Books, Articles and Newsletters

RRP: £33.24 Paperback: 340 pages Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (25 Mar. 2020) ISBN: 1138493996 The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking: Governance in a Climate Emergency is a persuasive, lively book that shows how systems thinking can be harnessed to effect profound, complex change. In the age of the Anthropocene, the need for new ways of thinking and acting has become urgent. But patterns of...

RRP: £40 Paperback : 348 pages ISBN : 1447174747 Publisher : Springer; 2nd ed. 2020 Edition (20 Feb. 2020) Language: : English This biographical history of the field of systems thinking examines the work of thirty of its major thinkers. It discusses their key contributions to the subject, the way these were expressed in practice and the relationship between their lives and ideas.

RRP: £50 Paperback: 346 pages Publisher: Springer; 2nd ed. 2020 edition (19 Feb. 2020) ISBN: 1447174712 The five approaches outlined in this book offers the systems thinking practitioner a range of interchangeable tools for pro-actively making systemic improvements amidst complex situations of change and uncertainty. Practitioners from all professional domains are increasingly confronted with...

RRP: £37 Hardcover : 234 pages ISBN: 1138308242 Publisher : Routledge (6 Feb. 2020) Business transformation typically involves a wide range of visualisation techniques, from the templates and diagrams used by managers to make better strategic choices, to the experience maps used by designers to understand customer needs, the technical models used by architects to propose possible solutions, and...

RRP: £19.95 Paperback: 179 pages Publisher: SCiO (10 Jan. 2020) ISBN: 1708360085 “Reframing ITIL" provides a gentle introduction to the Viable System Model as a tool to managing and operating successfully within any organisation. It combines this with a refreshing review of ITIL processes - operating dynamically via feedback loops rather than as a set of activities being conducted in series with...

RRP: £40.75 Hardcover: 376 pages Publisher: Springer; 1st ed. 2020 edition (25 Nov. 2019) ISBN: 303025853X The design process for organizational structures sometimes resembles a random walk, especially when it is embedded in an arena of competing personal interests and power games. Many organizations still lack clear guidance and are therefore seeking a rigorous, nuanced, and impartial methodology...

The Psychology of Education Review Volume 44 Number 3, Special Issue 44pp - In this paper, problems with the philosophy and research relating to various interpretations of ‘closing the gap’ are used to open up a discussion of, and illustrate, the process whereby a narrow interpretation of ‘science’ and neglect of systems thinking result in the generation of huge amounts of dangerous and misleading...

RRP: £58.22 Hardcover: 282 pages Publisher: Springer; 1st ed. 2019 edition (31 July 2019) ISBN: 3030164721 Organizations are complex social systems, and dysfunctionalities can settle in very quickly and almost unnoticed, costing valuable time and resources. In a highly volatile and complex world where mistakes are virtually unforgivable, the ability to rapidly and accurately diagnose...

RRP: £65.64 Paperback: ‎ 549 pp: Publisher: ‎ Springer; 1st ed. 2019 edition; ISBN: 978-9811385322 This book discusses how systems thinking and approaches can aid management consultants in navigating the complexities of client advisory in current realities. It thereby brings to the forefront aspects of holism, flexibility and responsibility - the keys to success in today’s world. Management...

`Smart cities', urban development projects that design computational systems and sensory technology to monitor activity and regulate energy consumption and resource distribution, are a frontier for the prospective deployment of ICTs for sustainability. Often reduced to technological problems of optimization, these projects have implications far beyond narrow environmental and consumptive frames of...

RRP: £36.83 Hardcover: 258 pages Publisher: Springer; 1st ed. 2019 edition (3 Jun. 2019) ISBN: 3030120139 Today’s complexity, speed, and need for adaptation are putting organizations under stress. Understanding how organizations function and truly come alive has become a critical competency. And yet, organizations still seem to lack a solid understanding of what constitutes meaningful, viable, and...

Abstract: This note brings together a number of problems that are usually considered separately but which seem to have a common root in neglect of, or avoidance of, systems thinking. The note begins by reviewing a number of studies from which seriously misleading conclusions have been drawn because they uncritically adopted the perspective of reductionist science and failed to document outcomes to...

