In this Newsletter:

• Webinar Nov 4 2026, by Marc Andre Pigeon
• (Online) VSM Coach course December 3rd-11th. Registrations opened.
• Forthcoming webinars November and December

Reminder- this Wednesday's Webinar

4 November, 2026. Marc Andre Pigeon. Beer’s Pedagogy: Lessons from the Concordia University Lectures

TO REGISTER FOR THE GENERAL WEBINARS 

Go to https://metaphorum.org/upcoming-webinars and click PARTICIPATE. Ticket Tailor will register you and send a webinar link by email

Beer’s Pedagogy: Lessons from the Concordia University Lectures

Marc Andre Pigeon

Stafford Beer’s writings have been widely recognized as novel, erudite, profound and influential, shaping decades of contributions from scholars and practitioners alike. They have also been criticized as opaque and difficult to apply, contributing to a tendency for his work to exist on the margins of mainstream academia and management. Beer was sensitive to these critiques. By his own account, he penned Diagnosing the System in part to address these concerns. In it, he provides a step-by-step stripped-down approach to understanding and deploying the viable systems model (VSM) for managers and others interested in how the analytical tool could help with real-world decision-making. In the forward to Diagnosing the System, Beer says the book was inspired and shaped by his experienced co-teaching the VSM in a seminar course offered at Concordia, Montreal, Canada, in 1981-82.  He devotes the book to the students of this class, insisting that the book resulted from “my learning.” My contribution will share reflections on what we can learn from Stafford Beer’s approach to pedagogy by analyzing recently digitalized recordings of these lectures.  My method is interpretative and is inspired by a second-order cybernetics perspective of a ‘model of the modeler,’ paying close attention to Beer’s pedagogical approach and indications of self-awareness about his pedagogical style. I expect that this analysis will help us understand how we might learn from Beer’s pedagogy and better communicate and teach about the VSM. It will also shed some light on Beer’s time in Canada, a place he would eventually call home until his passing in 2002 and which figured prominently in Diagnosing the System and in other of his later works.

Marc-André Pigeon is the director of the Canadian Centre for the Study of Co-operatives and an assistant professor in the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy (JSGS).  His research interests center around the study of co-operatives, governance, and money and banking. In relation to this line of inquiry, Dr. Pigeon has of late been exploring the intersection of cybernetics, co-operative governance and public policy. Prior to joining the JSGS, Dr. Pigeon worked as the assistant vice president of financial sector policy at the Canadian Credit Union Association, where he was responsible for monitoring, researching and advocating on behalf of credit unions.  He has also served as an advisor at the Department of Finance, a lead analyst for two major Parliamentary committees (Senate Banking, Trade and Commerce; House of Commons Finance), an economist at the Levy Economics Institute, and a business reporter for Bloomberg Business News. Dr. Pigeon holds a PhD from Carleton University in mass communications, a master’s degree in economics from the University of Ottawa, and a journalism degree from Carleton University. Dr. Pigeon has served on several non-profit and charitable boards, including the Co-operative Development Foundation (CDF), the Saskatchewan Co-operative Association, and Saskatoon Unitarians. In his spare time, he enjoys all-season camping with his family and their dog Pepsi and volunteering as a mechanic at Bridge City Bicycle Co-operative. 

Forthcoming Webinars

November 11th, 5:00-6:00 pm (GMT). Mark Lambertz. Learning and using the VSM with gamified approaches. VSM Practitioner webinar. 

December 2nd, 2026, 5:00-6:30 pm (GMT). Martin Pfiffner. From Theory to Practice, and Back. General Webinar.

See more details below for these webinars

Learning and using the Viable System Model with gamified approaches

Mark Lambertz

November 11th, 5:00-6:00 pm (GMT).

1.     Pasta Lasta Restaurant Simulation – the interactive way to teach the VSM to any target group

2.     VSM Strategy Game – a five-day workshop concept to derive the steering system from a strategic exploration of the environment and run a robustness check.

3.     Learnings

 We will explore

·      How to tell the story of the VSM without long theoretical discussions

·      How long does it take till “it clicks” and people suddenly understand the VSM

·      How to extend the visual appearance of the VSM into a playfield analogy

 Lessons learned

·      What are good practises for VSM business simulations?

·      What effort is necessary to conduct a simulation or game?

·      Traps and difficulties

Mark Lambertz

Organisational Designer, VSM Coach at BOSCH

Mark Lambertz is an organisational designer, author and speaker with two decades of experience running a digital agency he co-founded. His work spans reshaping established organisations and designing new organisational structures. Drawing on management cybernetics and the Viable System Model, he translates systems thinking into practical choices about how people collaborate, make decisions and adapt to change. In his own time, Mark loves to spend time in nature, be it at the lake in Finland or hiking anywhere in the world.

Attend the webinar on this link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/344327376105326?p=BLDGYovuGFiE5aa955

 Martin Pfiffner. From Theory to Practice, and Back. 

December 2nd, 2026, 5:00-6:30 pm (GMT).

In this webinar, Martin reflects on more than three decades of practical experience with Stafford Beer’s management cybernetics, in particular the Viable System Model (VSM), Team Syntegrity (TS), and the concept of the Operations Room. Drawing on applications across corporations, public institutions and NGOs, it traces a journey from theoretical understanding to practical implementation - and back again to conceptual clarification.

While Beer’s work provides a rigorous cybernetic model for diagnosing and designing organisational viability, its practical application remains insufficiently elaborated and operationalised. Drawing on a series of case-based reflections, this paper demonstrates how Beer’s legacy can yield substantial results when applied with due regard to contextual complexity and requisite variety. At the same time, it highlights the persistent challenges involved in translating cybernetic principles into viable, repeatable, and actionable management practices.

A central argument of the webinar relates to the essence of the VSM. A shift in perspective leads to a reinterpretation of the model: rather than an alternative organisational structure (anatomy) or another process-framework (physiology), the VSM is understood as the “neurology” of the organisation - its system of decision and communication that integrates structure and process into a functioning whole. As organisations face increasing complexity and the transformative impact of artificial intelligence, the design of effective decision structures emerges as a critical capability for the future. Despite the evident need, the VSM today offers a powerful account of organisational neurology yet falls short of an equivalent clinical practice. This webinar therefore calls for a stronger focus on operationalisation, methodological refinement, and shared learning across contexts.

Martin Pfiffner

Dr. oec. HSG Martin Pfiffner is a renowned expert on organizational and structural issues. He studied at the University of St. Gallen HSG, where he graduated with a doctorate in economics. As an assistant to Professors Peter Groß (Sociology) and Fredmund Malik (Management), he worked his way into system-oriented management theory. Later he studied management cybernetics in Canada and Wales with Professor Stafford Beer.

For over 30 years he has worked as a lecturer, trainer and consultant for organizations in the business and non-business sector. In various institutions and functions he contributes to the application of the models and methods of management cybernetics such as the “Viable System Model” or “Syntegration®” for the success of companies.

Pfiffner is considered one of the world’s leading experts in the practical application of the Viable System Model and Syntegration®. In the last three decades, Martin has supported countless economic, public or private organizations in all corners of the world. The basis for his work is “The Neurology of Business”. This is what he calls the neurology of an organization and this is also the title of his book.

To register in this webinar, go to: https://metaphorum.org/upcoming-webinars

And click PARTICIPATE. Ticket Tailor will register you and send a webinar link by email.