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Chapter one: International
teams in the current scheme of things
Global trends
and global work:
Rhinesmith S. H. ( 1996)
‘A Managers guide to globalisation:
six skills for success in a changing world’.
Robert
D Irwin
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Steve Rhinesmith is an experienced political and
managerial globetrotter. The six skills of globalisation he describes
cover how to develop a global competitiveness; how to manage complexity
and organisational adaptability; how to manage uncertainty, multicultural
teams and personal and organisational learning. Although the chapter
on multicultural teams is not well thought through, the book as
a whole is a good overview of the managerial as opposed to operational
challenges of globalisation. There is a useful, extensive but
unqualified bibliography.
O’ Hara Devereaux M and Johansen R (1994)
‘GlobalWork: bridging distance and culture
and time’ Jossey
Bass. San Francisco.
Authors are based at the Institute of the Future.
Menlo Park . California. Tel: +1 415-854-6322 Email: ohara@iftf.org
Based at the Institute of the Future which has
taken a lead in exploring cross cultural collaborative work, these
two authors describe the main fault lines in the new global business
landscape. They then look at the multicultural, technological,
facilitation and leadership skills necessary to work effectively
across cultural, geographical and temporal distances. The second
half of the book describes case studies based on US relationships
with the Pacific Rim, Mexico and Canada before ending with a look
at the dominant norms with the multicultural US workplace and
working anytime anyplace. The book has useful models and lots
of good advice, but the structure does not allow for easy access
and collation of the ‘what to do’ learning points.
Bartlett C and Ghoshal S ( 1989)
‘Managing across borders: the transnational
solution’ Hutchinson
Business Books.
Management gurus have written many books that
apply to global as well as national strategies since the publication
of this book a decade ago (e.g. Hamel and Prahalad, ‘Competing
for the future’ and De Geus ‘The living company’).
However the models and discussions that were based on ten years
research in nine companies seem to remain the most salient and
relevant when talking about ‘going global’. Whether
or not companies have become ‘transnational’ and despite
the lack of discussion on many practical managerial issues; global
efficiency, local responsiveness and organisational learning remain
powerful explanatory forces for many of the different ways in
which companies are co-ordinating, structuring and organising
themselves around the world.
Bartlett C and Ghoshal S (1995)
‘Transnational Management: Text, Cases
and Readings in Cross-Border Management’ 2nd
Edition Irwin
A practical and informative hand book, where
the authors not only summarise the most recent research on cross
border management, but also illustrate their original models through
a range of comprehensive case studies. Whilst not illustrating
‘the answer’, these cases do provide the reader with
an insight into real companies struggling with the issue of becoming
‘global’. Widely recommended to students in the field
of international management as a good introductory text.
The information revolution:
Cairncross F (1997)
‘The death of distance; how the communications
revolution will change our lives’ Harvard
Business School Press.
The book opens with the trend spotters guide
to new communications; thirty developments that Cairncross feels
will indicate the death of distance’ e.g.: the irrelevance
of size, the loose knit corporation, increased value in niches.
This is an easy to read speculative book for business people who
want to think about the possible impact of the information revolution
on their lives. Cairncross is a senior editor at the Economist
and the book achieves the same definitive readable style, based
on lots of interesting facts but not strong on alternative view
points or other possible realities. This is a good thought-provoking
optimistic look at what technology might do.
Tapscott D (1997)
‘The
Digital Economy’ and
‘Growing
up Digital: the Rise of the Net Generation’
McGraw-Hill
The first book, 'The Digital Economy'
explores the promises and perils of the age of networked intelligence.
It is a good basic run through of doing business in the age of
technology growth. Tapscott outlines most the issues in the first
third of the book while the rest is made of examples in different
functions and sectors, such as design, manufacturing sales and
government, travel, education, media. The second perhaps more
interesting book is based on some 300 interviews predicting how
the 2 – 22 year olds growing up with interconnected technology
may reshape society. It suggests that rather than becoming isolated
techy zombies, future generations will use technology to broaden
rather than replace the many ways in which they interact, socialise,
learn and work. Better organised and much more interesting than
‘the digital economy’, this book suffers the same problem
as Cairncross’, drawing simplistic conclusions and lacking
of different perspectives from kids not immersed in technology.
