Ralph Stacey is Professor of Management at the Business School, University of Hertfordshire. He is the director of the Complexity and Management Centre at the University of Hertfordshire and author of a number of books and papers on complexity and organisations.
List of boxes
List of figures
Preface
1 Thinking about strategy and organisational change
1.1 Introduction
1.2 The phenomena of interest
1.3 Making sense of the phenomena
1.4 Key features in comparing theories of organisational evolution
1.5 Outline of the book
Part One
Systemic ways of thinking about strategy and organisational dynamics
2 The origins of systems thinking
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Scientific Revolution
2.3 Kant: natural systems and autonomous individuals
2.4 Systems thinking in the twentieth century
2.5 Thinking about organisations and their management
2.6 How systems thinking deals with four key questions
2.7 Summary
3 Thinking in terms of strategic choice: cybernetic systems,
cognitivist and humanistic psychology
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Cybernetic systems
3.3 Formulating and implementing long-term strategic plans
3.4 Cognitivist and humanistic psychology
3.5 Leadership and the role of groups
3.6 Key debates
3.7 How strategic choice theory deals with four key questions
3.8 Summary
4 Thinking in terms of organisational learning and knowledge creation: systems dynamics, cognitivist, humanistic and constructivist psychology
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Systems dynamics: nonlinearity and positive feedback
4.3 Personal mastery and mental models: cognitivist psychology
4.4 Building a shared vision and team learning: humanistic psychology
4.5 The impact of vested interests on organisational learning
4.6 Knowledge management: cognitivist and constructivist psychology
4.7 Communities of practice
4.8 Key debates
4.9 How learning organisation theory deals with four key questions
4.10 Summary
5 Thinking in terms of organisational psychodynamics: open systems and psychoanalytic perspectives
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Open systems theory
5.3 Psychoanalysis and unconscious processes
5.4 Open systems and unconscious processes
5.5 Leaders and groups
5.6 How open systems/psychoanalytic perspectives deal with
four key questions
5.7 Summary
6 Thinking about participation in systems: second-order systems and autopoiesis
6.1 Introduction
6.2 First- and second-order systems thinking
6.3 Interactive planning and soft systems thinking
6.4 Critical systems thinking
6.5 Autopoiesis
6.6 Summary
7 Thinking about strategy process
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Rational process and its critics: bounded rationality
7.3 Rational process and its critics: trial and error action
7.4 A contingency view of process
7.5 Institutions, routines, politics and cognitive frames
7.6 Process and time
7.7 Strategy process: a review
7.8 The activity-based view
7.9 The systemic way of thinking about process and practice
7.10 Summary
Part Two
The challenge of complexity to ways of thinking
8 The complexity sciences
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Mathematical chaos theory
8.3 The theory of dissipative structures
8.4 Complex adaptive systems
8.5 Different interpretations of complexity
8.6 Summary
9 Systemic applications of complexity sciences to
organisations
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Modelling industries as complex systems
9.3 Understanding organisations as complex systems
9.4 How systemic applications of complexity sciences deal with four key questions
9.5 Summary
Part Three
Complex responsive processes as a way of thinking about strategy and organisational dynamics
10 Responsive processes thinking
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Responsive processes thinking
10.3 Chaos, complexity and analogy
10.4 Time and responsive processes
10.5 The differences between systemic process and responsive processes thinking
10.6 Summary
11 The emergence of organisational strategy in local communicative interaction: complex responsive processes of conversation
11.1 Introduction
11.2 Human communication and the conversation of gestures: the social act
11.3 Ordinary conversation in organisations
11.4 The dynamics of conversation
11.5 Leaders and the activities of strategising
11.6 Summary
Reflective management narrative 1
Strategic development of a merger: formulating and implementing at the same time
by Nol Groot
12 The link between the local communicative interaction of strategising and the population-wide patterns of strategy
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Human communication and the conversation of gestures: processes of generalising and particularising
12.3 The relationship between local interaction and population-wide patterns
12.4 The roles of the most powerful
12.5 Summary
Reflective management narrative 2
Organisational development as interpersonal learning
by Nicholas Sarra
13 The emergence of organisational strategy in local communicative interaction: complex responsive processes of ideology and power relating
13.1 Introduction
13.2 Cult values
13.3 Desires, values and norms
13.4 Ethics and leadership
13.5 Power, ideology and the dynamics of inclusion-exclusion
13.6 Complex responsive processes perspectives on decision making
13.7 Summary
Reflective management narrative 3
Making sense of power and conflict in a healthcare organisation
by Sheila Marriott
14 The emergence of organisational strategy in local interaction: the narrative patterning of everyday experience
14.1 Introduction
14.2 Narrative and knowledge
14.3 Narrative themes organising ordinary experience
14.4 Summary
Reflective management narrative 4
Accountability and project control at a telecommunications company
by Rui Grilo
15 Complex responsive processes and the traditional concerns of the strategist: technology, resources, markets, planning, control and performance
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Understanding technology as social object
15.3 Resources and markets
15.4 Planning and control
15.5 Reasoning, measuring, forecasting and modelling
15.6 Performance and improvement
15.7 Summary
16 Complex responsive processes: implications for thinking about organisational dynamics and strategy
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Key features of the complex responsive processes perspective
16.3 How the theory of complex responsive processes answers the
four key questions
16.4 Refocusing attention: strategy and change
16.5 Summary
References
Index