RRP: £54.76 Hardcover: 728 pages Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (22 Mar. 2019) ISBN: 1119118379 The world has become increasingly networked and unpredictable. Decision makers at all levels are required to manage the consequences of complexity every day. They must deal with problems that arise unexpectedly, generate uncertainty, are characterised by interconnectivity and spread across traditional...

RRP: £22.42 Paperback : 240 pages ISBN : 0262535939 Publisher : MIT Press; third edition (5 Oct. 2018) Language: : English A new edition of a book that details the system of transformation underlying the 14 Points for Management presented in Deming's Out of the Crisis. It would be better if everyone would work together as a system, with the aim for everybody to win. What we need is cooperation and...

RRP: 20 € Taschenbuch: 188 Seiten Verlag: Independently published (8. September 2018) Sprache: Deutsch ISBN: 1717899323 Warum sollten Sie dieses Buch lesen? Wenn Sie nach Verbindungen (zwischen Kybernetik, Lean und Digitalisierung) suchen, die bislang nicht aufgedeckt waren. Wenn sich Theorie und Praxis für Sie nicht gegenseitig ausschließen, sondern bereichern. Wenn Sie Impulse, Anregungen und...

Article in American Journal of Evaluation, v39 n2 p201-220 Jun 2018 [download £29] Evaluation is defined by its central task of valuing--the process and product of judging the merit, worth, or significance of a policy or program. However, there are no clear-cut ways to consider values and render value judgments in evaluation practice. There remains contention in the evaluation field about whether...

RRP: £14.95 Paperback: 92 pages Publisher: lulu.com (26 Mar 2018) ISBN: 0244913870 Confrontation Analysis, also called dilemma analysis or drama theory, was originally devised by Professor Nigel Howard in 1997 as a way of modelling crises. Although used by UK General Rupert Smith in his 2006 book The Utility of Force, the method fell into obscurity. After 10 years work in the defence sector, the...

RRP: 24,95 € Taschenbuch : 286 Seiten ISBN-10 : 3869804092 Publisher : BusinessVillage GmbH (19 Mar. 2018) Language : German In Zeiten zunehmender Dynamik erkennen immer mehr Unternehmen, dass das tayloristische „Command & Control“ nicht mehr funktioniert. Auch die Reduktion auf Teal Organisations oder Holokratie und andere Kochrezepte bringen keineswegs die erhofften Erfolge. Wir müssen erkennen...

"Critical Systems Heuristics," also just called "Critical Heuristics" or "CSH," is a framework for reflective practice based on practical philosophy and systems thinking. The basic idea of CSH is to support boundary critique – a systematic effort of handling boundary judgments critically. Boundary judgments determine which empirical observations and value considerations count as relevant and which...

RRP: £59.99 Hardback: ‎ 374 pp Publisher: ‎ Springer; 2nd ed. 2017 edition; ISBN 978-1447173502 This book shows how to do systems thinking and translate that thinking into praxis (theory informed practical action). It will be welcomed by those managing or governing in situations of complexity and uncertainty across all domains of professional and personal life. The development of capabilities to...

Since 2010, local authorities in England have experienced an unprecedented reduction in their resourcing at a time when demands on services have risen substantially through social and demographic changes. Faced with such external challenges, various Councils' internal transformations have sought to change the organisation as a system, but also to alter the relationship with the environment. These...

RRP: £12.99; Paperback: ‎ 96 pp; Publisher: ‎ Matador; Language: ‎ English; ISBN: ‎ 9781785899287 It is difficult to think of a business process that is as widely unpopular, dysfunctional and discredited as traditional budgeting, yet businesses carry on doing it because they believe that there is no alternative . But there is - yet over a decade after the creation of the Beyond Budgeting movement...

RRP: £36.55 Paperback: ‎ 204 pp Publisher: ‎ Inform-IT, Knowledge Center for Service Management Language: ‎ English ISBN: ‎ 978-9491710353 USM is a universal, methodical way of managing service delivery. The USM method provides a standardized management system for a service organization to manage its people, its resources, its routines, and its services. USM can be used in all service...