Nevertheless is makes a good thought provoking read.
Teams:
Katzenbach R and Smith D K (1993)
‘The
Wisdom of Teams: Creating the high performance organization’
European Version, McGraw-Hill
UK
The chances are that if you are reading this
book, you have already read this now classic best seller. The
success of this book lay in two simple models. First, collating,
outlining and illustrating the ‘team basics’; those
things that every team needs to do to be successful such as having
a small number of people, with complementary skills, committed
to a common purpose with mutual accountability. Second, coming
up with a developmental team performance curve of how to working
group can develop from being a potential team into a high-performing
team. The authors then backed up these two simple models and discussions
on team leadership with in-depth case studies to create a classic
on teams.
Hitchcock D E and Willard M L ( 1995)
‘Why teams fail and what to do about
it; essential tools for anyone implementing self directed work
teams’ Irwin
Professional publishing
Whether or not you are thinking of implementing
self directed work teams, this easy to read well laid out book
takes you through solutions to the common reasons why many teams
fail; inappropriate roles, low confidence, inadequate support,
focusing on the wrong thing, poor appraisal and leadership problems.
Hard hitting, tough on managers and down to earth practical advice
make this a very accessible book that not only warns of the pitfalls,
but also draws on the authors considerable experience in avoiding
them in the first place.
Robbins H and Finley M (1995)
‘Why teams don’t work: what went
wrong and how to make it right’ Peterson/pacesetter
Books
This book shares all the things that you experience
and discuss with your colleagues about the rubbish and difficulties
you are going through with some teams and team members, but usually
do not read in dry ‘how to get it right’ books on teams.
It talks to the people actually in the teams, not to high brow
managers. One of the problems is that it does it in very strong
American vernacular that makes it hard to understand internationally.
Good on a wide variety of real things that go wrong, e.g. resistance;
team sadism; ‘hot potato’ tasks and ‘turf wars’
to name a few. Overall you need to structure and pull out the
solutions for yourself and the authors are still in forming, storming,
norming, performing mode when it comes to moving teams through
stages toward success.
Bennis W G and Biederman P W (1997)
‘Organising genius: the secrets of creative
collaboration’ Perseus
Press
Warren Bennis and Patricia Biederman have produced
an anecdotal easy read book illustrating the successes of seven
different collaborative teams. Perhaps an antidote to the drier
‘Wisdom of Teams, you have to be prepared to treat each team
separately and to pull out your own learning points despite the
practical conclusions at the end of the book. However the story
telling style means that the same team basics get repeated in
each story.
Chapter two: Know your team
Cultural differences:
Hofstede G (1984)
‘Cultures Consequences: international
differences in work-related values’
abridged version Sage Publications
This book laid the ground work for recent acceptance
that cross-cultural differences will have a significant impact
on international business and collaboration. It is useful to look
at this original book for two reasons. Firstly to understand the
scale of the survey and to see the detailed results. Secondly,
to understand the constraints of the work, e.g. Hofstede used
an existing questionnaire in one corporate culture that hired
particular types of people from each culture. He then looked to
see which questions could be related to already existing robust
dimensions and the links are sometimes tenuous.
Once these limitations are clear, it can be useful
to read his second book, ‘Cultures
and organization’ (1991), McGraw
Hill. This book extrapolates the original
findings into organisational reality and also adds in discussion
on the fifth dimension, ‘Confucian dynamism’, and the
six dimensions of organization culture that became the basis for
his analytical tool, DOCSA (diagnosing organisational culture
for strategic advantage).
