A key module studied during the Executive MBA programme validated by the Buckingham University is Systemic Management: Seeing the bigger picture. In today's fast-paced and interconnected world, organizations are faced with increasingly complex challenges that demand innovative solutions. Systemic management emerges as a beacon of light, offering a holistic approach to understanding and addressing intricate issues. Taught in Cluj by two international experts between 7-10 of December, the module is open for free sessions for those interested to join the programme next year.
Understanding Systemic Management
Systemic management involves viewing an organization as an integrated whole composed of interrelated and interdependent parts. It goes beyond traditional linear thinking, emphasizing the need to consider the broader context and interconnectedness of various elements.
“This EMBA module offers a unique, holistic approach to understand organisational complexity and introduces several systemic tools methodologies to support the management of complexity in businesses and societies. It includes systemic methodologies to improve organisational performance, manage complex and messy situations; improve operational performance, develop critical systems and systemic leadership skills. It supports development of capabilities in students to become more critical learners, to model complex situations, processes and structures; and to creatively deal with core social, economic and environmental management decisions”, declares prof. Angela Espinosa, the module leader.
How to register for a free session?
Register now at
The free session will take place on:
- Friday, 8th of December, from 5 pm
- Saturday, 9th of December from 9 am
Limited spots available, so please register before the 5th of December!
How is the module going to help my business?
Instead of breaking problems into small parts, the module taught by prof. Angela Espinosa - Systemic Management - Seeing the Bigger Picture - seeks to see the big picture. Students will understand from a transdisciplinary perspective, complex organisations by systematically mapping interconnected processes and structures to more meaningfully think about change and transformation. By the end of this module, students will learn about the most relevant complex systems approaches to management and you will practice by reflecting on your own personal work experiences. This module is designed to support development of analytical skills for modeling, diagnosis, creativity, critical reflection, and teamwork.
Some of the topics discussed during the 4-days module:
Soft Systems Methodology
Systemic Leadership & future thinking
Critical Systems Thinking
Managing organisational complexity – the Viable System Model.
Who are the lecturers for this module?
Angela Espinosa is an international leader in the development of Organisational Cybernetics, a theory for complexity management in organisations, pioneered by Professor Stafford Beer. Angela is an Emeritus Fellow from the University of Hull (England) and an Invited Professor in several Latin American, British and European Universities. She has been also a consultant in complexity management, organisational transformation in private and public organisations and communities, with focus on issues of resilience and sustainability, in many countries. Angela published extensively on these issues and led international conferences developing these ideas and methodologies to apply them. She has led for twenty years Metaphorum, an NGO to develop Stafford Beer’s legacy. In 2002, she obtained the 'Ashby Lecture Prize' from the International Federation of Systems Sciences, the 'Norbert Wiener Prize' in 2007, from Emeraldi Literati, two EPSRC scholarships in 2007-2010; and is an honorary fellow of the British Cyber Society. Her professional profile has been included in Marquis Who is Who in the World, who is Who in America and who is Who in Science and Engineering, since 2004.
Dr Pedro Pablo Cardoso Castro is a Senior Lecturer in Systems Leadership, Information and Decision Management at Cranfield University, UK. He got a BSc in Marine Biology, and after some years working on research and sailing as an international observer, he was recruited as COO for a Spanish firm of naval electronics to conduct their commercial operation in Latin America. Simultaneously, he got his MSc in Environmental Auditing and Business Planning, and a Master's in International Commerce, while transitioning to consultancy and academia.
In this role, he leads a technical advising team on environmental services for preparing the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas - negotiations in Colombia. Then, leading a research team exploring the internationalization of Hi-Tech SMEs, he created and conducted the Colombia-Japan Hi-Tech SMEs business match program. Also leading the development of a successful postgraduate course of Management for sustainability in Colombia, and consultancy on integrated management systems to SMEs in the oil industry.
In 2007 he got an EPSRC PhD scholarship, obtaining his PhD in 2010. From 2012 - 2022 he was Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, leading research in the use of complexity in Management, focusing on applying tools for Complexity Management in fields such as Strategy, Security, Sustainability, (social) Innovation, and the study and development of Management Systems tools inspired in Co-evolving and Transition Management principles. His most recent projects in different fields were in the UK, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Colombia, Brazil and Mexico.
He will be joining our EMBA programme as a guest lecturer for this module.
Recent publications by our lecturers:
2023. Espinosa, A. ‘Sustainable Self-Governance in Businesses and Society: the Viable System Model in action’. London: Francis & Taylor, Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Sustainable-Self-Governance-in-Businesses-and-Society-The-Viable-System/Espinosa/p/book/9781032354972
2023. (with P. Sydelko, and G. Midgley). Designing interagency responses to wicked problems: A viable system model board game. European Journal of Operational Research 312 (2024) 746–764. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2023.06.040
2023. (with J. Walker and A.C. Martínez). ‘The Viable System model: An Introduction to theory and Practice’. Forthcoming, Journal of Systems Thinking.
2022. (with A.C. Martinez). ‘Corporate Viability and Sustainability: A Case study in a Mexican Corporation’. Systems Research and Behavioural Sciences. 39(1), pp. 143-158.