dtPublisher's MessageddIn a time when managers are scrambling to find methods to maneuver through the madness of a completely unpredictable business environment, Jeffrey Goldstein's answers are surprising, challenging, and sometimes controversial. But when applied, they reveal the key to highly refined organization functioning. In The Unshackled Organization, consultant and management professor Jeffrey Goldstein examines new territory with his exploration into how change happens within an organization. Utilizing leading-edge scientific and social theories about change, including non-linear, far-from-equilibrium, chaos theory, and system dynamics, Goldstein shows that only through "self-organization" can natural, lasting change occur. The theory behind "self-organization" arises from the idea of allowing and even amplifying unpredictable fluctuation rather than abolishing or controlling it. In other words, don't fight it! Change imposed from above often is not accepted with open arms by employees. But out of the chaos of change that emerges from within the organization will come long-lasting, structural improvements instead of short-term, Band-Aid solutions. This is a dramatic new way of looking at change, one that means rethinking how change happens within an organization and how you can encourage the process. This book is a pragmatic guide for managers, executives, consultants, and other change agents. More than an academic discourse on a new theory of change, it is filled with real-world examples about diverse types of change in a variety of business and service organizations. This is information you can start using today to support true change within your organization. Contents Publisher's Message Preface Chapter One: New Wine Skins Chapter Two: Growth in Nonlinear Systems Chapter Three: The Dynamics of Self-Organization Chapter Four: From Resistance to Attraction Chapter Five: The Equilibrium Effect of Self-Fulfilling Prophecies Chater Six: Generating Far-From-Equilibrium Conditions Chapter Seven: Working With Boundaries Chapter Eight: Differences That Make A Difference Chapter Nine: The Cauldron of Change Chapter Ten: The Magic Theatre Epilogue Notes About the Author Index

Increased global competition, aided and abetted by technology, has meant that organizations in every sector are having to compete on the basis of speed, cost, quality, innovation, flexibility and customer-responsiveness. If organizations wish to be able to compete successfully in the global marketplace, they need to develop innovative products and services quickly and cost-effectively. The High Performance Organization provides invaluable information and practical tools for people engaged in leading organizational change efforts as an executive, line manager, HR practitioner or change agent. This practical text is grounded in organizational reality as well as having a sound theoretical setting. Illustrative case studies have been drawn from consultancy practice and a wide range of current research.

"What a "kick" I get out of teaching from Images of Organizations. What a head-snapping view of organizations it offers to my MBA students, as well as to the odd client/executive who is disposed to creep out of the practicality of business-as-usual and take in a vibrant thrilling view of organizations." — Ariane David, Ph.D., Senior Advisor/President, The Veritas Group Since its first publication over twenty years ago, Images of Organization has become a classic in the canon of management literature. The book is based on a very simple premise—that all theories of organization and management are based on implicit images or metaphors that stretch our imagination in a way that can create powerful insights, but at the risk of distortion. Gareth Morgan provides a rich and comprehensive resource for exploring the complexity of modern organizations internationally, translating leading-edge theory into leading-edge practice. This new Updated Edition preserves Morgan′s renowned creative images and metaphors while refreshing the references and tables. The addition of a preface situates this classic theory in today′s business environment while the instructor′s resources (now available on CD) aid classroom teaching. Please contact SAGE customer service to order your copy. Images of Organization challenges and reshapes how we think about organization and management in the most fundamental way. The new Updated Edition makes this monumental work available to a new generation of students and business leaders worldwide.

In the past decade, complexity-based thinking has exerted an increasing, yet somewhat controversial authority over management theory and practice. This has in some part been due to the influence of a number of high-profile articles and the not inconsiderable hype which has accompanied them. Another feature of the subject’s development has been the diversity of the origins of the thinking and the claims which have been made for it in terms of managerial and organizational implications. Complexity and Organization is the first text to bring this thinking together, presenting some of the most influential writing in the field, showing how the subject has developed and how it continues to influence managerial thinking. Seminal contributions to the field have been brought together in a single accessible volume, allowing readers to access what might otherwise appear a very diverse body of literature. Moreover, the editors, who represent some of the leading thinkers and writers in this field, have combined these readings with a unique commentary, indicating not only the importance of the papers but teasing out the subtle but significant differences and similarities between them. These commentaries take the form of a discussion between the editors, debating the contribution that each paper has made to the field and the influence it has had on management thinking.

"Facilitating Organization Change" hilft Ihnen, die Dynamik des Wandels in einem komplexen System zu verstehen und diese Kräfte gezielt zu nutzen. Dieses Buch nennt neue Perspektiven, Methoden und Techniken zur Wiederbelebung von Unternehmen. Es erläutert auch die Muster die das Unternehmensverhalten steuern und zeigt, wie man sich diese Einsichten zunutze macht, um den Unternehmenswandel effektiver voranzutreiben.

Knowledge Management, Organizational Intelligence and Learning, and Complexity is the component of Encyclopedia of Technology, Information, and Systems Management Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on Knowledge Management, Organizational Intelligence and Learning, and Complexity in the Encyclopedia of Technology, Information, and Systems Management Resources provides the latest scientific insights into the evolution of complexity in both the natural and social realms. Emerging perspectives from the fields of knowledge management, computer-based simulation and the organizational sciences are presented as tools for understanding and supporting this evolving complexity and the earth's life support systems. These three volumes are aimed at the following a wide spectrum of audiences from the merely curious to those seeking in-depth knowledge: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Written with pace and clarity, this book is a comprehensive and compact overview and introduction to the research landscape of complexity in organizations. In addition to conveying a gripping history of how complexity has influenced organizational ideas, theories, and practices throughout the 20th century and into our present age, the book sheds light on how ground-breaking ideas in chaos and complexity research have emerged and challenged the very foundations of science into a changed vision of nature, society, and human organizations. As well as being an exciting investigation into complexity research in organizations, the book shows how, in the past, researchers who were immersed in the power politics of their day grappled with the theme of complexity in their quest to understand the dynamics of organization in nature and society. By welding fundamental theoretical themes and practical implications into the political and social contexts in which they emerged, this overview provides both depth and breadth to the history, as well as the future, of studies of complexity in organized activity. The book is a lucid and essential study of a topic that will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and students in the fields of business and management, especially those with an interest in the ways that complexity affects and transforms organizations.