The Systems Approach and Its Enemies (C. West Churchman, 1979) is one of Churchman’s most significant works. In this particular writing he displayed two main tendencies, that he was a Skeptic and that he showed Socratic Wisdom. In this book the editors seeks to follow up on these two themes and reveal how modern authors interpret Churchman’s ideas, apply them to their own line of thinking and develop their own brand of Systemics.

This book reinvigorates the use of wisdom in management and work practice, promoting it as an important research topic and demonstrating how it can be applied across a number of important management areas such as knowledge innovation and strategy.

The Systems Approach and Its Enemies (C. West Churchman, 1979) is one of Churchman’s most significant works. In this particular writing he displayed two main tendencies, that he was a Skeptic and that he showed Socratic Wisdom. In this book the editors seeks to follow up on these two themes and reveal how modern authors interpret Churchman’s ideas, apply them to their own line of thinking and develop their own brand of Systemics.

In traditional business circles, wisdom is viewed with a certain scepticism, which is in part due to its historical associations with wisdom traditions and spiritual cultures. However, in business today, wisdom is emerging not only as a viable but also a necessary organizational and management practice. In particular, practical wisdom is being updated and retranslated for today’s issues and concerns in organizations. In recent years, leadership and organizational studies have initiated important changes in the way in which business-as-usual is conducted. In response to the increasingly complex and uncertain conditions of our international business environment, a growing community of ‘scholar-practitioners’ are pushing the boundaries of traditional organizational and leadership thinking and acting, making inroads into processes and applications of practical wisdom and ways of wise leading and managing. Given the unprecedented levels of challenges, dynamics and uncertainties that today’s organizations are exposed to, there is a need for a more integrative and sustainable approach to managing. Following the need for a reconsideration and revival of the meaning of wisdom, the editors explore vitalizing possibilities for the learning of wise practices in organizing and leading. This expansive range of domains where wisdom is currently being explored suggests a promising number of perspectives and possibilities for future inquiries and explorations into the nexus of wisdom and organization, leadership/management education and learning that benefits from cross-disciplinary synergies. This book will be of interest to those seeking to understand the growing significance of wisdom in relation to learning and teaching, especially in business and management education.

The current financial and on-going ecological crises have taught us that without practical wisdom, business, organisations and leadership cannot be sustainable. In response to this situation, the Handbook of Practical Wisdom presents a critically informed understanding of wise practices, contributing to more integrative organizational and leadership studies and practice. The focus on integration emphasises the interdependencies of practical wisdom in relation to members, groups and cultures of organisations in their socio-cultural spheres. Wisdom has long slipped from the scholarly map, and so this handbook provides revived and new mappings for today and the future. Seeking to actualize creative potentials of practical wisdom, this book and series aspires to contribute to the contemporary odysseys and quests for orientation in organisation and management research and practice. Wisdom research, as presented in this book, provides bridges to underestimated, neglected or forgotten knowledge and offers transformative passages between Scylla - the rocks of dogmatic modernity - and Charybdis - the whirlpool of dispersed post-modernity. Practical wisdom allows for a better equipped and more experiential and reflexive journey and fosters the art of mindful travelling, beyond a reactive, moralizing sentimentalism. Accordingly, this handbook serves as a medium for reassessing and rearticulating more responsible ways of ‘praxis’ in the field of organization and management. In this spirit, each chapter opens a space for dialogue and debate, inviting further inquiries, conversations and explorations by and among its readers: students, academics and practitioners.

"This book presents a new vision of knowledge-based wisdom management (KM-WM). In order to introduce this vision, the book addresses KM holistically, tackling its different challenges and components. The book utilizes an epistemological approach, strengthened by an interdisciplinary outlook that includes the practical and empirical sciences. .. targets a variety of audiences and professionals from different disciplines and backgrounds." [BACK COVER]

Knowledge Management Matters: Words of Wisdom from Leading Practitioners is a collection of works penned by this amazing and diverse group of thought leaders. Each of these trailblazers has generously shared their knowledge with a view to helping you and your organization succeed in the knowledge environment. The tips, tactics, and techniques they suggest are time-tested and proven concepts that will help you achieve your organizational objectives. Their collective works are based on decades of experiences with real-world organizations. This is not a book of untested theories that might work, but rather a compilation of genuine words of wisdom from experienced KM practitioners who know knowledge management. Knowledge Management Matters starts with a brief overview of the evolution of knowledge management. Building on this historical foundation, we launch a wide-ranging exploration of the domain. Throughout the book are excellent examples of what works, what doesn't, and some thought-provoking teases about the future. The authors offer great advice on a variety of subjects including storytelling, big data, creativity & innovation, leading communities, knowledge assets, co-creation, catering for a transient workforce and so much more. The contributing practitioners, in alphabetical order, are: - Stephanie Barnes, Director of Doing Things Differently at Art of Innovation - Shawn Callahan, Founder of Anecdote - Paul Corney, Founder of knowledge et al - Nancy M. Dixon, Author of Common Knowledge, HBSP - Stan Garfield, Knowledge Management Author, Speaker, and Community Leader - Anthony J. Rhem, President/Principal Consultant of A.J. Rhem & Associates, Inc. - Arthur Shelley, Founder of Intelligent Answers - Douglas Weidner, Chairman & Chief Instructor of KM Institute - Ron Young, Founder of Knowledge Associates International