Weaving Complexity and Business
Engaging the Soul at Work
Texere Publishing
Published on 7. May 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-1-58799-043-4 (ISBN)
Description
How to organise companies and compete successfully in today's fast-changing, high-tech business environment by understanding and applying Complexity Science. The business world is in the throes of constant, rapid and unpredictable change. Everywhere we hear that a new kind of economy is emerging from rapid technological innovation. Faced with these profound changes, leaders and managers are finding that many of their background assumptions and time-honoured business models are inadequate to help them understand what is going on, let alone how to deal with it and survive. Traditional, mehcanistic models of business, which were predicated on linear thinking, control and predictability, worked well enough in the past. But it is being overtaken by the need for a more organic, non-linear way of working, where limited control and a restricted ability to predict are the order of the day. This book brings business people a new way of thinking about and working in thnew economy, one that draws on the new science of complexity, which recognises that business organisations are complex adaptive systems, in which people are crucial but unpredictable factors in their development.
It offers managers an companies a deeper understanding of the organisational dynamics of toda's fast-paced/changing business environment both within companies and among them. Moreover, the book outlines a new theory of business that places human-orientated management practices under a theoretical umbrella of complexity science. The book also contains detailed case studies of successful UK and US companies that have embraced the principle of complexity science.
How to organise companies and compete successfully in today's fast-changing, high-tech business environment by understanding and applying Complexity Science. The business world is in the throes of constant, rapid and unpredictable change. Everywhere we hear that a new kind of economy is emerging from rapid technological innovation. Faced with these profound changes, leaders and managers are finding that many of their background assumptions and time-honoured business models are inadequate to help them understand what is going on, let alone how to deal with it and survive. Traditional, mehcanistic models of business, which were predicated on linear thinking, control and predictability, worked well enough in the past. But it is being overtaken by the need for a more organic, non-linear way of working, where limited control and a restricted ability to predict are the order of the day. This book brings business people a new way of thinking about and working in thnew economy, one that draws on the new science of complexity, which recognises that business organisations are complex adaptive systems, in which people are crucial but unpredictable factors in their development.
It offers managers an companies a deeper understanding of the organisational dynamics of toda's fast-paced/changing business environment both within companies and among them. Moreover, the book outlines a new theory of business that places human-orientated management practices under a theoretical umbrella of complexity science. The book also contains detailed case studies of successful UK and US companies that have embraced the principle of complexity science.
It offers managers an companies a deeper understanding of the organisational dynamics of toda's fast-paced/changing business environment both within companies and among them. Moreover, the book outlines a new theory of business that places human-orientated management practices under a theoretical umbrella of complexity science. The book also contains detailed case studies of successful UK and US companies that have embraced the principle of complexity science.
How to organise companies and compete successfully in today's fast-changing, high-tech business environment by understanding and applying Complexity Science. The business world is in the throes of constant, rapid and unpredictable change. Everywhere we hear that a new kind of economy is emerging from rapid technological innovation. Faced with these profound changes, leaders and managers are finding that many of their background assumptions and time-honoured business models are inadequate to help them understand what is going on, let alone how to deal with it and survive. Traditional, mehcanistic models of business, which were predicated on linear thinking, control and predictability, worked well enough in the past. But it is being overtaken by the need for a more organic, non-linear way of working, where limited control and a restricted ability to predict are the order of the day. This book brings business people a new way of thinking about and working in thnew economy, one that draws on the new science of complexity, which recognises that business organisations are complex adaptive systems, in which people are crucial but unpredictable factors in their development.
It offers managers an companies a deeper understanding of the organisational dynamics of toda's fast-paced/changing business environment both within companies and among them. Moreover, the book outlines a new theory of business that places human-orientated management practices under a theoretical umbrella of complexity science. The book also contains detailed case studies of successful UK and US companies that have embraced the principle of complexity science.
