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The purpose of this paper is to adapt a causal modelling approach to investigate the organisational collaboration and information technology (IT) project management issues concerning the planning and adoption of inter‐organisational IT systems across NHS hospital pathology departments.

The researchers adopted an interpretive research approach utilising qualitative methods and in particular template analysis. Themes and categories were initially derived from a review of the literature based on critical success factors from enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects.

A causal loop modelling approach was adapted to define key linkages between success factors. This highlighted virtuous and vicious cycles associated with IT project management and team collaboration – influencing the adoption process of large‐scale integrated IT systems.

Single case studies can be problematic in terms of generalising from the research. The study had a limited number of interview participants due to the focus on strategic management. Future studies could extend the number of stakeholders involved and also focus on end‐users of services, such as clinicians in primary care.

The discussion and conclusions assess the appropriateness and utility of using a causal modelling approach, and an adapted causal loop model, to inform more effective approaches to IT planning, project management, team collaboration and adoption of integrated systems.

The findings indicate that a more enhanced understanding of project team collaboration involving technical, administrative and clinical stakeholders has the potential to inform more effective strategies for modernisation of hospital clinical services such as pathology.

This study investigates the anatomy of a high‐profile IT project under the umbrella of strategic modernisation of health services. Privileged access to key stakeholders has enabled the development of a causal model for IT project collaboration and management. This will form the basis for further development of more refined models to enhance project outcomes in the future.

The aim of this paper is to assess highly toxic leaders and dysfunctional organizations as presented via management consulting and executive coaching assignments.

The paper employs an action research approach via two participant observer case studies incorporating the DSM IV‐TR: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

The paper finds that the nexus of dysfunctional organizational systems may be located in “pre‐existing” leadership pathologies.

First, additional research will be needed to confirm and extend the findings of individual pathologies in leaders to dysfunctional organizational systems; second, a closer look is necessary at the applicability of the DSM IV‐TR to pathologies at the organizational level; third, due to the action research, case study approach utilized, there is somewhat limited generalizability; fourth, there are limitations re: the applicability of DSM IV‐TR as an assessment tool for management researchers due to the necessity of training in clinical psychology.

The importance of distinguishing personality disorders in leaders from toxic behaviors falling within a range of “normal pathology,” and the ability to assess individual leadership pathology within organizational systems via the clinically trained usage of the DSM IV‐TR; providing clinical assessment tools for reducing the number of misdiagnoses of leadership pathology in the workplace; encouraging collaboration between management and psychology researchers and practitioners.

This paper fills a gap in the toxic organizations research by identifying personality disorders in leaders and providing an action research agenda for incorporating the DSM IV‐TR as a means of extending the repertoire of assessment tools;

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework, based on Beer's viable system model (VSM) that enables managers of public and private organizations to cope with the complexities faced by their organizations.

Based on concepts from organizational cybernetics (OC) an heuristic is elaborated for the design or diagnosis of any organization, from the point of view of its viability.

An outline of the process that enables managers to diagnose or design the organization they manage is formalized in a structured sequence which, starting with the clarification of an organization's identity, purpose and boundaries, guides the whole process of structure creation and the detailed diagnosis of all its structural components from the point of view of its viability. A taxonomy of frequent pathologies that affect organizations is also presented.

This kind of framework can guide managers to apply the cybernetic concepts for higher organizational performance, thereby overcoming the oft‐bemoaned difficulties in applying these concepts in practice.

The paper tries to fill the gap between the conceptual deep theoretical works in OC by Stafford Beer and other researchers, and the need of managers for a structured process that can guide their application. The framework presented tries to provide that kind of guide. It integrates different components within a single framework, which covers the creation of the general structure, the diagnosis of each particular organization within it, the evaluation of the degree of coherence between organizational levels, and a taxonomy of organizational pathologies to facilitate such a structuring. Another contribution is the introduction of the VSMod software, created precisely to facilitate the implementation of the VSM.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the social psychological basis of pathologies, from which result neuroses and behaviours like corruption and sociopathic behaviour. It takes the perspective that social collectives have normative minds and can be explored in terms of their social psychological processes.

