Metaphorum 2026 · Emerging Methods and Tools, and Contemporary Practice

Translating VSM into Practice: A Capability‑Led Approach using Microsoft 365

This presentation introduces an approach to operationalising Stafford Beer’s Viable Systems Model (VSM) through a capability-led system design supported by contemporary digital infrastructure. Educational organisations operating in complex environments with distributed roles, multiple stakeholders, and regulatory requirements often encounter fragmentation, inconsistent practices, and challenges in achieving coordination and coherence. These issues are particularly visible in contexts where compliance and quality assurance expectations shape operational practice. The approach begins with the development of a four-pillar capability framework that defines the key requirements for effective system functioning within a department: operational practice, capability development, resource utilisation, and organisational resilience. This framework provides a structured basis for supporting consistent and sustainable performance across teams. To organise these four pillars at a system level, the framework is operationalised through VSM, with its elements divided into workstreams that form the operational units, supported by system-level coordination and management. This is further translated into an operational architecture using the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, embedding communication, monitoring, coordination, compliance visibility, and governance within tools such as Teams, Planner, SharePoint, Lists, Power BI, and Power Automate. The model demonstrates how individual workstreams can operate with autonomy while remaining aligned within a coherent system structure, enabled through a Microsoft 365 environment. While informed by experience in educational organisations and compliance-driven environments, the approach is transferable across complex organisational settings. It introduces clarity to system structure to support coordination, demonstrating how systems thinking can be translated into practical organisational design Speaker: Vijaya Manchem

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