Growing Wings on the Way
Systems Thinking for Messy Situations
Published on 31. May 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
344 pages
978-1-908009-36-4 (ISBN)
Description
You may be: - trying to fix the healthcare system in your country... - dealing with family break-up... - exploring change - and making it happen - in your organisation... - worrying about how to look after your elderly parents... In any case, you'll know that with some problems it's hard to know where to start - we can't define them, we get in a muddle thinking about them, we may try to ignore some aspect/s of them and - when we finally do something - they usually get worse.
These problems are so entangled they become 'messy situations' and our first mistake is to try and fix them as we would fix a simple problem. But Systems Thinking offers a range of good ways of approaching these situations and unravelling them. Rosalind Armson is one of the world's foremost teachers and practitioners of Systems Thinking, and her remarkable book explains how these messes happen and what to do about them. Specifically, she sets out a series of sophisticated and challenging - but practical and easily learned - skills and techniques for thinking better when you're'in a mess'.
Whether you're new to Systems Thinking or have long experience, the book invites you to develop your skills through working with your own messy situations. It's written for managers, project managers, team leaders, 'change leaders', strategists, policy makers and concerned citizens as well as university students from a broad set of disciplines.
Organisations and readers in education, healthcare, environmental management, IT planning and social care are just a few of those likely to find it helpful.
These problems are so entangled they become 'messy situations' and our first mistake is to try and fix them as we would fix a simple problem. But Systems Thinking offers a range of good ways of approaching these situations and unravelling them. Rosalind Armson is one of the world's foremost teachers and practitioners of Systems Thinking, and her remarkable book explains how these messes happen and what to do about them. Specifically, she sets out a series of sophisticated and challenging - but practical and easily learned - skills and techniques for thinking better when you're'in a mess'.
Whether you're new to Systems Thinking or have long experience, the book invites you to develop your skills through working with your own messy situations. It's written for managers, project managers, team leaders, 'change leaders', strategists, policy makers and concerned citizens as well as university students from a broad set of disciplines.
Organisations and readers in education, healthcare, environmental management, IT planning and social care are just a few of those likely to find it helpful.
Reviews / Votes
A Systems Thinking primer! This easy-to-read book makes systems theory accessible to those who do not have time for intensive study but need help in structuring and solving complex problems - richly illustrated with thought-provoking quotations, easy-tounderstand diagrams and practical real-life examples. A resource masterpiece!A" Mike Haynes, Consultant and Practitioner ... a veritable feast of aha moments, challenging concepts, questions that cause you to think, quotes that make you laugh, diagrams that make you ponder and stories that bring ideas to life. I highly recommend this book to any potential or budding systems thinkers and practitioners whether you think you are one or not.A" Nicky Ison, Environmental Research Consultant, Institute for Sustainable Futures - a book for anyone consciously acting in today's problematic and inter-connected world - It is immediately useful to individuals, to groups of people sharing an interest, to externaladvisors and consultants and to internal managers and members.A" Sue Holwell, Systems Practitioner, Academic, UK Systems Society board memberMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Bridport
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
518 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-908009-36-4 (9781908009364)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Rosalind Armson
Growing Wings on the Way
E-Book
05/2011
1st Edition
Triarchy Press
€41.19
Available for download
Person
Rosalind Armson is a systems practitioner, scholar and teacher, having worked for many years as Senior Lecturer in Systems at the Open University in Milton Keynes (UK). She has extensive experience of using systems ideas to support individuals and organisations facing complex and uncertain situations. She also supports students and others in learning Systems Thinking. Rose started her career as an engineer working in the power-plant construction industry. Her increasing concerns about nuclear-power policy led her to research energy policy at the Open University. She completed a PhD modelling the outcomes for various energy supply scenarios. She taught Engineering before moving to the Open University Systems Group. Rose and her colleagues designed and delivered Systems Thinking courses to thousands of Open University students. Her big motivation in teaching is students' excitement when they 'get it' and are able to see the world in a richer way. She has a long-standing interest in how our thinking both enables and limits the opportunities we can see and take. She has worked with individuals, organisations and institutions seeking to survive and thrive in a world that presents enormous challenges. She is an independent consultant using her systems-thinking skills to enable others to work out what to do and how to do it. This has brought her into contact with development agencies, banks, governments, businesses, health-care practitioners, the voluntary sector, ethical monitoring agencies, energy providers and many others facing radical change. She aims to 'leave the skills behind' at the end of each consultancy engagement by building managers' systems-thinking capability. Rose has delivered systems-thinking workshops in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UAE, and South Africa and in Europe. In her workshops, she draws on ideas, stories, images and her own extensive experience as a systems practitioner to provide lively and challenging learning experiences. Many of the ideas draw on the world-leading work of the UK Open University Systems Group.