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Gharajedaghi (president and CEO of INTERACT) goes beyond the simple declaration of the desirability of systems thinking and provides a practical orientation along with a theoretical depth. He operationally deals with the art of simplifying complexity, managing interdependency, and understanding choice using a novel scheme called iterative design. Twelve chapters discuss systems philosophy, theories, methodology, and practice. -- Copyright © 2000 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR All rights reserved


Review
"This is an excellent addition to books written on Systems Thinking. It is practical and timely and can be used by a vast majority of professionals such as engineers, planners and managers. I recommend it very highly to practitioners and academics."
C. J. Khisty, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology


Review
"This is an excellent addition to books written on Systems Thinking. It is practical and timely and can be used by a vast majority of professionals such as engineers, planners and managers. I recommend it very highly to practitioners and academics."
C. J. Khisty, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology


Book Description
In a nutshell, this book is about systems. This book is written for those thinkers and practitioners who have come to realize that while the whole is becoming more and more interdependent parts display choice and behave independently, and that paradoxes are the most potent challenge of emergent realities.

With a practical orientation and yet a profound theoretical depth, the book offers an operational handle on the whole by introducing an elaborate scheme called iterative design. The iterative design explicitly recognizes that choice is at the heart of human development. Development is the capacity to choose; design is a vehicle for enhancement of choice and holistic thinking. 'Designers', in this book, seek to choose rather than predict the future. They try to understand rational, emotional, and cultural dimensions of choice and to produce a design that satisfies a multitude of functions. They learn how to use what they already know and also about how to learn what they need to know.




The imperative of interdependency, the necessity of reducing endless complexities, and the need to produce manageable simplicities require a different mode of thinking, a holistic frame of reference that would allow us to focus on the relevant issues and avoid the endless search for more details while drowning in proliferating information. While organizations as a whole are becoming more and more interdependent the parts display choice and behave independently. This is the dilemma this book tries to resolve. It is a unique, cutting edge work, with a practical orientation and yet a profound theoretical depth, which goes far beyond what is currently available.

Leading edge systems thinking and practice that goes far beyond what is currently available
It deals with the whole, both conceptually and practically, written in a reader-friendly style
Five real cases cited to demonstrate practical application of theories discussed


Book Info
Discusses systems, the imparatives of interdependency, and the necessity of reducing endless complexities. Softcover. DLC: System analysis.


From the Publisher
The imperative of interdependency, the necessity of reducing endless complexities, and the need to produce manageable simplicities require a different mode of thinking, a holistic frame of reference that would allow us to focus on the relevant issues and avoid the endless search for more details while drowning in proliferating information. While organizations as a whole are becoming more and more interdependent the parts display choice and behave independently. This is the dilemma this book tries to resolve. It is a unique, cutting edge work, with a practical orientation and yet a profound theoretical depth, which goes far beyond what is currently available.


About the Author
President and CEO of Interact, former director of The Busch Center, the research arm of the Systems Sciences Department, and Adjunct Professor of Systems Sciences at The Wharton School, University of Pennyslvania, Jamshid began his career with IBM'S World Trade Corporation where he served as a Senior Systems Engineer (1963-1969). He left IBM to become CEO of the Industrial Management Institute (1969-1979)

ANNOTATION

Audience: Successful businesses with a desire to maintain their leadership position Organizations faced with turnaround situations Startup businesses formed around new technologies Participants in Corporate Executive Programs Academic students International corporations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This book is a direct result of the author's work with the systems methodology first introduced by the author's partner, Russell Ackoff.

It's a holistic approach to systems methodology. It deals with all dimensions of a system: structure, function and process. Peter Senge introduced Systems Thinking/practice. Interact clients asked the author to write a book to take them "further down the Senge trail". This book does that by taking the reader into "real world" stories. It is based on experiences in five real companies using systems practice.

It is about a new mode of seeing, doing and being in the world; a way of thinking through chaos and complexity. It speaks to those thinkers and practitioners who have come to realize that learning "to be" is as much a necessary part of a successful professional life as is the learning "to do."

Natural science has discovered "chaos". Social science has encountered "complexity." But chaos and complexity are features of our perceptions and understanding. We see the world as increasingly more complex and chaotic because we use inadequate concepts to explain it. When we understand something, we no longer see it as chaotic or complex. It seems that playing the new game requires learning a new language. A language of interaction and design that will allow us to see through chaos and understand complexity.

In a nutshell, this book is about systems. However, it goes beyond the simple declaration of desirability of systems thinking. With a practical orientation and yet a profound theoretical depth, the book offers an operational handle on the whole by introducing an elaborate scheme called iterative design. The iterative design explicitly recognizes that choice is at the heart of human development.

Development is the capacity to choose; design is a vehicle for enhancement of choice and holistic thinking. Designers, in this book, seek to choose rather than predict the future. They try to understand rational, emotional, and cultural dimensions of choice and to produce a design that satisfies a multitude of functions. They learn how to use what they already know and also about how to learn what they need to know.

SYNOPSIS

The imperative of interdependency, the necessity of reducing endless complexities, and the need to produce manageable simplicities require a different mode of thinking, a holistic frame of reference that would allow us to focus on the relevant issues and avoid the endless search for more details while drowning in proliferating information. While organizations as a whole are becoming more and more interdependent the parts display choice and behave independently. This is the dilemma this book tries to resolve. It is a unique, cutting edge work, with a practical orientation and yet a profound theoretical depth, which goes far beyond what is currently available.

FROM THE CRITICS

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