Books, Articles and Newsletters

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...

Thinking in Systems – A Primer. Donella Meadows. London: Earthscan (2009) 210pp. ISBN 9781844077267; Modelling SCiO using the Viable Systems Model- Modelling SCiO as a Viable System – Roger Duck; Cwarel Isaf Cottage: The place to BE.- Jan Kuiper; SCiO Development Day Manchester 6th October – Jane Searles; The Human Cost of Control - part 1 - David Bovis; The Perils of Kindness – The first in a...

Conference Proceedings - The 30th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society St. Gallen, Switzerland -- July 22-26, 2012 ISBN 978-1-935056-10-2 The unconscious application of sophisticated tools, and in particular the popular reverence to data as the source of knowledge, seems to be the rule in many scientific activities, in which the application of tools replaces thinking and data...

The Magical Management Mystery Tour – Gordon Kennedy; Book Review: What Would Drucker Do Now? Solutions to Today's Toughest Challenges from the Father of Modern Management. Rick Wartzmann, McGraw Hill 2012; Debt: the first 5000 years - by David Graeber; Systems Thinking Approaches or Approaches to Systems Thinking? - Geoff Elliott & Roger James; An investigation into the use of a personal VSM –...

RRP: ~£20 used; Paperback: ‎ 365 pp; Publisher: ‎ MCB-Verlag; ISBN 978-3939314059 (available second hand) Structural unemployment, alarming changes in the environment, periodical signs of an imminent Stock Exchange crash, involvement in armed conflicts: we are faced with an increasingly complex world and the inadequacy of conventional ways of thinking is becoming progressively more evident...

Reflections on the year ahead – Patrick Hoverstadt; Evolving the Professional Development Programme in SCiO – Roger Duck & Elizabeth McDonnell; Book Review: Learning for Action – A Short Definitive Account of Soft Systems Methodology and its use for Practitioners, Teachers and Students. Peter Checkland and John Poulter; Wiley (2010) – ISBN 0470025549; Learning to eat soup with a knife: John A Nagl...

RRP: £48 Paperback: 390 pages Publisher: Icp (8 April 2011) ISBN: 1848165285 A major challenge of our times is to understand and manage the increasing complexity of socio-economic reality. This has immediate relevance for sustainable development. The impact of recent contributions from systems and complexity sciences in addressing this issue has not filtered down into effective practice - notably...

The Unreal Economy – Patrick Hoverstadt; The Systems Thinking Landscape – Geoff Elliott; Stafford Beer and the Course of History- Rod Thomas; Systemic Leadership – William Tate

RRP: £28.69 Paperback : 374 pages ISBN : 978-0123859150 Publisher : Morgan Kaufmann; 3rd edition (29 Jun. 2011) Language: English Systems Thinking, Third Edition combines systems theory and interactive design to provide an operational methodology for defining problems and designing solutions in an environment increasingly characterized by chaos and complexity. This new edition has been updated to...

RRP: £14.79 Paperback : 245 pages ISBN : 1573244988 Publisher : Conari Press; 2nd ed. edition (1 May 2011) Language: : English Some people appear more gifted than others. NLP, one of the fastest growing developments in applied psychology, describes in simple terms what they do differently, and enables you to learn these patterns of excellence. This book offers the practical skills used by...

RRP: £110 Hardcover : 278 pages ISBN : 3642191088 Publisher : Springer (2 April 2011) Language: : English, Bulgarian Organizational Systems clarifies the application of cybernetic ideas, particularly those of Beer's Viable System Model, to organizational diagnosis and design. Readers learn to appreciate the relevance of seeing the systemic coherence of the world. The book argues that many of the...

Three Day Transformation - Reflections on the Third Cwarel Isaf Conference on Management Cybernetics, 30 March – 1 April 2011, St Gallen, Switzerland; The Event in the South: report of the first SCiO Open Meeting in London. Lessons from a sports association study—part 3 Some modelling experiences. Denis Adams

OMM Update - The SCiO Organisational Maturity Model; Fractal Life, Lessons from a sports association study - part 2 – Denis Adams

The SCiO Professional Development Programme (PDP); The OMM (Organisational Maturity Model); Lessons from a Sports Association Study — Denis Adams; Book Review: Think before you Think: Social Complexity and Knowledge of Knowing‘. Stafford Beer, ed David Whittaker

SCiO Professional Development Programme - A different model of professional development

Archetypes of the VSM: This pamphlet gives useful one page summaries of the VSM pathological archetypes. These are recurring problematic patterns - referred to as pathological archetypes - and are suitable for identifying and communicating problems in systems through the viable system model.

RRP: £54 Paperback: 324 pages Publisher: Springer; 2010 edition (15 Mar. 2010) ISBN: 184882808X This compilation of readings is a practical guide for practitioners involved with managing complex and uncertain situations. At a time when the media continually tells of a world facing many crises, it provides an opportunity to gain understanding of robust approaches to managing complex and ever...

