The Fractal Organization: Creating sustainable organizations with the Viable System Model

by Patrick Hoverstadt

Overview

The world of management is in crisis - the old remedies no longer work and organizations   are failing at an increasing rate. Although many talk of 'joined up thinking', few offer practical guidance on how to achieve this in organizations. The Fractal Organization sets down the practical implications of a well tested systemic approach to building organizations   that are capable of surviving and flourishing in these turbulent times.

"An excellent read…Many organizations fail at the mercy of their own ignorance. The author has done an excellent job in making ‘the science of effective organization’ accessible to management, providing them with a new knowledge to deal with the uncertainties that the markets place upon them."
Stephen J. Brewis, Business Architect, British Telecom

"...one of the most interesting, thorough and rigorous guides to management that I have ever read, … introduces new insights in every chapter… carries a credibility which acts as a counterbalance to the sometimes difficult message which he conveys which is that a lot of mainstream management practice is at best ineffective and at worst downright destructive. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in management or systems thinking."
Penny Marrington, Course Chair, Systems Group, Open University

"In my opinion this book manages to present sound academic theory that is relevant and helpful to the practitioner in the business. I experienced several A-HA moments."
Pauline Marsh, Strategy Director, CS&S International, BAE SYSTEMS

"The insights of the Viable System Model have been open only to a select few for much too long. Hoverstadt has gone furthest in bringing these ideas to a wider audience…Management books have too often been serious but not practical, or practical but not serious. This book is both brilliantly serious and practical, and often entertaining too."
Professor Peter Kawalak, Manchester Business School

"Integrates mainstream management ideas with the systems ideas underpinning the VSM, and flows and reads well. As a starting point for developing understanding of the VSM in today's world this book improves greatly on all books that have gone before, I would certainly recommend it to colleagues, clients, and students."
Dr. Robin Asby, Course Chair, Communication and Systems, Open University

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781119995593
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	02/23/2011
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	880,491
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Patrick Hoverstadt 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.

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Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgements xiv

Part 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Crisis of Organization 3

Chapter 2 Management Myths, Models and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies 13

Chapter 3 Overview of the Viable System Model and the Rest of the Book 25

Part 2 Running the Business 39

Chapter 4 Autonomy and Control 41

Chapter 5 The Structure of Value Creation 61

Chapter 6 Coordination 81

Chapter 7 Organizational Cohesion – The Structure of Managing Performance 97

Chapter 8 Organizational Integrity and Monitoring for Trust 119

Chapter 9 Performance and Viability 133

Part 3 Changing the Business 151

Chapter 10 Intelligence 153

Chapter 11 Strategic Risk 169

Chapter 12 Strategy 183

Chapter 13 Innovation 209

Chapter 14 Managing Change 225

Chapter 15 Identity and Purpose 247

Chapter 16 Governance 265

Appendix The Process of Modelling 281

Glossary 301

References 309

Index 315