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The consequences of human social irresponsibility urge socially responsible reactions. The authors expose the consequences of socially irresponsible behaviour and state possible requisitely holistic tools to eliminate organisations’ dangerous and socially irresponsible behaviour. This paper aims to examine how the viable system model (the VSM) used as a diagnostic tool can help organisations support socially responsible behaviour.

Given the variety of systems methodologies, the authors selected the VSM as a key methodological tool of Organizational Cybernetics. A case-study approach is used to demonstrate the power of the VSM as a diagnostic tool.

Humans need to replace recklessness and selfishness by faster re-orientation towards a socially responsible society. By following the cybernetic circle of the preparation and implementation of the management process and practising social responsibility via the VSM, organisations can conduct socially responsible business operations for a socially responsible society. Respecting the pluralist nature of social responsibility and a limited framework of the VSM, the VSM analysis needs to be supported by interpretive systems approaches, such as Strategic Assumptions Surfacing and Testing (SAST).

The presented study’s limitation is the case study of a selected organisation from Europe. The discussion could be relevant to each organisation, which is observed as a viable system. The insights gained with this case study can be broadened by empirical research involving diverse organisations from various countries.

Research results indicate socially irresponsible behaviours of the researched organisation and possible ways of overcoming them. The cybernetic circle of the preparation and implementation of socially responsible management processes through the VSM offers a possible path towards more social responsibility in organisations. Moreover, the VSM should be used in combination with interpretive systems approaches, such as SAST.

The generality of the VSM indicates that decision-makers could use the VSM for diagnosing socially irresponsible behaviour in organisations and for redesigning organisations to help develop a more socially responsible society.

The paper contributes to a cybernetic framework and methodological support to social responsibility. This study could serve as an essential starting point for organisations wishing to take further steps towards social responsibility.

Prosperity and growth of emerging economies rely heavily on the innovativeness of higher education institutions (HEIs) and their ability to provide employable graduates with entrepreneurial competencies and flexibility in the assessment of their progress in gaining knowledge. The innovativeness of the higher education system is not always reflected through optimal educational content, innovative study programs, skills improvement, assessment methods, etc. The study aims to analyze and evaluate how selected internal factors, reflected in organizational support for innovativeness of HEIs, and external factors reflected in government support for innovativeness of HEIs determine the innovativeness of HEIs, as one of the key determinants of economic prosperity.

The authors analyzed three facets of higher education innovativeness, i.e. graduates' employability, entrepreneurial competencies and new ways of assessment. The sample included 664 students from the University of Kragujevac, Serbia, and the University of Maribor, Slovenia. The authors applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine relations.

The results clearly show that in order to become the driver of development in emerging economies, universities must act in different directions, focusing on different organizational drivers of innovativeness, such as academic autonomy of teachers, student participation in curricula design, enhancing new ideas and compensation system, provide resources etc. Organizational support and government for innovativeness of HEIs affect students' entrepreneurial and social skills, creative thinking, leadership, interactive competencies and knowledge-skill-attitude. Assessment tasks and associated learning should be redesigned to enable students to be involved in the evaluation of their work.

The study strives to reduce the research gap identified in the field of researching the drivers of innovativeness in higher education and offers implications for emerging markets regarding various factors that determine the innovativeness of HEIs and consequently contribute to fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Originality derives from the fact that even though the authors have explored HEIs in Serbia and Slovenia, the results are fully transferrable to other former socialist states, considering their similar socio-economic and educational background. Results of this research complement the understanding and provide new knowledge for further development of innovativeness in HE.

The purpose of this paper is to prove that it is possible and necessary that higher education institutions develop appropriate competencies of students during the learning process as required by the practice if teachers use the systemic approach and cybernetics knowledge. The authors especially research the importance of competence entrepreneurship and how to stimulate entrepreneurship by developing competencies of creativity, teamwork and communication.

Based on systems theory, transversal competencies entrepreneurship, creativity, teamwork and communication, as well as their interdependence, were requisitely holistic selected. In the selection of diverse contemporary learning methods, the authors started from an action research approach that implies learning by doing, i.e. participation of students. With the use of statistical methods, the authors showed that a cyber-systemic requisite holistic learning action approach based on interdependence of teacher and students learning process results in innovation of researched transversal competencies.

Based on two quantitative and qualitative researches of 96 students’ competencies, the authors found out that when using contemporary learning methods, the desired results can be achieved. In described learning process everyone involved gained: both the teacher and the students.

The survey does not include verifying the usefulness of developed competencies in practice. Also, the study only covers the findings of the research study of one academic year.

The research is important for the practice of higher education, as it demonstrates that the teacher is with a targeted focus on the selected viewpoints able to effectively improve students’ competencies.

If higher education’s institutions take a strategic decision to target improvement of the transversal competencies of students, they will be easier and faster to employ, and practice will get more relevant employees. The economy will be more efficient and effective.

According to the authors’ knowledge, no research measures the development of selected transversal competencies using the contemporary learning methods, based on cyber-systemic learning action approach. The authors found out that the methods used have influenced the final results, which show that all measured students’ transversal competencies have improved.

Respecting the growing importance of interdependence of knowledge, values and social responsibility, the purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of knowledge-cum-values management and to show how some soft systems approaches can support interdependence of knowledge and human values resulting in socially responsible innovative behavior, hence in success.

The selected soft systems approaches are used to double-check the usefulness of the requisitely holistic approach to knowledge-cum-values management and innovation. The applied methodology for qualitative analysis is the Dialectical Systems Theory.

One-sidedness, unlike the requisite holism, causes oversights and hence disables innovations as a new users’ benefit. Requisitely holistic knowledge-cum-values management prevents one-sidedness and therefore many oversights; hence it is a valuable driver of innovation. It is supported by social responsibility (exposing the systemic behavior by suggesting interdependence and holistic approach to one’s responsibility for one’s influences on society). By including values and by enabling consideration of interdependence of human values and knowledge, some soft systems approaches support innovative behavior with social responsibility.

Research is limited to theoretical findings resulting from authors’ previous empirical studies. The novel concept “knowledge-cum-values” erases the human dangerous one-sidedness resulting from the irrational rationalistic division of the two. Social responsibility supports informal use of some soft systems theories and diminishes this danger.

The practical application of the selected soft systems approaches and social responsibility offers great possibilities for managers to improve the holism of their innovation processes, driven by knowledge-cum-values management. Fewer oversights are possible and lead to fewer mistakes and more success in the invention-innovation-diffusion processes. No human is rational or emotional only, either as a creator or as a consumer, but this fact is disregarded in the management literature.

Social responsibility shall be considered as an important novel soft-system approach and part of organizational innovative behavior aimed to replace the one-sided approaches prevailing so far and causing crises: the overseen attributes do not cease, but they still impact life and are out of control.

The contribution introduces the new, still insufficiently researched concept of knowledge-cum-values management; it highlights new ways of attaining the requisitely holistic knowledge-cum-values management that enhances enterprise’s innovation capacity by requisite holism, supported by social responsibility.