A Prologue to National Development Planning


Book Description

External and internal efforts to help developing countries achieve growth and economic stability, based on Western models, have resulted in frustration at best and in the creation of serious new problems without the resolution of existing ones at worst. Professor Gharajedaghi contends that this general failure stems not from a lack of expertise but from a fundamental misconception of the development process. Challenging common assumptions about the nature of national development planning, he proposes practical new approaches aimed at fostering national and local planning initiatives rather than continued reliance on external and traditional development models. This study is the product of more than 25 years of research and experience in planning in developing nations. It presents a flexible theoretical framework that reflects philosophical, methodological, and conceptual aspects of planning and it may be readily adapted to a full range of development situations.




Planning for Human Systems


Book Description

Russell Lincoln Ackoff is a recognized authority in the field of operations research and systems theory. This volume is divided into four major sections. The first deals with Ackoff's intellectual roots in the American pragmatic tradition. The second section demonstrates how systems thinkers have incorporated Ackoff's ideas in their own work. The third section shows the influence of Ackoff's thinking on decision making and problem solving, while the final section offers a reassessment of current approaches to systems planning on the national level. In addition, the editors have provided a general introduction, as well as introductions to each of the five sections. Planning for Human Systems will be of interest to students and scholars of operations research and systems theory. Contributors: Michel Chevalier, C. West Churchman, Thomas A. Cowan, Eric Trist, Ian I. Mitroff, Stafford Beer, and Ignacy Sachs.




Systems Thinking


Book Description

Annotation In a global market economy, a viable business cannot be locked into a single form or function anymore. Rather, success is contingent upon a self-renewing capacity to spontaneously create structures, functions, and processes responsive to a fluctuating business landscape. Now in its third edition, Systems Thinking synthesizes systems theory and interactive design, providing an operational methodology for defining problems and designing solutions in an environment increasingly characterized by chaos and complexity. The current edition has been updated to include all new chapters on self-organizing systems, Holistic, Operational, and Design thinking. Gharajedaghi covers recent crises in financial systems and job markets, the housing bubble, and environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking. A companion website to accompany the book is available at www.interactdesign.com. Four NEW chapters on self-organizing systems, holistic thinking, operational thinking, and design thinking Covers the recent crises in financial systems and job markets globally, the housing bubble, and the environment, assessing their impact on systems thinking Companion website to accompany the book is available at interactdesign.com




Evolutionary Change


Book Description

Originally published in 1997 Evolutionary Change addresses the somatic mechanism of change. Although astounding advances in molecular biology have opened up new engineering possibilities to shape our future in terms of "improving" the human species as well as eradicating all kinds of pathological characteristics of biological development, these possibilities pose potentially serious dangers. They arise primarily from the local nature of changes that are introduced and the impact of the environment on the overall development of the biological system. The book explores the biological mechanisms of change in their entirety – as they fit into the general dynamics of biological systems – and demonstrates the pitfalls of tackling change from a narrow perspective, using cancer as an example of certain pathological manifestations of these mechanisms of change.




Managing Industrial Development Projects


Book Description

Conventional public management techniques in industrial management projects are often insufficient because they cannot respond or adapt to the dynamism of modern and global markets. This guide shows how to overcome these problems by using project management techniques that expedite industrial development in regional, national, and global settings. Using real-world examples and a systems approach, the author provides a project management model that accounts for all critical interfaces in industrial development projects. He explores every aspect of project planning and organization, as well as cultural and human resource issues. Key areas discussed include how to: Schedule and control projects Conduct and evaluate project feasibility studies Select a project manager and staff the project Secure the best experts for various project functions Expedite transfer of industrial technology from developed to developing nations Coverage of budgeting and cash-flow analysis promotes understanding of the cost aspects of projects. Readers are shown how to use the Critical Path Method and Program Evaluation and Review Techniques to streamline project scheduling. They also find out how to use learning curve analysis to evaluate project performance. Guidelines on managing multinational projects are supplemented with case studies that illustrate successful industrial development in different countries. Appendices list numerous research, industrial, and economic resources, as well as United Nations information sources. Managing Industrial Development Projects paves the way for successful outcomes in countries that need them most. It is a valuable reference for practitioners, public administrators, and national policy makers, as well as students in industrial engineering, industrial administration, engineering management, and public administration programs.




The Programming Approach and the Demise of Economics


Book Description

This trilogy deals with an epistemology of economics, arguing for a radical overturning of conventional analysis and providing an alternative to political economy and social sciences, based not on positivism, but on a normative and programming paradigm. Volume III furthers and concludes work presented in Volume I and Volume II, and introduces a concrete and practical example of how to build a Planning Accounting Framework (PAF), as associated with Frisch's 'plan-frame' (explored in Volume II), to demonstrate the extent to which decisions and negotiations can be routed in the social sciences. The PAF is an instrument of the programming approach that can be used to verify the compatibility of decisions and their effects. The author builds on Frisch's classical PAF to maximise the phenomenology of economic systems, and assure a consistent and effective implementation of decision making.




