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This book is about dealing with messes. Sometimes known as 'wicked problems', messes (or messy situations) are fairly easy to spot:it's hard to know where to startwe can't define them everything seems to connect to everything else and depends on something else having been done first we get in a muddle thinking about them we often try to ignore some aspect/s of themwhen we finally do something about them, they usually get worse they're so entangled that our first mistake is usually to try and fix them as we would fix a simple problem.
The term "sustainability" has entered the lexicon of many academic disciplines and fields of professional practice, but to date does not appear to have been seriously consid ered within the systems community unless, perhaps, under other guises. Within the wider community there is no consensus around what sustainability means with some authors identifying 70 to 100 definitions of the term. Some see sustainability as the precise and quantifiable outcomes of biological systems whilst others see it in terms of processes rele vant to personal and organizational change with the potential to effect changes in our rela tionships with out environments. Internationally it has been increasingly used in...
What are the forces shaping today's business world? Understanding Business Environments provides key readings which introduce the student to the factors underlying the business environment. Including chapters by gurus such as Anthony Giddens, Stuart Hall and Will Hutton, the book covers: * social forces including the social structure and long-term social change * technological factors including Information Technology and new production technologies * economic factors including the impact of macroeconomic policy and of the financial system * political factors including the legal environment and government-business relations.
It seemed appropriate to arrange a meeting of teachers of thermodynamics in the United Kingdom, a meeting held in the pleasant surroundings of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in Sept~mber, 1984. This volume records the ideas put forward by authors, the discussion generated and an account of the action that discussion has initiated. Emphasis was placed on the Teaching of Thermodynamics to degree-level students in their first and second years. The meeting, a workshop for practitioners in which all were expected to take part, was remarkably well supported. This was notable in the representation of essentially every UK university and polytechnic engaged in teaching engineering thermodynamics and ha...
Provides guidelines for assessing the sustainability of urban systems including theory, methods and case studies.
This 8-hour free course was an introduction to systems thinking and practice. It dealt with system definition and discussed the key concepts involved.
This 1999 book proposes an alternative approach to research and development, based on the needs of the farming community.
Patient safety in health systems has become more and more important as a theme in health research, and so it is not surprising to see a growing interest in applying systems thinking to healthcare. However there is a difficulty – health systems are very complex and constantly adapting to respond to core drivers and fit needs. How do you apply systems thinking in this situation, and what methods are available? National health authorities, international donors and research practitioners need to know the “how-to” of conducting health systems research from a systems thinking perspective. This book will fill this gap and provide a range of tools that give clear guidance of ways to carry out systems thinking in health. These methodologies include: System dynamics and causal loops Network analysis Outcome mapping Soft systems methodology Written by an international team of experts in health research, this handbook will be essential reading for those working in or researching public health, health policy, health systems, global health, service improvement and innovation in practice.
Policing is at a crossroads. At a time of unprecedented cuts and increasing levels of demand, the British police service (like many others) faces enormous challenges. Under the most radical reforms the service has ever experienced, its leadership is looking for new approaches that can maintain levels of service delivery and secure efficiency, accountability and public confidence. Recent history shows that applying private sector business models to the public sector often generates hidden costs and unintended consequences that damage productivity and morale. In spite of this evidence, reform programmes and prevailing management practices still seek to enforce approaches that have demonstrably...
Customers who have inconsistent experiences with products and services are understandably frustrated. But it's worse for organizations that can't pinpoint the causes of these problems because they're too focused on processes. This updated book shows your team how to use alignment diagrams to turn valuable customer observations into actionable insight. With this powerful technique, you can visually map existing customer experience and envision future solutions. Designers, product and brand managers, marketing specialists, and business owners will discover how experience diagramming helps you determine where business goals and customer perspectives intersect. Armed with this insight, you can p...