Systems Approaches to Managing Change: A Practical Guide
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About this book
In a world of increasing complexity, instant information availability and constant flux, systems approaches provide the opportunity of a tangible anchor of purpose and iterate learning. The five approaches outlined in the book offer a range of interchangeable tools with rigorous frameworks of application tried and tested in the ‘real world’. The frameworks of each approach form a powerful toolkit to explore the dynamics of how societies emerge, how organisations create viability, how to facilitate chains of argument through causal mapping, how to embrace a multiplicity of perspectives identifying purposeful activity and how to look for the bigger picture across multiple disciplines.
Systems Approaches offers an excellent first introduction for those seeking to understand what ‘systems thinking’ is all about as well as why the tools discussed herein should be applied to management and professional practice. This book provides a practical guide, and the chapters stand alone in explaining and developing each approach.
About the author
Patrick Hoverstadt is a veteran systems practitioner, and chairs the professional body for Systems Practitioners. He is a practicing consultant with a wealth of experience over the past ten years of applying VSM in analyzing and designing organizations for clients. He is a visiting lecturer at Manchester Business School, a visiting Research Fellow at Cranfield School of Management and a regular contributor to conferences and journals. A paper he wrote was awarded an Emerald publications "literati club" prize for clear presentation of difficult concepts. He is currently chairman of "Cybernetics North" a NW based group of systems practitioners and has access to the support and experiences of group members to draw on for further material. Selected publications of Patrick Hoverstadt are available at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Patrick-Hoverstadt.