The purpose of this session is to explore the these human dimension of the complex interactions, which are a key feature of VSM. Stafford Beer understood the importance of personal relationships in achieving and maintaining a viable system. At the start of his masterwork, The Heart of Enterprise (Beer, 1979), he declares that “the heart of enterprise is the human being”.
The session focuses on personal relationships, power, and the tensions between personal identity and organisational identity, and the stories people tell, particularly in periods of organisational and strategic change. It provides a complementary perspective on understanding complexity, not simply because of the variety of organisational products and services, but the variety of human beings in all their complex manifestations in organisational life.