Complexity, Learning and Organizations

Complexity, Learning and Organizations
Author: Walter R.J. Baets
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2007-01-24
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134177844

This fascinating book argues for a new way of looking at the world and at human systems, companies or (Western) society as a whole. Well-researched and well-argued, this book skilfully guides the reader through a complex and interesting subject.

Complex Responsive Processes in Organizations

Complex Responsive Processes in Organizations
Author: Ralph Stacey
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 276
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 113453518X

The past decade has seen increasing focus on the importance of information and knowledge in economic and social processes, the so-called 'knowledge economy'. This is reflected in the popularity amongst practicing managers and organizational theorists of notions of learning, sense-making, knowledge creation, knowledge management and intellectual capital in organizations and more recently, of emotional intelligence as an important management skill. This insightful book: argues that the information processing view of knowledge creation held by systems thinkers is no longer tenable develops the alternative perspective of Complex Responsive Processes of relating, drawing on the complexity sciences as a source for analogies with human action places self-organizing interaction at the centre of the knowledge creating process in organizations. Learning and knowledge creation are seen as qualitative processes of power relating that are emotional as well as intellectual, creative as well as destructive, enabling as well as constraining, and the result is a radical questioning of the belief that organizational knowledge is essentially codified and centralized. Instead, organizational knowledge is understood to be in the relationships between people in an organization and has to do with the qualities of those relationships.

Complexity and Creativity in Organizations

Complexity and Creativity in Organizations
Author: Ralph D. Stacey
Publisher:
Total Pages: 336
Release: 1996
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Combining insights from the new science of complexity with insights from psychoanalysis, Stacey posits that repressing the anxiety caused by the unstable, ever-changing nature of today's business world also represses the creative impulses - the "spaces for novelty" - that allow members of a workforce to produce their best work. Using the science of complexity as a starting point, he pulls together many insights into behavior and organizational functioning that currently lie at the edges of research and practice. This book invites people to explore what the new science might mean for understanding life in organizations, and shows how it can be used as a framework for understanding the processes that produce emergence rather than intentional strategies. Stacey presents an entirely new perspective on what it means for an organization to learn.

Organize for Complexity

Organize for Complexity
Author: Niels Pflaeging
Publisher: Betacodex Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-02-20
Genre: Complex organizations
ISBN: 9780991537600

The long-awaited update for work and organizations in the knowledge age

Learning in Organizations

Learning in Organizations
Author: Peter J Smith
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2006-05-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134252110

Taking a fresh and innovative approach to the complexities and challenges inherent in organizational learning diversity, the authors show that there are no generic solutions. They argue there is no 'best way' of planning, organizing and implementing learning in relation to the workplace and instead provide context-specific solutions to the dilemmas and issues that diversities present. With an international approach, grounded in theory and incorporating strong practical examples, this book is essential reading for all those studying, teaching or practising human resource development, human resource management or professional education.

Managing Complexity in Global Organizations

Managing Complexity in Global Organizations
Author: Ulrich Steger
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2007-04-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780470513118

This book delivers new IMD insights on an emerging challenge - how to deal with overwhelming complexity. Global organizations face a complex decision-making environment. On one side, diversity of cultures, customers, competitors and regulations creates complexity; on the other, competitive pressures cause expanding countries to extract more synergies across products and regions. In such a climate, a new way of thinking, acting and organizing is needed beyond the familiar ‘control’ mindset. Drawing together insights from across the expert faculty, Managing Complexity in the Global Organization presents IMD’s framework on how to understand complexity and its four key drivers (diversity; interdependence; ambiguity and flux), along with solutions on specific issues in a variety of functions, industries and markets. The focus is on providing practical solutions based on real-life examples.

School Leadership and Complexity Theory

School Leadership and Complexity Theory
Author: Keith R. B. Morrison
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2002
Genre: Complex organizations
ISBN: 0415277833

This book moves forward the agenda significantly. It enables educational leadership and management discourse to be informed by the latest views that are becoming well established in business and organisational literature in practice.

The Paradox of Control in Organizations

The Paradox of Control in Organizations
Author: Philip Streatfield
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134577044

Business leaders are expected to be 'in control' of the situation in which their businesses find themselves. But how can organizational leaders and managers control matters entirely out of their hands; such as the next action a competitor takes, or the next law a government may pass? In this book, Philip Streatfield reflects on his own experience as a manager to explore the question: who, or what is 'in control' in an organization? Adopting the perspective of complex responsive processes developed in the first two volumes of this series, the author takes self-organization and emergence as central themes in thinking about life in organizations. He focuses on the tension between spontaneously forming patterns of conversation and intentional actions arguing that the order of organizations emerges through a combination of collective interaction and individual intentions. The argument is developed by considering the day-to-day experiences of life in a large pharmaceutical organization, SmithKline Beecham. In today's organization, managers find that they have to live with the paradox of being 'in control' and 'not in control' simultaneously. It is this capacity to live with paradox, and to continue to participate creatively in spite of 'not being in control', that constitutes effective management.

Knowledge Management, Organizational Intelligence And Learning, And Complexity - Volume I

Knowledge Management, Organizational Intelligence And Learning, And Complexity - Volume I
Author: L. Douglas Kiel
Publisher: EOLSS Publications
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2009-08-25
Genre:
ISBN: 1905839111

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.

Complexity and Organization

Complexity and Organization
Author: Robert Macintosh
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2013-10-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134527195

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.