Complex organisations require coherence to achieve adaptive goals through agency. This paper introduces Mindset Agency Theory (MAT), a metatheoretical framework designed for modelling and diagnosing agency within culturally diverse populations. MAT, a cybernetic multi-ontology framework, delineates five formative traits defining agency character. Its cognitive style trait (with bipolar values of Patterning–Dramatising) elucidates how agencies acquire information. Examining diverse agencies requires an appreciation of the social relationships that exist there, but MAT is currently devoid of this capability. Using the configuration approach to enable the integration of Tönnies’ social organisation theory into MAT, social relationships can be suitably explored, thus enhancing its capacity to investigate agency coherence. Tönnies’ theory of social organisation (with bipolar values of Gemeinschaft-Gesellschaft) that frames inter-agent interactions is configured within MAT. This integration births a new formative trait, pairing cognitive style with social organisation, and is thus capable of indicating the likelihood of operative coherence. Configuration is applied by relating propositional attributes of a holding metatheory framework such as MAT, with an entry theory such as Tönnies’ social organisation theory as determined from the literature. The elaborated MAT serves as a diagnostic tool, linking trait instabilities with agency pathologies that deliver dysfunction. A subsequent paper will apply this framework to ASEAN, a regional intergovernmental organisation addressing cultural diversity issues. The study aims to evaluate ASEAN’s mindset and diagnose its pathologies, such as narcissism and paradoxical behaviour.

Tämän vertailevan tutkimuksen tavoitteena on luoda syvempää ymmärrystä kollektivismista, ammattiyhdistystoiminnasta ja kyvystä luoda kollektiivista toimintaa käyttäen Suomea ja Kambodzhaa esimerkkeinä individualistisesta ja kollektivistisesta yhteiskunnasta. Tutkimuksella on kaksi tavoitetta: 1) Tuottaa uutta tietoa ammattiyhdistysten, kollektiivisen toiminnan ja kollektivismin eri muotojen välisistä suhteista Kambodzhassa ja Suomessa. 2) Selittää, millä tavoin kollektivismin taso vaikuttaa ihmisten väliseen yhteistyöhön. Teoksessa tarkastellaan muun muassa poliittista osallistumista, perhearvoja, luottamusta yhteiskunnassa ja koettua kollektiivista tehokkuutta. Tutkimus perustuu Kambodzhasta ja Suomesta kerättyihin laajoihin kyselyaineistoihin. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys on sosiologinen. Keskeinen analyysin väline on kulttuurinen toimijateoria (Cultural Agency Theory, CAT), joka mallintaa kollektiivisuuden tasoja ja kollektiivisia toimintoja. Sitä voidaan hyödyntää esimerkiksi ammattiyhdistysten tutkimuksessa. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella Kambodzhassa on paljon vaikeampaa luoda kollektiivista toimintaa perheyhteisön ulkopuolella kuin individualistisena pidetyssä Suomessa. Sekä poliittinen aktiivisuus että kollektiivinen toiminta on Suomessa aktiivisempaa kuin Kambodzhassa. Teos osoittaa, että kysymykset individualismista ja kollektiivisuudesta ovat paljon monimutkaisempia kuin yleisesti oletetaan.

Societies change through external pressures from a changing environment, or immanently from the internal cultural dynamic that naturally occurs within social agencies. As a result these political, security, social, economic and other changes are needed that present challenges to public administration. Consequently, public administration must adapt and identify the development of new policies and functions. Of critical importance to the state are the preeminent public institutions that are part of the development process. The outcomes are the result of both public policy and government efficacy. Organisational adaptability involves the anticipation of the future, where adaptation is an internal process that is prompted by environmental change and self-production. The capacity of an agency to adapt is affected by efficacy which conditions performance efficacy is therefore a precondition for successful adaptability. Inefficacy, through its bounding effect on an agency's intelligences, sets limits to its capability of achieving high levels of performance in organisations. Efficacy can be examined through cultural agency theory allowing distinctions to be made between public policy objectives and the resulting outcomes, this thus enabling proposed measurement of efficacy. The outcome of this approach illustrates the role of different forms of intelligences where the organisation operates and creates the capacity for adaptation and efficacy.

In this paper, the second part of a two-part series, we explore the cultural stability of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The analytical framework adopted, formulated on a background of social cybernetics, uses Mindset Agency Theory (MAT) within a metacybernetic framework. Our exploration involves a thorough investigation of signs pointing to cultural instability, identification of potential pathologies, and the provision of insights into the underlying dynamics within ASEAN. Expanding on the theoretical foundation established in the first part, we explore the notion that regional organisations (ROs) like ASEAN can be viewed as complex adaptive systems with agency. Heterogeneity of RO membership can be both beneficial and detrimental, especially when this delivers cultural diversity. If detrimental, pathologies can arise that affect both ROs’ institutional dynamics and their affiliated regional organisations, a significant interest of this paper. In response to certain cybernetic aspects introduced in part 1 of the research, MAT is shown to be a specialised framework imbued with systemic and reflexive elements. Through this, the analysis sheds light on how an agency’s mindset connects with its behaviour and performance. ROs exhibit coherence in their operations when they successfully achieve adaptive goals. ROs, as agencies defined through a population of state agents, have mutual relationships and are encouraged to pursue shared regional objectives, such as economic growth, social welfare, security, and democracy. However, in highly diverse cultural environments, this poses unique challenges to achieving and maintaining cultural stability. The analysis scrutinises ASEAN’s behaviour, relating it to manifestations of cultural instability, and deduces conditions that encompass an inability to undertake collective action, covert narcissism, and a lack of authority. Employing MAT as a diagnostic tool to comprehend ASEAN’s intricate nature, the paper concludes with practical recommendations aimed at enhancing ASEAN’s cultural health and sustainability. The ultimate vision is to foster a more integrated and proactive regional entity.

This paper aims to explain some forms of development and the relationship between development adaptations. Development has a cultural perspective, and culture can be explored in terms of the relationship between institutional values and norms. Changes in internal and external climate affect and challenge prevailing culture, which includes values, beliefs, and norms. These changes (socio-cultural) have an impact on the social meaning, norms, and development of society. Development within a socio-political context is defined in terms of institutional processes, enabling a wide class of complex situations to be addressed. Development is an adaptive attribute of a changing socio-political agency with interactive ties to its environment. It is connected to globalization, which is part of that environment, as the global COVID-19 pandemic or Ukraine war clearly shows. The period of change creates instability and cultural uncertainty because values may become confused, and so, sociocultural processes may become a liquid society. The changes challenge public administration, public policy, and their capacity to answer changing situations. This study uses Bauman’s idea of a liquid society and Yolles’ Cultural Agency Theory (CAT). A political agent will be generically modeled using CAT, and the neo-institutional processes and their capacity for development will be explored. Keywords: liquid evolution, uncertainty, sensate, Ideational, populism