Stories: At Last - The First Meeting with Stafford Beer; An opportunity to develop your systems thinking in practice - a new modular OU MSc: Systems Thinking in Practice; Book Reviews: Systems Thinkers. Magnus Ramage and Karen Shipp. Springer; 316pp. edition (18 Sep 2009) ISBN: 978-1848825246; Systems Approaches to managing change: a practical guide. Ed. Martin Reynolds and Sue Holwell. Springer...

Feedback from the SCiO survey; Update on The SCiO Organisational Maturity Model; VSM training; Elections to board; Bookworm: Future Ready How to Master Business forecasting (1st Edition); Website update; Communications; Next open meeting; Development day; Mandelbulbs

RRP: £1; Hardcover: ‎ 358 ppp; Publisher: ‎ Wiley;1st edition; Language: ‎ English; ISBN ‎ 978-0470747056 The recent crisis in the financial markets has exposed serious flaws in management methods. The failure to anticipate and deal with the consequences of the unfolding collapse has starkly illustrated what many leaders and managers in business have known for years; in most organizations, the...

RRP: 49,00 € Hardback 342 pages ISBN : 3258074941 Publisher : Haupt Verlag AG (1 Aug. 2009) Language : German Dieses Buch richtet sich an jene Führungskräfte, die den grundlegenden Charakter der Organisationen, in denen sie handeln, besser verstehen wollen. Die Organisationen einer modernen Gesellschaft sind zum größten Teil hochkomplexe Systeme, die wir nicht - wie weithin üblich - als Maschinen...

RRP: £25.39 Paperback: 338 pages Publisher: Wiley (24 July 2009) ISBN: 0470060565 The world of management is in crisis - the old remedies no longer work and organizations are failing at an increasing rate. Although many talk of 'joined up thinking', few offer practical guidance on how to achieve this in organizations. The Fractal Organization sets down the practical implications of a well tested...

RRP: £35 Paperback : 424 pages ISBN : 0321658396 Publisher : Addison-Wesley Professional; 2nd edition (10 July 2009) Language: : English Best practices for managing projects in agile environments―now updated with new techniques for larger projects Today, the pace of project management moves faster. Project management needs to become more flexible and far more responsive to customers. Using Agile...

RRP: £14.50 Paperback: ‎ 139 pp Publisher: ‎ Business Expert Press; ISBN 978-1606490372 The fundamental challenge facing business leaders is how to drive performance into the future - the 'dynamics' of strategy. To tackle this effectively, they need a clear understanding of what causes performance to improve or deteriorate, and what power they have to change this trajectory for the better. Without...

RRP: £9.16 Paperback: 240 pages Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Co (20 July 2017) ISBN: 1603580557 Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem-solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. This essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing readers how to develop the...

RRP: £27 Paperback : 240 pages ISBN : 1412969255 Publisher : Corwin; 1st edition (1 Oct. 2008) Language: : English Coaching is one of the hottest topics in education today. Yet many educators are confused about the roles and responsibilities of coaches. This handbook will gather together the leading experts in coaching and provide a snapshot of the current coaching landscape. Key features...

OOP available £2+ Paperback : 224 pages ISBN : 0955008182 Publisher : Triarchy Press; First Edition (11 April 2008) Language : English With the UK's public sector in crisis, John Seddon's fiercely outspoken new book is already causing a stir. Wrong-headed, ill thought-out reform from a succession of monetarist governments has led to unwieldy systems of mass production that do little for the people...

RRP: £30.00 PDF download: 720 pages Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (7 Dec. 2007) ISBN: 0470060670 Award winning author Kim Warren presents his new book: Strategic Management Dynamics - a complete framework in the field of Strategic Management. Strategic Management Dynamics builds on, and goes substantially beyond the existing strategy textbooks with its focus on understanding and managing how...

In this paper, the authors look at the traditional model of governance and contrast it to governance as embodied in Beer's Viable System Model. They illustrate this by reference to three of their recent consultancy projects in designing governance structures and show how the VSM provided not just a useful and flexible design template, but also how it provided a variety of practical solutions to a...

RRP: £35 Paperback : 466 pages ISBN : 0470012862 Publisher : Wiley; Pap/Cdr Edition (8 Aug. 2007) Language: : English "John Morecroft′s book is an ideal text for students interested in system modelling and its application to a range of real world problems. The book covers all that is necessary to develop expertise in system dynamics modelling and through the range of applications makes a...

RRP: £123 Hardcover: 538 pages Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (8 May 2007) ISBN: 0471740632 This book presents two recently developed knowledge areas that can significantly improve the management and the performance of business enterprise: System Science and Cybernetics and Key Performance Areas. Included in this book are advanced (and evolving) methods and technologies for planning and budgeting...