Reviews / Votes
Reviewed in Fincareer, 17 May, 2001 - "Investment bankers on their next transatlantic flight could do well to stop by the airport bookshop and pick up a copy of "Weaving Complexity and Business." Its authors do a lot in just over 300 pages to explode the myth that mergers and acquisitions bring lasting benefits."Reviewed in Fincareer, 17 May, 2001 - "Investment bankers on their next transatlantic flight could do well to stop by the airport bookshop and pick up a copy of "Weaving Complexity and Business." Its authors do a lot in just over 300 pages to explode the myth that mergers and acquisitions bring lasting benefits."
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Florence
United States
Publishing group
Cengage Learning, Inc
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
diagrams
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 145 mm
Weight
427 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-58799-043-4 (9781587990434)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Roger Lewing is a prize-winning author and wrote the aclaimed 'Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos'; recipient of the inaugural Lewis Thomas Award for excellence in the communications of life sciences; and the 1992 Award for contribution to issues in conservation by the Society of Conservation Biology. Between 1990 and 1993, he was a visiting professor in biology at Wayne State University and an associate of the Peabody Museum, Havard University from 1993 to 1998. He speaks frequently around the world at conferences on complexity science and business. Birute Regine is a Harvard-educated developmental psychologist and therapist, who specialises in the dynamics and development of relationships. In 1996 and 1997, she was a visiting scholar at the Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she developed a narrative approach to organisational change. A prize-winning writer, she also speaks frequently at conferences on complexity science and business. In 1998, the authors founded Harvest Associates, a business consultancy that brings the principles of complexity science and the insights developed in this book to companies struggling with transformation and change. They work with leading multinational firms.
Roger Lewing is a prize-winning author and wrote the aclaimed 'Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos'; recipient of the inaugural Lewis Thomas Award for excellence in the communications of life sciences; and the 1992 Award for contribution to issues in conservation by the Society of Conservation Biology. Between 1990 and 1993, he was a visiting professor in biology at Wayne State University and an associate of the Peabody Museum, Havard University from 1993 to 1998. He speaks frequently around the world at conferences on complexity science and business. Birute Regine is a Harvard-educated developmental psychologist and therapist, who specialises in the dynamics and development of relationships. In 1996 and 1997, she was a visiting scholar at the Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she developed a narrative approach to organisational change. A prize-winning writer, she also speaks frequently at conferences on complexity science and business. In 1998, the authors founded Harvest Associates, a business consultancy that brings the principles of complexity science and the insights developed in this book to companies struggling with transformation and change. They work with leading multinational firms.
Roger Lewing is a prize-winning author and wrote the aclaimed 'Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos'; recipient of the inaugural Lewis Thomas Award for excellence in the communications of life sciences; and the 1992 Award for contribution to issues in conservation by the Society of Conservation Biology. Between 1990 and 1993, he was a visiting professor in biology at Wayne State University and an associate of the Peabody Museum, Havard University from 1993 to 1998. He speaks frequently around the world at conferences on complexity science and business. Birute Regine is a Harvard-educated developmental psychologist and therapist, who specialises in the dynamics and development of relationships. In 1996 and 1997, she was a visiting scholar at the Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, where she developed a narrative approach to organisational change. A prize-winning writer, she also speaks frequently at conferences on complexity science and business. In 1998, the authors founded Harvest Associates, a business consultancy that brings the principles of complexity science and the insights developed in this book to companies struggling with transformation and change. They work with leading multinational firms.
Content
1. Relationships: The new bottom line in business Part One: The World of Complexity Science 2. The vernal pool 3. Management in wonderland 4. The consequences of connections Part Two: The World of Complexity Experience 5. Muhlenberg medical centre: Healing connections 6. St. Luke's: The ox that took flight 7. VeriFone: High tech-high touch 8. Cornelia Street and River Caf?: Food for the soul 9. DuPont: Down on the plant 10. Babel's paint and decorating stores: The tower of Babel 11. The industrial society: Free to achieve 12. Monsanto: Transformation of a chemical giant 13. Alchemists: Changing of the guardian Part Three: The World of Relationships 14. The buttercup effect 15. Paradoxical leadership 16. Emergent teams 17. Relational practice 18. Care-nections and the soul at work