RRP: £8.68 Paperback: ‎ 220 pp Publisher: ‎ SAGE Response; ISBN 978-9386446732 Traditional education has been extremely biased towards science, owing primarily to the success that science has demonstrated in the last three centuries. While the methods of science are greatly, if not fully, responsible for its success, these are grossly inadequate in the context of societal systems and the...

RRP: £22.21 Paperback: 406 pages Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (9 Dec. 2016) ISBN-10: 1138242675 Patterns of Strategy shows how the strategic fit between organisations drives strategic direction. It is essential reading for those who wish to understand how to manoeuvre their organisation to change its strategic fit to their advantage. The 80 ‘patterns’ of strategy help you explore options for...

RRP: £29.50 Paperback: ‎ 258 pp Publisher: ‎ Routledge; ISBN 978-1032838519 Changing work roles, greater emphasis on individual autonomy, the growing importance of relationships, the complexity of many businesses; all these things call into question the prevailing approach to training needs analysis and evaluation, which still tends to be based on a simple gap analysis between job requirements and...

RRP: £50 Paperback : 212 pages ISBN : 9811013500 Publisher : Springer; Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2014 edition (18 Sept. 2016) Language: : English This fully-updated and re-imagined version of the classic book offers a detailed outline for developing an action research project, focused specifically on Critical Participatory Action Research. Elaborates a new view of 'participation'...

RRP: £15.50 Paperback: ‎ 240 pp Publisher: ‎ Berrett-Koehler Publishers; ISBN 978-1626567207 This book reveals what it takes for consultants of all types, as well as organizational leaders, to be really helpful in dealing with the complex, systemic, constantly changing organizational problems of today. They need to rapidly create a relationship of trust and openness that enables clients...

RRP: Taschenbuch 29.99€, E-Book: 9.99 € 188 Seiten, Books on Demand, ISBN: 3739201622 "Alles ist mit allem Verbunden" Was früher ein abstraktes Denkmodel war, ist durch die Vernetzung und die damit zunehmende Komplexität real geworden. Christoph Keese schreibt in seinem richtungsweisenden Bestseller "Silicon Valley" von 2014 über die Bedeutung der Kybernetik als Leitwissenschaft der digitalen...

RRP: £25.17 Paperback : 286 pages ISBN : 978-0199565269 Publisher : Oxford University Press (30 Sept. 2015) Language: : English The book describes what it means to say the world is complex and explores what that means for managers, policy makers and individuals. The first part of the book is about the theory and ideas of complexity. This is explained in a way that is thorough but not mathematical...

RRP: £45.72 Paperback : 508 pages ISBN : 1137432683 Publisher : Red Globe Press (17 Jun. 2015) Language: : English What is Soft Systems Methodology? How can it help make sense of complex business scenarios, providing solutions to challenging problems? Soft Systems Thinking, Methodology and the Management of Change identifies the challenges encountered by practitioners of SSM and provides the means...

RRP: £10 Paperback : 174 pages ISBN : 1505809053 Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (12 May 2015) Language: : English In this book Kim provides the reader with a reliable method to develop “joined up” strategies and plans for common business situations – a powerful addition to current tools and frameworks. The initial focus is on the core “strategic architecture” of the...

RRP: £44; Paperback: ‎ 182 pp; Publisher: ‎ Routledge; ISBN 978-1138022195 If the body of knowledge of a profession is a living landscape of practice, then our personal experience of learning can be thought of as a journey through this landscape. Within Learning in Landscapes of Practice, this metaphor is further developed in order to start an important conversation about the nature of practice...

M & A as strategy; Participatory Innovation Model in Chile; Notes from the open meeting: 7th April 2014; In memoriam - Simon Beer; CIGs (Common Interest Groups); Open meeting - July 2014

2nd hand from £2.90; Paperback: ‎266 pp; Publisher: ‎Treaty For Government; UK ed.; ISBN 978-0992947606 [also as kindle £6.40] If you are ever angered by the standard of government we endure, you are not alone. A key issue for democratic politics, in the UK and many other nations, is what to do about voter disengagement. The faith that electorates have in governments of whatever party to make...

