Embracing Complexity

Author: Jean G. Boulton
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199565252
Category : Complexity
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Book Description
The book describes what it means to say the world is complex and explores what that means for managers, policy makers and individuals. The first part of the book is about the theory and ideas of complexity. This is explained in a way that is thorough but not mathematical. It compares differing approaches, and also provides a historical perspective, showing how such thinking has been around since the beginning of civilisation. It emphasises the difference between a complexity worldview and the dominant mechanical worldview that underpins much of current management practice. It defines the complexity worldview as recognising the world is interconnected, shaped by history and the particularities of context. The comparison of the differing approaches to modelling complexity is unique in its depth and accessibility. The second part of the book uses this lens of complexity to explore issues in the fields of management, strategy, economics, and international development. It also explores how to facilitate others to recognise the implications of adopting a complex rather than a mechanical worldview and suggests methods of research to explore systemic, path-dependent emergent aspects of situations. The authors of this book span both science and management, academia and practice, thus the explanations of science are authoritative and yet the examples of changing how you live and work in the world are real and accessible. The aim of the book is to bring alive what complexity is all about and to illustrate the importance of loosening the grip of a modernist worldview with its hope for prediction, certainty and control.

Embracing Complexity

Author: Jean G. Boulton
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191061476
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Embracing Complexity in Design

Author: Katerina Alexiou
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135228787
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Book Description
Collating state-of-the-art developments in the area of complexity and design into a unique and authoritative resource for both the design and complex systems communities, this book is essential reading for those studying complexity or design, as it touches on different themes and domains such as architecture, engineering, environmental design, art, fashion and management.

Moving the Chains

Author: Domenico LePore
Publisher: Business Expert Press
ISBN: 1948976218
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 200

Book Description
The way we design and work within our organizations is profoundly impacted by digital technologies and complexity. Speed of flow is critical for innovation, production, communication, and delivery. Arguably, silo-based, functional hierarchies are failing to guarantee the necessary speed of flow as well as quality, and involvement of people. Applying techniques is insufficient. What is required is a radical rethink to compete and thrive. Nothing less than a new way of understanding – an epistemological framework – will do. This book aims to provide such a framework and show how we can break free from silos and silo thinking through a truly systemic approach. It presents an operational solution that allows organizations to effectively adopt digital technologies and reap their benefits. It highlights the new kind of leadership that our increasingly network-based and distributed business world requires to achieve sustainable prosperity.

Embracing Our Complexity

Author: Catherine Hudak Klancer
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438458428
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Book Description
This book discusses what a religiously grounded authority might look like from the viewpoints of the European Catholic Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) and the Chinese Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi (1130–1200). The consideration of these two figures, immensely influential in their respective traditions, reflects the conviction that any responsible discourse on authority must consider different cultural perspectives. Catherine Hudak Klancer notes that both Zhu Xi and Aquinas conceive wisdom as including, yet surpassing, human reason. Both express an explicit faith in the moral order of the cosmos and the ethical potential of human beings. The systematic, idealistic approach common to both provides the cosmic, anthropological, and ethical elements needed for a comprehensive exploration of how to exercise and limit authority. Ultimately, Klancer writes, authority requires a particular virtue, hitherto latent in both scholars' work and in their lives as well. A person with this virtue—humble authority—is properly grounded in the sacred order, and fully cognizant in theory and in practice of the parameters of human nature and the responsibilities attendant upon the human role.

Complex Adaptive Leadership

Author: Nick Obolensky
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040277284
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 330

Book Description
Since its publication, Complex Adaptive Leadership has become a Gower bestseller that has been taught in corporate leadership programmes, business schools and universities around the world to high acclaim. In this updated paperback edition, Nick Obolensky argues that leadership should not be something only exercised by nominated leaders. It is a complex dynamic process involving all those engaged in a particular enterprise. The theoretical background to this lies in complexity science and chaos theory - spoken and written about in the context of leadership for the last 20 years, but still little understood. We all seem intuitively to know leadership 'isn't what it used to be' but we still cling to old assumptions which look anachronistic in changing and challenging times. Nick Obolensky has practised, researched and taught leadership in the public, private and voluntary sectors. In this exciting book he brings together his knowledge of theory, his own experience, and the results of 19 years of research involving 2,500 executives in 40 countries around the world. The main conclusion from that research is that the more complex things become, the less traditional directive leadership is needed. Those operating in the real world, nonetheless, need ways of coping. The book is focused on helping practitioners struggling to interpret and react to increasingly VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) times. The book will particularly appeal to practitioners wishing to improve their leadership effectiveness as well as for students and researchers in the field of leadership.

Complexity and Postmodernism

Author: Paul Cilliers
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134743297
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
In Complexity and Postmodernism, Paul Cilliers explores the idea of complexity in the light of contemporary perspectives from philosophy and science. Cilliers offers us a unique approach to understanding complexity and computational theory by integrating postmodern theory (like that of Derrida and Lyotard) into his discussion. Complexity and Postmodernism is an exciting and an original book that should be read by anyone interested in gaining a fresh understanding of complexity, postmodernism and connectionism.

The Complex Alternative

Author: David C. Krakauer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781947864405
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description

Embracing Therapeutic Complexity

Author: Patricia Gianotti
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000585840
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 178

Book Description
In an era where instant gratification has filtered into training programs geared toward technique-driven solutions, Embracing Therapeutic Complexity takes a step back and re-introduces fundamental touchstones that enable clinicians to apply an integrative treatment model in the service of in-depth healing and growth. Using attachment theory as a bridge, this text connects key principles and practices that cut across various therapeutic disciplines and combines them into a unified framework where readers do not have to "put aside" their expertise in order to benefit from the skill sets provided in this book. In addition, this text addresses the impact that power and privilege have had on shaping our psychological constructs, and it challenges cultural assumptions and blind spots that have shaped our treatment approaches in the past. Furthermore, this book illustrates how the application of psychodynamic principles can be combined with advances in trauma treatment, thus offering a practical guide for both beginning and seasoned therapists to amplify and expand their current clinical expertise.

Polarity Management

Author: Barry Johnson
Publisher: Human Resource Development
ISBN: 9780874251760
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Book Description
University level text. Some complex problems simply do not have "solutions." The key to being an effective leader is being able to recognize and manage such problems. Polarity Management presents a unique model and set of principles that will challenge you to look at situations in new ways. Also included are exercises to strengthen your skills, and case studies to help you begin applying the model to your own unsolvable problems.