Stephen J Brewis: Staying ourselves when becoming something new

How can organisations adapt without losing their core identity? This session introduces Institutional Capital in Play (ICIP) as the engine of purposeful adaptation, powered by a dynamic, modular Viable System Model (VSM) for on-the-fly restructuring. SenseMaker acts as the perception layer, comparing the live operating plan to a reference model to generate the surprises that fuel adaptation.

We integrate first-order cybernetics as the transactional steering system — executing today’s operating plan — with second-order cybernetics as the conversational direction finder — reshaping the organisation’s course through reflective dialogue.

Flex functions as a chemo-tactic switch between homeostasis and homeorhesis, activating a form change only when essential variables risk breaching their viable bounds. This ensures change is neither premature nor delayed.

Reflecting on my past role as Chief Research Scientist in Organisational Science at BT, I share how the company navigated the shift from fixed-line to mobile communications — preserving its essential identity while transforming its form. We introduce the Cyberesque Identity – COx Index as a practical tool for mapping organisational behaviour along a stability–creativity spectrum, and connect these ideas to the function–form distinction at both organisational and individual levels.