Metaphorum was initially created by some of Stafford’s closest collaborators when he passed away in 2002, to continue developing his legacy, as a result of the ‘Staffordian Syntegration: A Tribute to Stafford Beer’, at Scarborough Management Centre, Hull University, England, in June the 13th- 14th, 2003. The Syntegration was organised by Angela Espinosa – in collaboration with Allena Leonard, Joe Truss and C Cullen and sponsored by the University of Hull Business School.
One of the infosets suggested creating the Metaphorum to continue developing Stafford’s legacy. Metaphorum was then created as a members’ association aiming to continue developing and disseminating Stafford’s legacy.
What do we do
a. Promote and undertaking original research on organisational cybernetics to continue developing Stafford Beer’s legacy, through our webinar series, research projects, annual conferences, practitioners’ webinars, and publications .
b. Ensure the high quality of VSM, Team Syntegrity education and practice by establishing certification criteria for training and coaching.
c. Develop a global community of training associates (trainers and training companies).
d. Promote the dissemination of quality research and practice by curating knowledge and developing its website & online community
e. Enable the formation of a global community of knowledge and practice in organisational cybernetics
Metaphorum members have organized a series of conferences and workshops over the years, where a growing number of interested people have joined the Metaphorum Community and have presented their research and practice in organizational cybernetics. As a result of the conferences, Metaphorum has produced special issues in systems and cybernetic journals.
The Metaphorum webpage as well as the Metaphorum Listserv were subsequently created to disseminate information and allow the communication and discussion among members. Metaphorum has also collaborated with the Cwarel Isaf Institute at different levels to promote its work.
Since 2020 Metaphorum has been developing a Webinar Series with a webinar offered by its members monthly. The webinars are free to attend, and have counted with a very good attendance over the years. The Metaphorum You Tube channel offers access to the recording of all the webinars.
Metaphorum Leadership
Initially Metaphorum was led by Angela Espinosa, A Moscardini and L Solomons. Alfredo Moscardini was President from 2003 until 2010. Nick Green developed our first webpage. A few years later Allena Leonard, Roger Harnden and Paul Stokes also joined the Steering Committee.
Since 2015, Angela Espinosa, Jon Walker and Allena Leonard have been in the Metaphorum Board, supported by a Steering Committee which have included several volunteers, from those attending each on the yearly conference. Allenna Leonard has been the President since 2022.
Since June 2023 the Council members include Angela Espinosa, Jon Walker, Allena Leonard , Peter Tuddenham, John Waters, Pedro Pablo Cardoso, Juliana Alves, and Camilo Osejo. James Fox and Ian Kendrick also were part of the Council until recently.
Peter Tuddenham has been supporting the recording of videos for the conferences and the webinar series. Mark Lambertz, John Waters and more recently Krishan Mathis have led the development of our website.
The Metaphorum Community
As a result of the 2022 Conference in Leuven, Belgium, we decided to further develop the Metaphorum, and begun a process of designing the new Metaphorum. This effort is now coming to a fruition with the decision of redesigning the Metaphorum Community and registering Metaphorum Cooperative Inc a trading company, redeveloping its webpage, and starting offering certification services, initially for education and coaching on the Viable System Model.
This site is a work in progress that aims to offer an integrated platform where we can continue our discussions, offer a repository of information and news of interest for the Metaphorum community and allow improved communication among its members.
We aim to offer a rich variety of curated resources to learn about Stafford Beer, Organisational Cybernetics in general, and specifically about the Viable System Model and Team Syntegrity, Stafford’s main contributions to Operational Research and Management Sciences.
Contact
Metaphorum Community
3 Laurel Bank Lowestwood Lane
Golcar Huddersfield HD7 4ER
contact@metaphorum.org