Why IT outsourcing can fail is a big subject. Of course, not all IT outsources do fail, but many have inherent problems that take a long time to fix. In this paper, the focus is on medium/large IT outsources, and on structural and process issues. Many of these will exhibit at least some of these points of failure. Failure means different things to different parties: for the client organisation it...

Abstract: a species heading, at an exponentially increasing rate, toward its own extinction1 can hardly be regarded as anything but incompetent. Yet this is precisely the situation in which we find ourselves. We are destroying our habitat – and therefore our chances of survival as a species - through the conduct of endless work which either consumes abundant resources or creates products or by...

RRP: £77.95 Hardback: ‎ 360 pp Publisher: ‎Wiley; ISBN 978-1118349021 In recent years, there has been a growing debate, particularly in the UK and Europe, over the merits of using discrete-event simulation (DES) and system dynamics (SD); there are now instances where both methodologies were employed on the same problem. This book details each method, comparing each in terms of both theory and...

Spring 2014; Bookworm: A Journey Through The Systems Landscape, Harold “Bud” Lawson, College Publications 2010 ISBN 9-781848-900103; Open Notes: notes from the open day on 13th January 2014; Open meeting: 7th April 2014; Thinking survey

RRP: €50.00 Paperback: ‎ 160 pp Publisher: ‎ Connect&Transform This is a book about thinking differently. It’s not a book about behavior or thinking errors. It’s a book about Creating Possibilities, Deep Thinking, Integrative Leadership, and Growing Sustainable Business. The book describes the structure of complex thinking and the connection between the fluidity of thinking of top teams and...

RRP: £22.85 Paperback : 482 pages ISBN: 1614275335 Publisher : Martino Fine Books; Illustrated Edition (2 Dec. 2013) Language: : English 2013 Reprint of 1961 First Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This work has been cited as one of the most seminal works of the era. Forrester outlines industrial dynamics as an experimental...

OMM for mobile devices; "Innovation"; SCiO open day: 13th January; All-Party Parliamentary Group on Management (APPGM); Open Notes: notes from the open day on 13th October; SCiO Development Day

Journal of Organisational Transformation & Social Change Volume 1, 2004 - Issue 2, p163-177 - This paper uses the concepts of complexity and variety to analyse the widespread failure of some common approaches to large-scale organisational change. It is based on field research of organisation-wide change programmes in which three common approaches to change are assessed, including their inherent...

Article in Systems Research & Behavioural Science, Vol 31, issue 2, p197-214 [$49 download cost; 48h access $12] A framework based on Ulrich's critical systems heuristics (CSH) is presented to organize second-order critical inquiry in systems practice and action research. It is argued that such an approach not only improves the rigour of systems methodologies in action in a specific ‘situation of...

RRP: £4.62 Kindle: 54 pp Publisher: ICCPM; ASIN B00C2HXX58 Complex projects must be managed using complex project management methods. The misunderstanding of the difference between complicated and complex projects is a major cause of difficulty and failure. Complicated projects are linear, you know what you have to do, there may be a manual and various steps to completion have been captured...

RRP: £72.21; Paperback: ‎ 604 pp; Publisher: ‎ Red Globe Press; 2nd edition; ISBN 978-0230316478 Management Science provides a comprehensive, accessible overview of the subject, incorporating a broad set of approaches and tools. The authors explore both 'soft' and 'hard' methodologies and highlight conceptual aspects rather than the mathematics of the techniques or computer methods. The book is...

RRP: £10 Paperback: ‎ 196 pp Publisher: ‎ CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1st edition; ISBN 978-1481120593 This book describes how strategic management of many businesses is badly done, and why this problem has persisted for many decades. It explains that the field of strategy is unprofessional and badly flawed, having poor theory and few useful, reliable principles, leaving...

RRP: £79 Hardcover Publisher: Campus Verlag (30 Oct. 2012) ASIN: B00L6YXQB4 The Right Corporate Governance The rapidly increasing complexity of societal systems increases the need for professionalism in management - one must be able to function reliably regardless of increasing management complexity in the twenty-first century. This book is written for practitioners who bear responsibility for...