Biomatrix


Book Description

Biomatrix: A Systems Approach to Organisational and Societal Change provides a comprehensive theory of management. It outlines how change in organisations and society needs to be managed in the information age: systemically. It also proposes ideas for new governance models. Part 1 of the book provides an overview of Biomatrix systems theory. Part 2 applies the theory to management, organisation development and transformation. Part 3 applies the theory to dissolving complex societal problems. The book may be regarded as a textbook for management, leadership and governance in the 21st century. Case studies are provided throughout.




Creating Desired Futures


Book Description

Today’s society is making great leaps in its effort to obtain ever more and ever more specific know-how in various specialties, with the consequence that the structures of today’s companies are become increasingly complex. This in turn leads to problems at the points of interface, which calls for a comprehensive approach to solutions.Creating Desired Futures defines design a creative, analytical method to develop and explore alternative solutions to complex problems, and it shows that design is particularly well suited to the business world’s current need for innovative strategies. In twenty-four essays by designers, architects, and representatives of large companies such as Nike and Shell, the book shows how such a design-based approach can help define, assess, and solve problems for companies. It presents not only specific strategies from actual practice but also innovative approaches from the world of corporate consulting. Essays by researchers and teachers discuss theoretical aspects of the subject "Design Thinking." Michael Shamiyeh is a practicing architect with his own firm (Shamiyeh Associates) and also founder and direction of the DOM (Design—Organisation—Media) Research Laboratory at the Kunstuniversität Linz. He works on the relevance of creative, analytical approaches in architectural thinking to solve complex problems in the area of Strategic Business Thinking and Innovation. Shamiyeh has received numerous awards, including the Innovation Prize (2008) of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research and well as the Future Award (ZuP, 2003) and the Award for Entrepreneurship (2000), both awarded by the Austrian government.




Re-Creating the Corporation


Book Description

Over the last three decades the average life expectancy of a corporation in North America has dipped well below 20 years. In fact, by 1983 a full third of the 1970 Fortune 500 companies had been acquired, merged, or broken apart. In this landmark book, one of the business world's foremost pioneers, Russell L. Ackoff, delivers this indispensable guide for those hoping to beat these odds--and to better navigate the corporate challenges of the next millennium. While most business and management schools continue to teach the functions of a corporation separately--production, marketing, finance, personnel--the reality is that for a corporation to endure each division must work with the others to create an effective system. Re-Creating the Corporation is Ackoff's masterful blueprint for understanding and creating these model corporate systems. In four comprehensive sections--Background, Process, Designs, and Change--Ackoff lays out in clear concise prose the five organizational goals of successful corporate systems: plan effectively, learn and adapt rapidly, democratize, introduce internal market economies, and employ a flexible structure that will minimize the need for future restructuring. And through a deft mix of practical and theoretical examples drawn from a wide range of applications in a wide range of firms, this book ultimately guides executives to the system best suited to meet their organizational goals. Re-Creating the Corporation, which is the culmination of a lifetime of innovative and insightful business thought from one of the business world's premier thinkers, is essential reading for those attempting to navigate the rapidly changing economic environment of the next millennium.




The Roots and Future of Management Theory


Book Description

Interesting and easy-to-read, The Roots and Future of Management Theory: A Systems Approach provides a comprehensive overview of today's workplace -past, present ,and future. The author brings the key characters in the evolution of management theory to life. Not only will your students understand the roots of our current situation, how workplace change happens, and what forces are involved - they will see how it fits into changes in society as a whole. There have obviously been many changes in the workplace from the Medieval Period to the present, and there will certainly be even more changes in the future. This book explores these changes and connects them to changes in: general philosophy (rationalism, empiricism, pragmatism); religious philosophy (Catholicism, Protestantism); social philosophy (Machiavellian Humanism, Christian Humanism); economic philosophy (laissez faire, Communism); and workplace philosophy (technology as a friend, technology as an enemy). Battles have raged through the ages between these opposing forces, affecting management systems, the quality of working life, and life in general. The author discusses how this has lead to today's quest for a synthesis of the strengths of these forces, and suggests that it has been found in the systems approach. He describes what this synthesis - combined with the powers of the computer - could and should lead to in the future. Written at a level that both graduate and undergraduate student will understand, The Roots and Future of Management Theory provides an overview of management theory. Comprehensive but not overwhelming, this textbook will give your students an understanding the changes in the workplace since the beginning of the industrial age, and offer them some insights into the changes most likely to occur in the 21st century.