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This paper aims to offer an integration of Vladimir Lepskiy’s third-order cybernetics and Raul Espejo’s Viplan methodology. Key ideas are mechanisms for social responsibility and a methodology to improve them through self-developing reflexive-active environments.

The authors propose a methodology based on modern philosophy of science, which sets the foundation of ontological cybernetics, constructed by subjects with different epistemological stances. This methodology includes considerations for social values, worldview principles, multiple viewpoints and subject-oriented information and communication platforms.

Current negative trends in socio-economic and environmental developments are associated with weaker social responsibilities of those holding power in society. To increase their social responsibility, the authors argue it is necessary for them to have more effective governance and development mechanisms. The proposed methodology ensures more effective interactions of stakeholders toward creating, regulating and implementing societal problem-solving.

This paper offers an initial theoretical conceptualization and illustration of social responsibility, which would benefit from further conceptual developments and practical applications.

The methodology helps increasing the level of social responsibility of all participants in control and development processes in social systems. The proposed approach allows ensuring the inclusion of stakeholders in societal problem solving through participatory methods and democratic approaches.

The conceptual and methodological ideas of this paper are based on the authors’ original research. The methodology and model of ontological cybernetics proposed in this paper are based on organizational cybernetics and modern views of philosophy of science. The methodology and model include basic ontological values and principles.

The software Viplan learning system is an aid to learn about Beer’s viable system model (VSM) and its application. This is done with the support of the Viplan method. The five activities of this method are explained with examples. First, it offers an approach to understand and discuss organisational identity through analysis of stakeholders. Second, it describes structural modelling of activities, which is followed by the crucial idea in the method of unfolding the organisation’s complexity. Fourth, it shows a tool for studying the distribution of resources and discretion in an organisation. Fifth, and finally, it offers a form of relating these resources to the VSM, thus allowing the development of diagnostic points. The paper ends with a short description of the software itself.

Groups of students were enrolled in a course that sought to produce a three-phase theoretical model over three semesters.

A design project to comprehensively address school violence was launched at a university in eastern Pennsylvania.

This article updates the recent and most critical finding of the project by illuminating specific implications of the importance of teacher training and the development toward competence in recognition of children who are emotionally and psychologically injured through proactive measures such as screening for emotional and psychological well-being.

Although the model has not been tested, screening to identify those in need of emotional support and training to support teachers is clear. Screening and training offer important opportunities to help learners build skills toward resilience to soften the effects of trauma.

A view of the “whole child” with regard to academic success could further foster social and emotional development.

Early intervention can prevent the onset of symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress and related disorders. This effort alone may significantly reduce the uncomfortable incidences and perhaps ultimate prevention of the violence that is perpetuated among children.

Preliminary research supports a continued conversation regarding effective tools to find children emotionally and psychologically at-risk, which allows teachers an opportunity for timely emotional and psychological interventions.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and conceptualize the topic of Cognitive Centres. It emphasizes the importance of complexity management and cognitive technologies in management practice.

It elaborates the relevance of different types of models for management: Stafford Beer's operations room, viable system model, subject‐object and subject‐subject management models, expert‐based mathematical modelling and computational experiment, organizational‐activity games theory and cybernetic (Viplan) methodology.

The paper suggests models and approaches for strategic management. It shows the inadequacy of a subject‐object management model for industrial or regional governance. It integrates a communicative management approach, complexity management methods, the USSR's Gosplan experience of long‐term planning, the Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics experience of modelling extremely complex systems and modern cognitive and information technologies into the concept of a Cognitive Centre.

Cognitive Centres can enhance the adaptation and viability of a large network of small organizations: public enterprises, business and not‐for‐profit regional industries. The paper describes two cases of practical implementation.

The paper contributes to research on management models that integrates cybernetics, cognitive technologies and computational experiments.

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the knowledge that Beer's viable system model helps when applied to the study of change processes in organisations.

This paper develops a case study constructed on interviews and shared reflections by the author and a key player in the company. Aspects of the case study are then seen with an epistemological lens.

While it is apparent that ideas, purposes, values or policies depend on resources to happen, this paper argues that it is necessary their embodying in effective relations to succeed creating and producing desirable meanings.

Some forms of embodiment are more effective than others. The viable system model offers embodiment criteria to increase the chances of a successful production of ideas, purposes, values and policies, and the case study shows that for this purpose a limitation is transforming long‐established relationships.

This paper uses a particular and unique situation to illustrate through the viable system model some of the general difficulties that organisations face in achieving desirable transformations.

The purpose of this paper is to present an example of the application of a framework, based on Beer's organizational cybernetics and viable system model, that allowed the top management of a public university to design and implement university policy and actions related to the physical design of the various university campuses.

Based on organizational cybernetics concepts, an heuristic is used by the top management of a public university for designing the strategy and actions related to urban planning issues.

The paper outlines the process that helped the university's new top management to diagnose the situation at the beginning of its mandate and to design pertinent actions. This process starts by clarifying the university identity, purpose and boundaries and is followed by identifying the required structural levels. For each of them the key factors to be considered and actions to be taken are stated. The use of a Recursion Levels‐Key Factors Matrix helped to maintain a coherent and holistic view of the intervention.

This kind of framework can guide leaders of public and private organizations to apply cybernetic concepts to improve their strategic policies' design and actions.

The application of organizational cybernetics and the viable system model to urban planning‐related activities in universities is highly original. The framework here presented, together with the example of its application, can serve as a guide to leaders of other universities as well as other public or private organizations when coping with the complexity they have to face.

This paper deals with organisational complexity, seen from the perspective of its unfolding from global to local concerns. Historically, this unfolding has produced rigid social systems, where those in power positions have forced unfair constraints over the majorities at the local level, and often excluded them. There is a need to move towards flexible, fair, social systems, inclusive in character. This transformation requires an increasing appreciation of communication problems in society and the embodiment of effective social systems. This transformation is presented as a problem‐solving paradigm which requires social systems with capacity to create and produce their own meanings, with capacity to manage necessary structural couplings among existing social systems, thus making this management a heuristic to produce necessary social differentiation to overcome communication failures among existing self‐producing, operationally closed, social systems. A key construct used in this paper to practically produce this management is the viable system model, developed by Stafford Beer.