Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences. This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press. Reproduced here in facsimile, this volume was originally published in 1980 and is available individually. The collection is also available in a number of themed mini-sets of between 5 and 13 volumes, or as a complete collection.

An introduction to a powerful and flexible network modeling tool for developing and understanding complex systems, with many examples from a range of industries. Design structure matrix (DSM) is a straightforward and flexible modeling technique that can be used for designing, developing, and managing complex systems. DSM offers network modeling tools that represent the elements of a system and their interactions, thereby highlighting the system's architecture (or designed structure). Its advantages include compact format, visual nature, intuitive representation, powerful analytical capacity, and flexibility. Used primarily so far in the area of engineering management, DSM is increasingly being applied to complex issues in health care management, financial systems, public policy, natural sciences, and social systems. This book offers a clear and concise explanation of DSM methods for practitioners and researchers.

Construction systems reduced to the smallest possible number of identical elements have long been used by architects to build structures as well as dismantle and change them as quickly, efficiently, and economically as possible. Think of the architecture of the nomads, the Crystal Palace designed by the architect John Paxton for the London World’s Fair of 1851, or the modern construction systems of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in steel, concrete, and wood. Coupled with modern digital planning and production methods, modular precast construction systems that are adaptable for many combinations and capable of being combined with one other will play an increasingly important role in architecture in the future. The volume Components and Systems offers an in-depth and clearly organized presentation of the various types of precast building components – from semifinished products to building with components, open and closed systems, and skeleton and panel construction all the way to spatial cell constructions. The systems are accompanied by detailed drawings and color photographs. Discussions of transporting and assembling the various systems round off the topic and make this book an indispensable practical companion. Seit jeher werden in der Architektur auf möglichst wenige, gleiche Elemente reduzierte Bausysteme verwendet, um möglichst schnell, effizient und ökonomisch ein Bauwerk errichten oder auch abbauen und verändern zu können. Man denke an die Architektur der Nomaden, den Kristallpalast, der 1851 anlässlich der in London stattfindenden Weltausstellung von dem Architekten John Paxton entworfen wurde, oder die modernen Bausysteme des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts in Stahl, Beton oder Holz. Elementierte, vorgefertigte, für viele Kombinationen anpassungsfähige und untereinander kombinierbare Systeme werden zukünftig, gekoppelt mit modernen digitalen Planungs- und Produktionsmethoden, einen immer wichtigeren Aspekt in der Architektur darstellen. Der neue Band Elemente und Systeme zeigt fundiert und übersichtlich die verschiedenen Arten vorgefertigter Bauteile auf – von Halbfabrikaten über das Bauen mit Komponenten, offenen und geschlossenen Systemen, Skelett- und Paneelbauweisen bis zu Raumzellenkonstruktionen. Ergänzt werden die Systeme durch detaillierte Zeichnungen und Farbfotos. Transport und Montage der verschiedenen Systeme runden das Thema ab und machen dieses Buch in der Praxis unverzichtbar.

Organization Structure: Cybernetic Systems Foundation utilizes a cybernetic systems framework for the study of organizations using GST (General Systems Theory) and presents a comprehensive formal view of organizations assessing regulation, coordination and adaptation managements. The use of GST in this book is in sharp contrast to previous attempts. It addresses structural problems totally based on qualitative, non-numerical mathematics. The book lays a framework for initial efforts to investigate the potential of using formal GST to address organizational dilemmas. The text has been tested in several graduate courses. It can serve as an excellent textbook or reference for graduate level research in this field, as well as a reference for researchers in related fields.

"The structural designs that occur in nature - in molecules, in crystals, in living cells - appear in this fully illustrated book as a source of inspiration and study of design of man-made structures" -- BOOK JACKET.