Knowledge cybernetics will be used to show how pathologies can develop from the interconnection between such noumenal attributes as ideology and ethics.

Social entities have similar psychological pathologies to individual ones. Piaget's notions of how the mind operates can be applied to corporate personality, and their inability to create and coordinate different perspectives can be seen as an organisational pathology.

The paper is a theoretical construct that explores corruption and sociopathology at a deep conceptual level. It requires elaboration through case examples to provide pragmatic meaning.

The capacity to create a methodology that is able to explore the existence and development of pathologies.

This is the first approach of this type using cybernetics to explore at a high conceptual focus the development of pathologies like corruption and sociopathic behaviour.

Context and cultural condition given, cybernetic agency theory enables the anticipation of patterns of behaviour. However, this only occurs under “normal” conditions. Abnormal conditions occur when pathologies develop in the agency, especially within its Piagetian intelligences. An understanding of these pathologies, therefore, constitutes an appreciation of how abnormal behaviour develops. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Different classifications of pathology are considered: autopathic and sociopathic, transitive and lateral pathologies, epistemological and ontological pathologies, within a system and outside system effects of pathologies. The effects of pathologies are inefficacy, loss of cohesion within a system, emerging neurosis, and not least corruption.

Within Agency Mindset Theory, four types of pathologies are identified: being detached from the cultural system, behaviour does not conform to extant values; an inhibited figurative intelligence is disturbing self-reference and resulting in incapability to learn cognitively; the operative system does not respond to strategic intentions: operative decision making is not anchored in ethical, ideological or strategic specifications of the social system; action and behaviour of the organisation are driven by outside interests.

This part of the research could only provide a framework for theoretically identifying the systemic roots of pathologies within social systems, but not provide an in-depth analysis of the shifts in values and practices, which accompany the emergence of pathologies.

The research is indicating that emergent pathologies and moves towards corruption could be either identified through underlying shifts in values and practices, but also through reduced functions (inefficacies) of the indispensable internal processes of an organisation (a social system), be it action-oriented or learning-oriented processes.

The paper draws on earlier work undertaken in the last few years by the same authors, who in a new way are pursuing new directions and extensions of that earlier research.

In part 1 of this paper the organisation was modelled as a socio‐cognitive agency with a normative personality, where patterns of behaviour occur through underlying trait control processes, and from which specific behaviours can be predicted. However, prediction is dependent on a stable agency orientation which occurs in normal conditions of homeostatic equilibrium. In post‐normal conditions the immanent dynamics of the agency have the potential to change its orientation leading to a lesser likelihood of predicting behaviour. Using information theory, this paper aims to further develop the model to show how it is possible to predict behaviour in post‐normal conditions. It also aims to consider the nature of agency pathologies.

The information theory approach of Frieden is harnessed to explain the immanent dynamics of the agency, and explore the likelihood of predicting its behaviour.

The outcomes of the research formulate the cognitive processes of normative personality such that its potential behaviour in given situations can be predicted, even potentially where the agency has pathologies.

There are no comparative approaches to explore organisational behaviour and their potential pathologies.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a systematic method for practitioners (owners, operators, designers, and performers) to identify pathologies (aberrations from healthy system function) in complex systems.

A range of published works, which aim to provide practical and theoretical underpinnings on pathologies, were critiqued with respect to method development. A systematic method with five phases was then developed to help identify and assess existence of pathologies as conditions that negatively impact system performance.

There is a range of pathological conditions and factors that affect organizational (system) performance. However, there is a lack of supporting methods that can guide practitioners in identification of pathologies that exist in systems under their purview.

The developed method is based on functional aspects of system viability as established in management cybernetics. Management cybernetics articulates functions that must be performed for continued viability of complex organizations. Therefore, the developed method supports practitioners in their responsibilities to effectively identify pathologies and develop corresponding remedies.

