Towards Smart Model-based Governance by Systems Thinking

The reason underlying this SI is the need to recognize how complex our world is and that this outlook entails understanding how to manage our organizations and design proper governance mechanisms accordingly. Our idea was to bring together two main streams of research that have been extensively studied, discussed and analysed not only by Kybernetes and all its distinguished contributors but also within the field of management studies: Cybernetics and Systems Thinking. These two streams of research have a long history and ample literature testifies to their breadth of application and their potentials in analysing various complex domains. However, although they are concerned with the same ultimate goal of assisting organisations and managers in dealing with complex systems and subsequently informing decision-making, Cybernetics and Systems Thinking have been developing along parallel paths towards their common goal even though they adopt different approaches. In particular, the SI is primarily linked to the BSLab-SYDIC Workshop 2017 (http://bslab-symposium.net/BSLab-Sydic-2017/BSLAB-SYDIC-WS-Rome-2017.htm) which aimed specifically at aggregating various issues within the broad topic of Smart Model-based Governance and its perspective of applications to present and future complex organisations.