Ackoff Center Weblog

Management f-LAWS

Russell Ackoff's latest book - Management f-LAWS -  brings together more than 80 of his wise, acute and often sardonic observations about organizations and business life.

He calls these f-LAWS "truths about organizations that we might wish to deny or ignore - simple and more reliable guides to managers' everyday behaviour than the complex truths proposed by scientists, economists and philosophers".

Russ Ackoff has written a detailed commentary for each f-LAW, and each is also answered by award-winning author Sally Bibb.

Management f-LAWS is published tomorrow, so this is your last chance to order a copy at the special pre-publication 25% discount.

To order your copy now at a 25% discount click here.

(For North American customers, books are printed and despatched from the USA). Or order at the regular price from your favourite online retailer.

You can also read and download a free copy of a little book of f-laws (a selection of just 13 of his f-LAWS) online. Click here or visit www.f-laws.com and follow the link to the e-book.

For more information on the book and its authors just visit www.f-laws.com.

To sign up for other pre-publication offers on related titles from Triarchy Press, click here and complete the sign-up form.

Complexity Publications

1. New complexity book: Systems Thinking & Complexity Science: Insights for Action: 

The editorial for the book reads:

"Following the success of the previous ANZSYS conferences and "Managing the Complex" events, it was a pleasure to announce the 11th Annual ANZSYS/Managing the Complex V Conference. The conference was held in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand from 5-7 December 2005, and was co-hosted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR), New Zealand, and the Institute for the study of Coherence and Emergence (ISCE), USA.

A lively forum for discussion and debate was provided for a wide range of academics and practitioners in the fields of systems thinking, complexity science and management. People from other disciplines who have an interest in the application of systems thinking and complexity approaches were also invited to participate. We brought together thinkers and practitioners in the fields of systems and complexity as it seemed to us that there has been a significant international resurgence in these areas in recent years. It would appear that this has been driven by at least four simultaneous forces:

1. People right across the public, private and voluntary sectors looking for new ways to manage or deal with increasingly complex and multi-faceted problems;

2. The obviously systemic character of many high-profile issues that transcend national boundaries, from global warming to international violence;

3. The popularization of a number of systems approaches in the mid-1990s, especially among managers and policy makers, and;

4. The simultaneous popularization of complexity science, sparking major interest in new approaches to managing uncertainty.

The fields of systems and complexity have many similarities, yet they are being developed by two overlapping research communities that have unique insights to bring to bear on the management of ‘wicked’ problems. We believe that, by providing forums, such as this conference, in which people working at the frontiers of complexity and systems thinking can learn from one another, significant new insights for action can emerge. At the end of the day, it is important to the vast majority of those working with complexity and systems ideas that they are able to make a positive difference in people’s lives. It is therefore vitally important that we share our insights and build a community of practitioners that can take the research agenda forward. Our aim is to bring together as many people as possible who are engaging with complex environmental, social and business issues, with the intention of promoting an intense and lively debate with real implications for systems and complexity practice. Our hope is that this conference was a step in the right direction."

A full list of contents is available in PDF form from:

http://isce.edu/ISCE_Group_Site/web-content/ISCE%20Publishing/Christchurch_pro_contents.pdf

For ordering information please visit:

http://isce.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=33

ISBN: 0976681498(pb)/0976681447(CDROM)

Editors: Kurt A. Richardson, Wendy J. Gregory and Gerald Midgley

Publisher: ISCE Publishing

Binding: Softback & CDROM

Pages: 344

2. New issue of Emergence: Complexity & Organization:  The latest issue of E:CO (8.3) will be available online in the next couple of days and in print in a couple of weeks time.  For those of you who already subscribe to E:CO you will be able to access it online by the end of this week.  If you do not subscribe, but would like to please visit the link below to order your subscription:

http://isce.edu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=40

The contents for the forthcoming issue include:

Academic

Reconceptualizing Chronic Pain as a Complex Adaptive System - Cary A. Brown
Designed Emergence as a Path to Enterprise Sustainability - Daniel F. Twomey
Management in R&D Networks as Complex Systems: The Case of European Networks - J. Carlos Fdez. de Arroyabe & Nieves Arranz

Pharmaceutical Discovery as a Complex System of Decisions: The Case of Front-Loaded Experimentation - Walter van Dyck & Peter M. Allen

Practitioner

Measuring leadership effectiveness in complex socio-technical systems - James K. Hazy
Emergence and Community: The Story of Three Complex Adaptive Entities - Richard W. Stackman, Linda S. Henderson & Deborah P. Bloch

Learning at the Edge - Part 1: Transdisciplinary Conceptions of Boundaries - Alice MacGillivray

Complexity and Philosophy

On the Importance of a Certain Slowness by Paul Cilliers

This issue will be followed-up by a special issue on Complexity and Leadership which will appear in December.

3. Reduced rates for the journal Systems Research and Behavioral Science:  We are pleased to announce that the publisher John Wiley has agreed to offer a greatly reduced individual subscription rate for their popular journal Systems Research and Behavioral Science for all ISCE network members.  The usual retail price is US$260, but ISCE can offer it for US$190.  If you would like to learn more about this excellent journal please visit:

http://isce.edu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=48

We are currently looking into the possibility of offering ISCE network members discounts on other popular complexity/systems journals.  if you have any suggestions please let us know.

4. Past E:CO Annuals now available in hardback: Just recently ISCE Publishing changed its printing contractor and we can now offer most of our publications not only at a reduced rate, but also in a hardback format.  Volumes 6 and 7 of the E:CO Annual Series are now both available in hardback at prices less then what we used to offer the softback version for.  If you'd like further details of these titles, including contents and pricing, then please visit the following two links:

Volume 6: http://isce.edu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_22&products_id=28
Volume 7: http://isce.edu/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_22&products_id=41

If you are working on a complexity-related book or have an idea for an edited book project then please contact ISCE Publishing ([email protected]) to discuss having it published.