Trompenaars F. (1993)
‘Riding the waves of culture: understanding
cultural diversity on business’ Nicholas
Brearley London
Fons Trompenaars chose seven existing cultural
dimensions that cover human interaction as well as fundamental
outlooks. Unlike Hofstede, he then developed a questionnaire specifically
to elicit cultural differences. After some years of working with
Shell, consulting and teaching, he not only had a large database
but lots of examples of the way in which these differences affect
international business. A skilled and much liked presenter who
has brought the message of cultural differences to hundreds of
companies around the world, this book reads like a well grounded
workshop. Fons has developed interactive programmes where you
can assess your own cultural standing and compare with others
and created specialist packages for many countries around the
world. An excellent introduction to the way cultural dimensions
play out in international business.
Redding S.G. (1990)
‘The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism’
W De Gruyter
Gordon Redding was for a long time Head of the
Hong Kong University Business School. He demonstrates his in depth
understanding of the region in this fascinating cultural analysis
of the Overseas Chinese in East and South East Asia. It is an
excellent reminder that the cultural dimensions described by Trompenaars
and Hofstede work were chosen by two Dutch men. While they talk
about individualism versus collectivism, power, uncertainty and
control over nature, Gordon Redding talks about the family, networks,
filial piety, face, bounded trust, frugality and pragmatism. Moreover
he points out how the ideographic Chinese languages support a
very practical rather than abstract way of thinking. Even if you
are not going to work with overseas Chinese, this excellent book
is a timely reminder that we will also see cultural differences
through our own limited cultural lenses.
Schneider S and Barsoux J L (1997)
‘Managing across cultures’ Prentice
Hall
This is a comprehensive studious book on how
cultural differences affect many aspects of organisational life.
Perhaps the most unique part of the book is the middle section
‘ culture and management practice’ that looks at ‘culture
and organization’, ‘culture and strategy’ and ‘culture
and human resource management’, three areas that Susan Schneider
has studied and researched in depth and tend not to be covered
well elsewhere. Each chapter ends with questions or suggestions
and a useful list of relevant endnotes, yet this is not a simplistic
‘how to’ book, but instead covers the ground thoroughly,
raising the important issues. Although not as easy to read as
some, it gives the reader a solid base to work from.
Hampden-Turner C & Trompenaars, F (1994)
‘The Seven Cultures of Capitalism: Value
systems for creating wealth in the United States, Britain, Japan,
Germany, France, Sweden and the Netherlands' Piatkus
An overview of capitalism in all its different
shapes and guises. Based on a survey of 15,000 senior managers
from around the world, this book shows how culturally instilled
values and customs not only affect the way that countries conduct
business but also determine economic success. The authors examine
the fundamental valuing processes without which wealth creating
organisations could not exist and reveal the different approaches
that each country takes. A readable text that builds on the authors
work with individual managers and extrapolates their hypotheses
to an organisational and national plane.
Cross-cultural teams:
(Ed.) Berger M (1996)
‘Cross-
Cultural team building: guidelines for more effective communication
and negotiation’ McGraw
Hill UK
This book pulls together a wide variety of authors
on the issue of culture and teams. As mentioned in appendix one,
the chapter by Abe Kaplan is probably one of the most erudite
on ‘what is culture’. Paul Kingston’s chapter is
an excellent case history of dealing with the issue of language
in an Anglo-French merger of GEC-Alsthom. Imre Lovey amply demonstrated
the problems of unequal expectations between wealthy Americans
and newly ‘capitalised’ Hungarians working together.
Dennis Clackworthy from Siemens outlines his excellent in-depth
work on how differently Americans and Germans approach conflict
resolution. While dealing with specific examples and nationalities,
all these chapters have lessons for all.
Cross functional teams:
Parker G M. (1994)
‘Cross functional teams: working with
allies, enemies and other strangers’ Jossey-Bass
Publishers
This is an easy read anecdotal book with lots
of examples. Parker starts by looking at the advantages of these
teams, which have become the necessary norm in many companies
over the last decade. He then lists the common barriers to success;
limitations of leadership, confusion about the team’s authority
and so on and spells out the solution in the following chapters.
After a brief chapter on management’s role, the book ends
with a discussion of tools, a survey and an annotated bibliography.
