| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £8.85
Trade in The Fractal Organization: Creating Sustainable Organizations with the Viable System Model for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £8.85, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Product Description
“An excellent read…Many organizations fail at the mercy of their own ignorance. The author has done an excellent job in making ‘the science of effective organization’ accessible to management, providing them with a new knowledge to deal with the uncertainties that the markets place upon them.”
Stephen J. Brewis, Business Architect, British Telecom.
“.. one of the most interesting, thorough and rigorous guides to management that I have ever read, … introduces new insights in every chapter… carries a credibility which acts as a counterbalance to the sometimes difficult message which he conveys which is that a lot of mainstream management practice is at best ineffective and at worst downright destructive. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in management or systems thinking.”
Penny Marrington, Course Chair, Systems Group, Open University
“In my opinion this book manages to present sound academic theory that is relevant and helpful to the practitioner in the business. I experienced several A–HA moments.”
Pauline Marsh, Strategy Director, CS&S International, BAE SYSTEMS.
"The insights of the Viable System Model have been open only to a select few for much too long. Hoverstadt has gone furthest in bringing these ideas to a wider audience…Management books have too often been serious but not practical, or practical but not serious. This book is both brilliantly serious and practical, and often entertaining too.”
Prof. Peter Kawalak, Manchester Business School.
“Integrates mainstream management ideas with the systems ideas underpinning the VSM, and flows and reads well. As a starting point for developing understanding of the VSM in today’s world this book improves greatly on all books that have gone before, I would certainly recommend it to colleagues, clients, and students”.
Dr. Robin Asby, Course Chair, Communication and Systems, Open University
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
After defining the concepts used in the Viable Systems Model, he moves on, in the body of the book, to showing how they apply to real organisational issues. As well as showing what causes organisational problems, he characterizes pathological archetypes that will be only too familiar to anyone working in an organisation of any size. In passing, almost every approach to business you have ever heard or read of is also mentioned and put into context! Although this may sound messy, it is a consequence of the Systems approach and is done in such an elegant way that it actually brings great clarity.
The author's experience as a consultant is well used to provide many real world examples and this, and the easy flowing style, make this book a delight to read. The points made are not only relevant to the real world, the ideas are based in a deep understanding of business thinking (presumably originating in his "part-time academic" activities).
It is a big claim, but having read many business books over the last 15 years or so, I believe this could be the most important since the Fifth Discipline. I recommend it to managers, consultants and students alike - it deserves to become a classic.
In the back of your mind you probably wonder why behaviours and cultures play out in organizations the way they do. Maybe its the latest reorg or executive decisions that has started you looking for a framework or science as to how the people, parts and processes of a company operate together. Hoverstadt's book provides the answers for us.
Using Stafford Beer's Viable System Model, Hoverstadt brings it in to today's business times and makes it very accessible for us all to read and understand. The examples he uses resonate with our own experiences.
A highly recommended read but remember the "red pill" warning!
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