The proposed approach articulates a repeatable approach by which an analyst can interact with a system of interest in order to identify, assess existence of, and prioritize pathologies. This research introduces an opportunity to develop sets of feasible and purposeful responses to pathologies.

This paper fulfills an identified need to provide practitioners with an advanced systems thinking-based approach to identify deep systemic issues (pathologies) as an essential step in improving performance of an organization (system).

The purpose of this is to explore the potential of the combined use of the viable system model (VSM) and social network analysis (SNA) to identify organizational pathologies.

Using a well-documented case study based on an academic consultancy intervention and Action Research Project, participative methods for the diagnostic of the VSM and questionnaires for the collection of connectivity data for the SNA were used to develop a heuristic to integrate these two tools and identify organizational pathologies.

This study provides empirical evidence of the benefits of the combined use of SNA to enhance the identification of organizational pathologies in VSM interventions, by providing an additional qualitative and quantitative framework for the interpretation of findings coming from VSM organizational diagnostics.

This work explores some analytic routines of SNA frequently used in management. The validation is constrained to the nature of the data set from a case study. The document invites to a discussion of further and more advanced applications on the integration of the VSM and SNA.

The enhanced identification of organizational pathologies can contribute to the emerging new interest in applications of the VSM in management, providing robustness to the structural analysis of organizations.

This paper proposes a guideline to exploit the potential of the combined use of SNA and VSM. It opens new avenues for the study of organizational pathologies.

This paper aims to develop a new socio-cognitive theory of the normative personality of a plural agency like, for instance, an organisation or a political system. This cybernetic agency theory is connected to Bandura's theory of psychosocial function. The agency is adaptive and has a normative personality that operates through three formative personality traits, the function of which is control. The cybernetic agency theory is presented as a meta-model, which comes from cybernetic “living systems” theory.

First, in this paper, the authors discuss the virtues of a normative cybernetic agency model in the light of issues related to normal states and pathologies of systems. Formative traits could be derived from Maruyama's mindscape theory or Harvey's typology. However, Boje has noted that with four mindscape types Maruyama's typology is constrained. Consequently, he projected the Maruyama mindscapes into a space with the three Foucault-dimensions: knowledge, ethics and power.

The suggested cybernetic agency model with the three formative personality traits can provide a framing for a structural model that has the potential to distinguish between normal and abnormal personalities in the same framework.

The constraints of the Maruyama mindscape space, as identified by Boje, are suggesting that further research is needed to identify a formative three-trait-system which is theory based, was empirically applied, and is permitting to create a typology with eight extreme types, yet to be identified.

The paper draws on earlier work undertaken in the last few years by the same authors, who in a new way are pursuing new directions and extensions of that earlier research.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of cracks on external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS) along the thermal insulation joints and the information available on the building pathology catalogue – PATORREB. The aim is to establish the methodology to study the cause of the pathology observed on a building which is located on the interior of Portugal based on in situ probing together with the analysis of hygrothermal and mechanical behaviour.

An in situ analysis was performed to assess the causes. The hygrothermal dynamic behaviour of the wall was analysed with a numerical simulation advanced tool considering the climatic conditions, the characteristics of the thermal insulation plates as well as the support and finishing layer properties. Moreover, a qualitatively analysis of the mechanical behaviour, based on the bonding process, thermal insulation and exterior rendering properties was performed.

It was concluded that the insulation properties – thermal expansion coefficient and stiffness, the thermal expansion coefficient of the exterior rendering, together with adverse climatic conditions were critical for the appearance of cracks along the plate joints, particularly with spot bonding. The expansion and retraction stresses and the restrained movements of the components can result in bending moments, especially when the insulation material has a high stiffness value, which will create the crack on the rendering system.

A combination between a hygrothermal and mechanical analysis of an ETICS pathology concerning the appearance of cracks with a subsequent integration into a building pathology catalogue.