What is missing is any in-depth analysis of how and why certain
departments and professions will see the world differently and
so what it takes to creatively work towards a common goal. As
the only book specifically on the subject, there is room for more.
Chapter three: The impact
of inequalities
A classic book on inequalities is
Blau P M (1977) ‘Inequality and
heterogeneity’ Free press New York.
It clearly distinguishes between the
two concepts and describes how they come about and the social
realities that create them.
The impact of tokenism is well described in Moss
Kanter R ( 1977) ‘Men and Women
of the Corporation’ basic books
USA, and of majority and minority influences
in (Ed) Moscovici S (1985) ‘Perspectives
on minority influence’ Cambridge
University Press.
Some thought provoking recent chapters on dominant
identity, the effects of group proportions and multiple identities
can be found in (Ed.) Jackson S E, Ruderman
M N (1995) ‘Diversity in Work Teams:
research paradigms for a changing workplace’, American
Psychological Association, Washington DC.
Chapter four: Implementing
best practices
Team toolkits:
Rayner and Associates
‘Virtual teams’ Rayner
& Associates Inc.
This practical large format handbook takes would-be
virtual teams (that can also meet face to face) through the 13
disciplines needed to be effective, virtual team building, establishing
a team charter, and operating guidelines and working across boundary
conditions. Well laid out with clear sequences of questions to
ask, template questionnaires and good practical advice, this is
a useful unfussy handbook that can be adapted to working across
cultures.
Senge, P. et al. (1994)
‘The Fifth Discipline Handbook: Strategies
and Tools for building a learning organisation’ Currency
Doubleday
Whilst not written for international teams, or
even teams, per se, this handbook provides a wealth of models,
tools and techniques, which are readily adaptable for the purpose.
With its excellent references, it points the reader to further
texts and ideas, but also focuses on practical tips about how
to use these ideas in practice. Whilst professional facilitators
will probably get the maximum benefit from this handbook, the
language and ideas are accessible to international team players
in general.
McDermott L.C. Brawley N and Waite W. ( 1998)
‘World Class Teams : working across borders’
John Wiley and sons Inc.
This well-organised, up-beat book predominantly
outlines what the authors did as consultants to start-up and develop
cross-border R&D teams in Pfizer, (a large US pharmaceutical
company). The sixteen short chapters are comprised mainly of checklists
and toolkits that can improve a team’s performance. They
include topics such as involving senior management, aligning with
stakeholders and measures of success.
When it comes to international teams McDermott
et al. focus more on the similarities between cultures rather
than the impact of differences. E.g.; ‘...when it comes to
selecting (the team) values, there are no or few cultural differences
among teams from around the world’ (pg. 83). Despite a useful
checklist on cultural diversity, discussion of cultural difference
is offered in the form of vague and sometimes contradictory ‘generalisations
not guideposts’.
The composition of the teams they worked with
is not mentioned, so issues such as dominant American norms, unequal
power, struggling second language speakers, different communication
and technological preferences are not highlighted. There is little
discussion on the use or choice of external or internal international
facilitators and the chapter on the use of technology for dispersed
teams is brief. Nevertheless, for those looking for a compilation
of (American, but adaptable) team ‘basics’, checklists
and toolkits, this book is useful.
Chapter five: Facilitating international teams
and key interventions
Schwarz R (1994)
‘The skilled facilitator; practical
wisdom for developing effective groups’ Jossey
Bass Publishers San Francisco
A professorial book, it opens with in depth analyses
of the facilitator’s role and what makes groups effective.
This is followed by important chapters on how to contract with
the group and identifying different behaviours. The next part
of the book looks at how to intervene at different stages and
deal with conflict and emotions. The format is not that accessible
and is probably more useful for skilled facilitators wanting to
think about what they are doing rather than beginners wanting
to know what to do at each stage and how to deal with common problems.
An excellent comprehensive book on the theory and practice of
facilitation that would be well complemented by something more
accessible.
