this study designs a path for returning social capital to the real economy. Practical implications: Overall, expanding aggregate demand while providing an effective supply and implementing a proactive fiscal policy that focuses on structural tax cuts while keeping margins in the virtual economy are appropriate for promoting the competitiveness of the real economy. Originality/value: This study explores a topic, namely, social capital "exit from virtual to real," that has received little attention. It provides an in-depth discussion of the following questions. (1) What is the current situation of social capital serving the real economy? (2) What kind of harm can social capital bring to society? What are the inherent barriers to the flow of social capital to the real economy? (3) At this stage, how can the effective transformation of social capital into the real economy be realized? The findings help in understanding the sustainable entrepreneurship concept, particularly in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Socially responsible innovative behaviour should reduce the incidence of one-sidedness in the behaviour of persons employed or active in tourism organizations. People with disabilities are often poorly integrated, even in the advanced societies. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – With a requisitely holistic approach in dialectical systems theory and an overview of relevant literature, the common characteristics of tourists with disabilities are briefly described. A dialectical systemic analysis was used to determine whether people with disabilities want to travel and what their requirements are. A questionnaire was used to identify their recent travelling experiences; tourism organizations were interviewed about their experiences, too. A model of a travel agency, specialized for people with disabilities, is presented. Findings – The usual approach to people with special needs is too one-sided. A more requisitely holistic approach to understanding their needs in tourism, based on existing literature and an empirical analysis, is presented. A more innovative management of tourism organizations is proposed, increasing social responsibility (SR). Research limitations/implications – The authors contribute to the integration of people with disabilities in society, focusing on innovation in the management of tourism organizations. Practical implications – This new, more systemic and socially responsible innovative management in tourism is widely applicable. Tourists with disabilities, their family members, and their travelling companions could become more included in tourist activities and represent a potentially significant share of the market. A requisitely holistic approach can provide advantages for tourists with disabilities and tourism organizations. Originality/value – The concepts were not found in available literature neither is the selection of viewpoints of dialectical systems thinking and SR in tourism. They support understanding, designing and managing activities in tourism for people with various limitations or specific needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to show how basic cybernetics principles of the interaction of two or more goal-oriented systems determine the possibilities of social change - and of history. Design/methodology/approach - The starting-point is the assumption of a social unit organized in two levels in which leaders and subordinated members share mutual goal-values. As sources for differentiation within this unit diverging individual strivings and questions of leadership (i.e. defining goals, internal and external policy) are identified. Findings - These sources for differentiation suffice to explain the emergence of individual, political and economic conflicts, as well as the necessary emergence of a multilevel hierarchical organization of society in order to deal with these conflicts. The options of how to deal with these conflicts are analyzed in detail. Practical implications - To avoid the emergence of a proletariat, i.e. a fraction of a society whose interests are neither represented nor pursued by its leaders, is identified as crucial for the long-term stability of a social unit. Originality/value - The paper shows how a few cybernetic principles - primarily the cybernetics of decision making and Ashby's law - can explain complex social phenomena. Thus, it shows the applicability of elements of a cybernetic epistemology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban development in fast-growing cities is one of the huge challenges of our time, and several projects of technical cooperation are dedicated to this issue. The aim of this paper is to help project managers to enhance their capability of dealing effectively with the formidable complexities inherent in this kind of project. For this purpose, we explore the potential of Organizational Cybernetics and Social Systems Theory in a relatively new area of application. We have developed a set of conceptual tools that are helpful in coping with dynamic complexity in change and development projects. These tools have in common an inherent logic deriving to a great extent from Stafford Beer's Viable System Model and the St Gall framework for systemic management. The application of the tools is illustrated by a state-of-the-art case study from the realm of Technical Co-operation - the revision of the Urban Master Plan for the City of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. However, the toolkit is in principle also applicable to any complex project of change or development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The presented study aims to address the subject of educating youngsters in cross-border regions to be responsible persons, tourists, hosts and neighbours, to accept cultural pluralism, and to raise awareness that knowledge of neighbouring countries' languages supports cross-border cooperation. Design/methodology/approach – The approach double-checked theory and legal regulation, and children's knowledge of neighbouring countries' (Slovenia, Hungary, Austria, and Croatia) languages was empirically researched. Indirectly, parental attitudes were examined. The study focused on Slovene and Hungarian languages and on their trans-border (or: cross-border) tourism as a cultural rather than economic topic. Findings – Cross-border tourism depends also on mutual understanding as a precondition of ethics of interdependence as a precondition of the requisite holism of one's approach via social responsibility enabling the well-being of both tourists and hosts. The socio-linguistic and socio-cultural aspects of neighbouring regions, e.g. Slovenia's Prekmurje and Hungary's Örseg, can support positive interaction between ethnic groups and enhance effective cross-border collaboration, including tourism. Poor knowledge of neighbouring countries' languages submits communities to third languages and hinders these trans-border experiences, making the regions a shared destiny maintaining their cultures, languages and identity. Language learning therefore must start at the earliest possible age. Originality/value – This case study advocates cross-border educational and cultural policy that (primary) schools should increase the awareness of the dependence of cross-border peace, positive stereotypes, economies and tourism on knowledge of neighbouring countries' languages and socially responsible (young/future) persons, tourists and hosts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which determines formal theory for solving sociocultural problems. The study uses the epistemological theory of sociocultural dynamics by Sorokin, epistemological theory of extreme physical information (EPI) by Frieden and social viable systems (SVS) theory of Yolles to predict sociocultural events. Results show that Sorokin theory is useful for describing the conceptual aspects of complex systems such as sociocultural processes linked to political processes.