'out of print' but available at low prices from online 2nd hand booksellers; Hardback: ‎ 452 pp Publisher: ‎ Kluwer Academic/Plenum; ISBN 978-0306474651 Systems Thinking is a new paradigm set to revolutionize management practice in the 21st century. Systems Approaches to Management is the most comprehensive guide available to the application of this new paradigm in the field of management. It...

(Article available on Research Gate by making a personal request) International Journal of Public Sector Management 20(3), April 2007:178-191 This paper seeks to describe a “bubble strategy” to public sector change, based on the principles that a change initiative must be defensible and supportive of an alternative, entrepreneurial culture. Design/methodology/approach The research is developed...

RRP: £34 Paperback: 226 pages Publisher: John Wiley (23 Mar. 2007) ISBN: 0470025549 From the father of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), Peter Checkland, comes a new, accessible text which clearly and concisely looks at SSM. The book leaves out all of the development detail and historical/intellectual material which can be found in Checkland's other classic works, but contains the practical...

RRP: £9.04 Paperback: 448 pages Publisher: Penguin (7 Sept. 2006) ISBN: 9780141020440 Why do we try to use military force to solve our political problems? And why, when our forces win the military battles does this still fail to solve those problems? It is because the force lacks utility. From Iraq to the Balkans, and from Afghanistan to Chechneya, over the past fifteen years there has been a...

RRP: £25 Paperback: 464 pages Publisher: Random House Business; 2Rev Ed edition (6 April 2006) ISBN: 9781905211203 Peter Senge, founder and director of the Society for Organisational Learning and senior lecturer at MIT, has found the means of creating a 'learning organisation'. In The Fifth Discipline, he draws the blueprints for an organisation where people expand their capacity to create the...

RRP: £43.58 Hardcover: 287 pages Publisher: Wiley VCH; 3rd ed. edition (4 April 2006) ISBN: 3527501177 This book is for everyone who doubts the correctness of current management practices and is looking for alternatives. Here, Professor Malik develops a radical opponent view, placing the company center stage rather than the group interests. This allows a valid logic to be developed for correct and...

RRP: £12.61 Paperback : 86 pages ISBN : 1576753565 Publisher : Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1st edition (30 Oct. 2005) Language: : English Written by the originators and leaders of the Appreciative Inquiry (AI) movement itself, this short, practical guide offers an approach to organizational change based on the possibility of a more desirable future, experience with the whole system, and activities...

Critical systems heuristics(Ulrich 1983) is a framework for reflective practice based on practical philosophy and systems thinking. The name stands for three major concerns. The basic idea of CSH is to support boundary critique(reflective practice),or it can use boundary judgments for critical purposes against those who may not handle them so self-critically (emancipatory practice).

RRO: £10.83 Paperback : 368 pages ISBN : 193149858X Publisher : Chelsea Green Publishing Co; Illustrated Edition (1 Jun. 2004) Language: : English 'If you only read one book ... make this it!' L. Hunter Lovins, co-author of Natural Capitalism 'It is time for the world to re-read Limits to Growth! The message of 1972 is more real and relevant in 2004, and we wasted 30 valuable years of action by...

RRP: £39.31 Paperback : 292 pages ISBN : 0415335116 Publisher : Routledge (6 Nov. 2003) Language : English Action learning is a continued process of learning and reflection with the support of a group of colleagues, working on real issues. The action learning method is increasingly used to bring innovation to many different fields of work. The principles of action learning can achieve improvement...

RRP: £44 Hardcover: 378 pages Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (23 Oct. 2003) ISBN: 0470845228 Too often, today's managers are sold simple solutions to complex problems. But as many soon discover, simplicity is rarely effective in the face of complexity, change and diversity. Despite apparent promise, quick-fix panaceas fail because they are not holistic or creative enough. They focus on parts of the...

Learning, creativity, leadership and communities are all key to business success. All of these can be better understood in the context of data, information, knowledge and mental models. This paper makes some of these links and also shows how the additional understanding this gives can help in formulating solutions to common business and knowledge problems. This paper examines one of Max Boisot's...

RRP: £18.40 used Paperback: ‎ 368 pp Publisher: ‎ Nicholas Brealey International; ISBN 978-1857883114 [focus is causal loop mapping] Systems thinking can help you tame the complexity of real-world problems by providing a structured way of balancing a broad, overall view with the selection of the right level of detail, truly allowing you to "see the forest for the trees". Only by taking a broad...

RRP: £55 Hardcover: ‎ 352 pp Publisher: ‎ Wiley; ISBN 978-0471899495 This book offers a practical, fact-based approach to explain how enterprises deliver performance over time. Rigorous methods explain how to quantify the growth, decline and interdependence within the organisation's resources and capabilities as well as the continuous interactions with competitors and other external factors. These...