Heron J (1989)
‘The facilitator’s handbook’
Kogan Page
Whilst not written specifically with international
teams in mind, this book covers the basic skills and expertise
required by an effective facilitator. It includes dimensions and
models, group dynamics, planning, meaning, confrontation, feeling,
structuring, valuing and creating a style. It focuses on the role
of the facilitator in relation to the team and does not explore
the wider organisational context of the role in any depth. A good
introductory text.
Butler A. (1996)
‘Teamthink:
72 things to make good smart, quick decisions in any meeting’
McGraw Hill
Easily accessible and well organised, this book
is a bevvy of tools and ideas with which teams can enjoy improving
their meetings. Toys and music may not be for everyone, but something
else will be useful from the six techniques to brainstorm ideas,
eighteen ways to gather information, eleven ways to make decisions
and seven ways to implement them. A book to skim, pick from, adapt
and use.
Chapter six: Leading in the information space:
teams and technology
Information/ knowledge
working:
Fisher K , Fisher . M.D. (1998)
‘The
distributed mind: achieving high performance through the collective
intelligence of knowledge work teams’ Amacom
The Fishers take the basics about teams and rethink
them for instances when the teamwork is based on organising and
creating knowledge. They cover in particular the different ways
in which knowledge teams need to become self managed, ‘vertically’
multi-skilled and create multiple communication channels. Companies
need to organise into learning lattices and support rather than
control these teams. They discuss the issue of maintaining creativity
and describe the seven competencies of boundary managers, the
main role of knowledge team leaders. The chapters on virtual teams
and matching technology to the team are very general. Overall,
this is a well researched, well thought out useful book.
Boisot M. (1995)
‘Information Space: A framework for
learning in organisations, institutions and culture’
Routledge
This book is a challenge for the grey cells.
It looks in detail at how data becomes information and how six
different stages of a ‘social learning cycle’ do different
things to information. There is an excellent chapter on how culture
economises on data/information processing and leads to the need
for variety as well as both converging and diverging forces within
an organisation. Thought provoking and not for the feint-hearted...look
out for his apparently more accessible new book ‘Knowledge
assets’ with Oxford University Press.
Collaborative technology:
Robert Johansen et al (1991)
‘Leading business teams: how teams can
use technology and group process tools to enhance performance’
Addison Wesley,
OD Series
This very readable classic gives an in-depth
analysis of the dynamics of working together and apart. Using
Drexler and Sibbett’s team model, its wonderfully illustrated
exploration of what was going to come with new technology and
groupware facilities, and how that will fit into team dynamics,
will remain true however fancy the technology becomes. It is an
excellent introduction to the different modes of working together
and apart, same place, same time different place, different time
different place and so on, and describes the different options
of information technology and groupware to improve effectiveness
when working apart. Johansen has a gift not only of portraying
the future and being one of the first to appreciate the value
of groupware, but also of portraying that the future as peopled
by people and not machines.
New technology:
Creighton J L , Adams J W R ( 1997)
‘Cybermeetings:
how to link people and technology in your organization’
Amacom
The book opens with a futuristic scenario exploring
how people will be able to connect up and interact in the future.
Its strength is that rather than immediately highlight new technology,
it stresses that managers first need to think about what they
want to do and the nature of the relationships that they need
and then see how technology can best support them. They first
examine the collaboration systems of an organisation and then
what is coming and likely to come out of Silicon valley and elsewhere
in terms of technology. The book ends with useful chapter on deciding
which technology to choose and how to introduce it. Probably a
must read for all teams, the book will need a follow up on how
to make best use of high tech collaborative technology across
cultural, temporal and geographical distances.
Lipnack J , Stamps J ( 1997)
‘Virtual teams: Reaching across space,
time and organisations with technology’ John
Wiley and Sons
website:
http:// www.netage.com
Building on their consistent messages of best
practices in ‘ The Team Net Factor’ and the ‘Age
of the Network’ Lipnack and Stamps give a first hand account
of what some companies are achieving with high technology. Building
on a looser definition of a ‘virtual’ team (i.e. a virtual
team works across space, time and organisational boundaries and
only in extreme cases never meets face to face) chapter one is
a good introduction to ‘why virtual teams’ and it outlines
the basic interaction between people, purpose and links. Using
their effective mixture of stories, theory, practical ideas and
vision, the authors then work through various forms of working
apart. The book culminates in a very useful toolkit for ‘working
smart’ pulling all the lessons of the book together and ends
on a muse on virtual values.
