Stafford Beer filmed at the University of Manchester in 1973. Cybernetics and the Viable Systems Model are tremendously important when discussing effectiveness in services organisations. This video provides a useful and basic overview of work he did in Chile. … [Read more...] about Stafford Beer: On Cybernetics and the Viable Systems Model (VSM)
Archives for January 2019
Dave Snowden: The origins and evolutions of the Cynefin framework
In this video Dave Snowden introduces the Cynefin framework, designed to help leaders better understand the complexity of problem situations. Better understanding allows better and more appropriate interventions. … [Read more...] about Dave Snowden: The origins and evolutions of the Cynefin framework
Systems Thinking, Systems Practice by Peter Checkland
Peter Checkland's Systems Thinking, Systems Practice (1981) is one of those seminal works that helped to move systems thinking out of the classroom and into the boardroom. In a remarkably readable book, Checkland outlines the components of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and takes us through the stages with case studies in organisations. What Checkland demonstrated was that … [Read more...] about Systems Thinking, Systems Practice by Peter Checkland
Ten signs improvement workshops may be harming your business and what to do about it
Long considered an organisational panacea, improvement workshops are a common feature in most services organisations. Managers view workshops as important ingredients to combat resistance to change by involving staff, reduce costs and improve services. What if the resulting wall of post-it notes is actually a hallucination, packed full of assumptions and none of them reflective … [Read more...] about Ten signs improvement workshops may be harming your business and what to do about it
Peter Senge: Introduction to organisational learning
Peter Senge's book The Fifth Sense: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (1990) is influential and well known. Here he introduces some of the key concepts around his theory. … [Read more...] about Peter Senge: Introduction to organisational learning