SCiO Courses provide training in the application of the Viable Systems Model.

Please register for the SCiO courses by using the Contact form on the Contact page. An automated booking system is under development.

SC101. Viable Systems Model - Structures
A Beginners Workshop in Modelling using the Viable Systems Model – 1 day
Next course: Saturday September 25th 2010 in Milton Keynes (OU)

This is a whole day workshop designed for those relatively new to VSM and provides basic training in building a Model of an organisation using VSM.
The attendees work together in groups to develop their model of a case study organisation and to diagnose weaknesses. The workshop follows a structured approach, with a series of steps that take the groups through a modelling process in (relatively!) easy stages.
The case study is based on a real organisation – a medium sized IT and office supplies company and provides a platform for developing the skills needed to take normal organisational information, show how that relates to the VSM and how the VSM can provide a set of new insights into the company.
The workshop will be run by Patrick Hoverstadt of Fractal.

Booking
The workshop is open to members and non-members of SCiO. The fee for students on the OU’s T306 course is £20 and for all others is £50. Places are limited, so please book early (use the Contact Form on this site).

SC102. Viable Systems Model – Dynamics
Viable Systems Modelling Intermediate – 1 day
Next Course: Friday November 19th 2010 in Manchester (MBS)

The Workshop
This is a whole day workshop which follows on from the beginners workshop on the Viable System Model and provides training in analysing the dynamics of an organisation using VSM.
The attendees work together in groups to develop their model of a case study organisation and to diagnose weaknesses. The workshop follows a structured approach, with a series of steps that take the groups through a modelling process in (relatively !) easy stages. The groups will analyse complexity balances using amplifiers and attenuators. We will look at how Ashby’s law affects the organisation, and work through how specific complexity imbalances drive instability in the organisation, its operations, strategy and relationships and how these three drive one another.
The case study is based on the same real organisation used in the beginner’s workshop – a medium sized IT and office supplies company and provides a platform for developing the skills needed to take normal organisational information, show how that relates to the VSM and how the VSM can provide a set of new insights into the company.
The workshop will be run by Patrick Hoverstadt of Fractal.

Booking
The workshop is open to members and non-members of SCiO. The fee for students on the OU’s T306 course is £20 and for all others is £50. Places are limited, so please book early (use the Contact Form on this site).

SC103. The Systems Minefield
An Overview of Systems Thinking and Practice – 1 day
Next Course: Friday October 1st 2010 in Manchester (MBS)

This course is normally delivered in your place of work. As currently constructed it is designed for the public sector. Please contact us if you wish to enquire about this course (use the Contact Form on this site).

There has been a lot of publicity about “systems thinking” in the public sector recently. Some of it has been sales led, inevitably some of this has been “optimistic” and some of it has focused on one single approach as if this was all there is to systems thinking. Some of the publicity has come from the public sector itself – and this has reported rather more mixed outcomes.
We believe this has created considerable confusion about what “systems approaches” are really about:
• what they can help with
• just as critically what they can’t help with
• what approaches are useful for what sorts of issues
• how to choose which approach to use where and for what
“Systems” is probably the widest-ranging set of disciplines in management today, covering a broad swathe of approaches and an even more extensive set of problem areas. So choosing what approach is appropriate where, is not a simple issue and hasn’t been helped by individual commentators concentrating on one single aspect of systems and talking about that as if that was the whole of the field.
What systems approaches give you are a very different set of ways to looking at the sorts of intractable and complex problems that the public sector is called on to address and which also beset large organisations internally. And systems gives you a very different set of solutions to those problems.
This two day course will take you through a set of different systems methodologies and show:
• how each works
• the sorts of issues it addresses
• how difficult each is to learn and apply
• how fast it is to use
• the scale of issue it can address
• examples of each approach in use
• what you would need to know before choosing to use each approach
The course will give attendees a grounding in a range of systems approaches that will allow them to choose the approach most suitable for their needs and perhaps more importantly help them to avoid costly mistakes. This is education, and emphatically not sales.

Booking
The workshop is open to members and non-members of SCiO. The fee for students on the OU’s T306 course is £20 and for all others is £50. Places are limited, so please book early (use the Contact Form on this site).




Open University Courses

"T214. Systems thinking: principles and practice" undergraduate - £630
You can’t always make sense of problems or issues by breaking them into parts. A systemic perspective focuses on different aspects of a situation, but pays attention to the connections and relationships between things – and to the different perceptions, priorities and needs of the people involved. This course introduces you to systems thinking and helps you develop an understanding of some of the most important technological, environmental and social systems of our times. You’ll learn simple techniques and ways of looking at things that will help you to explore your own understanding of complex issues and communicate your understanding to others.

"T306. Managing complexity: a systems approach" undergraduate - £630
Are you concerned with leadership; managing change; ethical practice; or improving the way you intervene in situations? Want to learn to think differently and creatively about complex issues and find ways to manage them effectively? Then study this course. You will use the most recent and innovative methods and techniques in systems thinking and practice and apply them to areas including information systems; organisational change and learning; sustainable development and the environment; and professional practice. Working on your own project throughout the course, you will practise and develop your systems thinking and project management skills in an area of your choice.

"TU811. Thinking strategically: systems tools for managing change" postgraduate - £120
Everyone is engaged in managing, whether as a professional, in a work role, as a family member or as a student. Managing is ultimately about taking action on the basis of your particular understanding of a complex interconnected situation, where others involved may have different understanding, motivation, and interests. This course seeks to change the way you think about these situations to improve your management skills and strategic competence by using insights from cognitive science and introducing established systems tools to develop different ways of tackling complex, messy, problematic situations that may cross multiple discipline and skill boundaries.




Derby University

Masters Course in Systems

Details to be arranged.