For the latest publications look in Amazon.com.
‘virtual teams’
Chapter eight: Creating the right organisational
context
van der Heijden, K (1996)
‘Scenarios: The Art of Strategic Conversations’
John Wiley &
Sons
Challenges managers to face up to uncertainty
and ambiguity in the future for their organisations and explores
how to introduce processes to facilitate strategic conversations
across a myriad of stakeholders. A very readable and practical
account of how to use scenarios - different plausible future environments
- to explore the choices facing the organisation, in a way that
encompasses and acknowledges both the formal and informal systems.
Morgan, G. (1997)
‘Images of Organisation’
New Edition Sage Publications, Inc.
This book helps managers multiply their ability
to see, understand and redesign organisations to fit today’s
extraordinary challenges. It challenges conventional wisdom about
how to define and understand organisations and provides managers
with alternative perspectives on issues that are very familiar
to them. Given that leaders of global organisations and international
teams need to be able to assimilate and incorporate multiple perspectives
into their view of the world, this book provides an accessible
yet challenging starting point.
Binney G & Williams C (1995)
‘Leaning into the Future: Changing the
way people change organisations’ Nicholas
Brealey
Explores how leaders need to be able to lead
and learn simultaneously by ‘learning while doing’ and
‘seeing clearly’. It explores conventional approaches
to managing organisational change and concludes that the either/or
choices of the past cannot provide solutions for today’s
complex global environment. The authors provides case studies
and examples of leaders and organisations to illustrate their
ideas, which makes the book both readable and practical.
Chapter nine: The role of the Human Resources
function
(Ed.) Kirkbride, P.S. (1994)
‘Human Resource Management in Europe:
Perspectives for the 1990s’ Routledge
A collective of papers aimed specifically at
the HR manager who wants to become conversant with the particular
issues of transnational HRM. The focus is Europe, rather than
wider afield, but the topics addressed are equally applicable
to non European organisations attempting to work outside their
home markets and the contributions are from Europeans and Americans.
The first section explores a model of European HRM and compares
and contrasts it to Japanese and American models, whilst later
sections pick up the emergence of the former Eastern European
states. A number of case studies help to illustrate the key issues
in a practical way.
Perkins, S. J. (1997)
‘Internationalisation. The people dimension:
Human Resource Strategies for Global Expansion’ Kogan
Page
Drawing on practical experience across all continents
of the world, it shows companies how to design and implement a
human resource strategy within the context of an overall business
strategy for internationalisation. It includes detailed cases
on all the major topics including selection; international teams;
performance management and developing global managers and the
examples are drawn from right across the world. A good introductory
text for HR professionals and managers alike.
Chapter ten: Organisational best practices
for international teams
Very little on international teams, but for good
read on team rewards in general:
Kohn A ( 1995)
‘Punished by rewards: the trouble with
gold starts, incentive plans, A’s, praise and other bribes’
Houghton Mifflin
Co.
Kohn challenges the widely held assumptions that
incentives lead to improved quality and increased output in the
workplace and in school. He suggests that they tend to punish,
disrupt relationship, ignore underlying reasons for behaviour,
discourage risk taking and undermine genuine interest and self
motivation. He instead proposes that collaboration, meaningfulness
and autonomy act as much better motivators. Well researched, written
with authority and humour, this is not your pat book on how to
manage team pay.
‘How to measure the results of work teams’
Zigon performance.
http://www.zigonperf.com/contact.htm
Chapter eleven: International teams in the
future scheme of things
The Future:
There are many version of futuristic writing.
Three books that could be of interest to someone wanting to think
about how the world may shape up are:
Toffler A ( 1991)
‘Powershift; Knowledge, wealth and violence
at the edge of the 21st
Century’ Bantam
books
McRae H (1995)
‘The world in 2020: Power, culture and
prosperity’. Harvard
Business School Press
Fukuyama F (1996)
‘Trust: the social virtues and creation
of prosperity.’ The
Free Press
Especially in the last one, the authors suggest
that the quality of human interaction will play a significant
part in the future prosperity and stability of different nations
and global regions.
The New Sciences:
Chaos
The first accessible book on chaos theory was
a review of how the theory evolved by
James Gleick ‘Chaos; making a new
science’ ( 1988) Penguin USA.
While filling the pages with all the interesting characters that
contributed in different ways, Gleick also managed to use descriptive
prose, sketches and photographs to persuade you that you can understand
the complicated terminology and maths behind the theory. Naturally
those involved in the physics and maths of chaos will no doubt
regard it as shallow. Even more shallow then but an excellent
source of visual analogies to get oneself out of purely linear
thinking is Briggs J and Peat F.D. (
1989) ‘The Turbulent Mirror; An
illustrated guide to chaos theory and the science of wholeness’
Complexity
Mitchell Waldrop attempted to do what Gleick
did with Chaos theory in Waldrop M M
(1992) ‘Complexity; the emerging
science at the edge of order and chaos’
Penguin UK followed soon after by
Roger Lewin in Lewin R (1993) ‘Complexity;
Life on the edge of chaos, the major new theory that unifies all
sciences’.
While the characters and evolution of their thinking
makes fairly interesting reading, it is worth heading more for
the work of the original thinkers. Even if you just get as far
as the first four chapters in Kauffman
S (1995) ‘ ‘At home in the
universe; the search for laws of self-organization and complexity’
Oxford University Press NY, you get
a good feel for what is meant by how a few simple principles can
create complex systems.
Similarly Richard Axelrod’s
two books: ‘The
evolution of co-operation’
and more recently (1997)
‘The complexity of cooperation;
agent based models of competition and collaboration’
Princeton University Press make fascinating
accessible reading on the computer modelling experiments and theorising
that have provided a ‘scientific’ basis for cooperation
System dynamics and systems thinking
The most read book that first incorporated systems
thinking and other bits of ‘new thinking’ into organisational
change and learning is Senge P (1990)
‘The fifth discipline: the art and
practice of the learning organization’
Doubleday currency.
Again it can be well worth going back to some
of the original work, such as Jay Forrester’s
( Jan 1971) ‘The counter-intuitive
behaviour of social systems’ Technology
review pp 52 – 68 to understand
how seemingly ‘ good’ decisions can lead to very negative
outcomes. There are also now good journals and consultancies working
to make qualitative and quantitative sense out of this holistic
way of looking at organisational processes. Try http://web.mit.edu.
under research and look at the Centre for Organisational Learning
and the Systems Dynamics group.
Alchemy
Aside from very accessible books like
Ramsay J (1997) ‘Alchemy; the art
of transformation’ Thorsons UK.,
good classics are Jung CG ( 1967) ‘Alchemical
studies’ translated by R F C Hull.
Routledge Kegan and Paul and the question
and answer format of Von Franz M.L (1980)
‘Alchemy: an introduction to the
symbolism and the psychology’ Inner
City books Toronto Canada.
Currently one of the most successful book linking
management and the new sciences has been
Wheatley M (1994) ‘Leadership
and the new science: learning about organization from an orderly
universe’ Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Inc. Written in a discursive musing
style, Wheatley explores the implications to Newtonian Physics
on organisations. She then takes some of the findings of quantum
physics and complexity theory and some natural truisms and links
these through metaphor rather than operational reality to situations
and organisations that she has encountered. This graceful easy
to read book can make many managers reflect on some of their basic
assumptions, but will not give them the practical solutions of
how to rethink their organisations. She takes this lyric approach
one step further with her later book with Kellner
Rogers M (1996) ‘A simpler way’
Berrett-Koelhler publishers which will
appeal to those happy to take themselves further into a self-propelled
journey (and read much of the further suggested readings) and
not to those seeking ready-made solutions.
