Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics : The Challenge of Complexity

by Stacey, Ralph.D.

• ISBN13: 9780273658986
• ISBN10: 0273658980
• Edition: 5th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall

Summary

In the fourth edition of this successful text, Ralph Stacey continues to question the view that organisations operate and succeed in relatively stable environments. He argues that in order to succeed in uncertainty and continual change, organisations need to create new perspectives and learn from the chaos within which they operate. This edition continues to focus on this radically different approach to strategic management. The central tenets of this approach have to do with unpredictability and the limitations of control, and therefore it argues against the rational models of planning and control covered in other strategy textbooks. This is done by emphasising the importance of narrative, conversation and learning from one's own experience as the central means by which we can gain understanding and knowledge of strategy in organisations.

Author Biography

Ralph Stacey is Professor of Management at the Business School, University of Hertfordshire. He is the Director of the Complexity and Management Centre at the University of Hertfordshire.

Table of Contents

List of figures	xii
List of tables	xiv
Preface	xv
Acknowledgements	xvii
The nature of strategy and organisational change	1	(14)
Introduction	1	(1)
The phenomena of interest	2	(5)
Making sense of the phenomena	7	(5)
Key features in comparing theories of organisational evolution	12	(1)
Outline of the book	13	(2)
Part One Systemic perspectives on strategy and organisational dynamics	15	(200)
The origins of systems thinking	17	(15)
Introduction	17	(1)
The Scientific Revolution	18	(2)
Kant: natural systems and autonomous individuals	20	(4)
Systems thinking in the twentieth century	24	(2)
Thinking about organisations and their management	26	(4)
How systems thinking deals with four questions	30	(1)
Summary	31	(1)
The foundations of strategic choice theory: cybernetic systems and cognitivist psychology	32	(19)
Introduction	32	(1)
Cybernetic systems	33	(12)
Cognitivist psychology	45	(3)
Brief review: how cybernetics and cognitivism deal with four key questions	48	(2)
Summary	50	(1)
Strategic choice	51	(31)
Introduction	51	(1)
Formulating long-term strategic plans	52	(2)
Evaluating long-term strategic plans: acceptability	54	(3)
Evaluating long-term strategic plans: feasibility	57	(3)
Evaluating long-term strategic plans: suitability or fit	60	(1)
Implementing long-term strategic plans	61	(4)
Motivation	65	(2)
Leadership and the role of groups	67	(3)
Taking account of uncertainty	70	(2)
Competitive advantage	72	(2)
How strategic choice theory deals with four key questions	74	(6)
Summary	80	(2)
The foundations of learning organisation theory: systems dynamics and cognitivism	82	(21)
Introduction	82	(1)
Systems dynamics: nonlinearity and positive feedback	82	(4)
Positive feedback in organisations	86	(7)
Systems thinking	93	(7)
How systems dynamics differs from cybernetics	100	(2)
Summary	102	(1)
The learning organisation	103	(26)
Introduction	103	(1)
Senge's conception of the learning organisation	103	(3)
Mental models: single- and double-loop learning	106	(7)
Covert political processes and their impact on organisational learning	113	(4)
The impact of vested interests on organisational learning	117	(3)
The role of groups in the learning organisation	120	(4)
How learning organisation theory deals with four key questions	124	(4)
Summary	128	(1)
Obstacles to strategic choice and organisational learning: open systems and psychoanalytic perspectives	129	(28)
Introduction	129	(1)
Open systems theory	129	(5)
Psychoanalysis and unconscious processes	134	(11)
Open systems and unconscious processes	145	(3)
Leaders and groups	148	(3)
How open systems/psychoanalytic perspectives deal with four key questions	151	(4)
Summary	155	(2)
Knowledge creation in organisations: second-order systems, autopoiesis and constructivist psychology	157	(29)
Introduction	157	(1)
Knowledge management in the tradition of the learning organisation	158	(8)
Second-order systems thinking	166	(3)
The move to the mystical	169	(3)
Autopoiesis and enactment	172	(6)
The application of autopoietic thinking to organisations	178	(5)
Enactment and sense making in organisations	183	(1)
Summary	184	(2)
A social perspective: critical systems thinking and communities of practice	186	(29)
Introduction	186	(1)
Interactive planning and soft systems thinking	186	(7)
Critical systems thinking	193	(11)
Communities of practice	204	(8)
Summary	212	(3)
Part Two The challenge of complexity	215	(76)
Chaos theory, dissipative structures and synergetics	217	(19)
Introduction	217	(1)
Chaos theory	217	(7)
The theories of dissipative structures and synergetics	224	(4)
Implications	228	(4)
Comparisons with other systems theories	232	(2)
Summary	234	(2)
Complex adaptive systems	236	(29)
Introduction	236	(1)
Complex adaptive systems	237	(6)
Different interpretations of complexity	243	(10)
Insights into the dynamics of complex adaptive systems from a radical perspective	253	(5)
Comparisons with other systems theories	258	(3)
Summary	261	(4)
Systemic applications of chaos and complexity theory to organisations	265	(26)
Introduction	265	(3)
Modelling complex systems in organisations	268	(8)
Seeing organisations as complex systems	276	(11)
How the four questions are dealt with	287	(3)
Summary	290	(1)
Part Three Complex responsive processes perspectives on strategy and organising	291	(133)
Process thinking	293	(26)
Introduction	293	(1)
Process thinking	294	(7)
Chaos, complexity and analogy	301	(11)
The difference between systems thinking and process thinking	312	(6)
Summary	318	(1)
Strategy as the emergence of organisational identity	319	(18)
Introduction	319	(1)
The individual and the group	320	(9)
Complex responsive processes compared to other psychological theories	329	(3)
Managers as participants in self-organising processes	332	(3)
Summary	335	(2)
The narrative structure of self-organising experience	337	(21)
Introduction	337	(1)
The organisation of experience	338	(9)
Conversations in organisations	347	(6)
Comparison with the notion of communities of practice	353	(3)
Summary	356	(2)
Understanding organisations as complex responsive processes	358	(31)
Introduction	358	(2)
Organising themes, power relations and ideology	360	(4)
Legitimate and shadow themes	364	(10)
The importance of diversity	374	(9)
The social structure of organisations	383	(4)
Summary	387	(2)
Control, leadership and ethics	389	(19)
Introduction	389	(2)
Control	391	(4)
Ethics and leadership	395	(3)
Change, decision making and the importance of conversation	398	(6)
Learning and knowledge creation in organisations	404	(2)
Summary	406	(2)
The implications of understanding organisations as complex responsive processes	408	(16)
Introduction	408	(1)
How the theory of complex responsive processes answers four key questions	408	(6)
Refocusing attention: strategy and change	414	(9)
Summary	423	(1)
Management narratives	424	(44)
Innovation in a water utility	424	(7)
Jose Fonseca
The budget meeting	431	(3)
Phil Streatfield
Performance measurement	434	(7)
Phil Streatfield
Consulting and culture change	441	(6)
Patricia Shaw
Culture change at a factory	447	(5)
Patricia Shaw
The diversity project	452	(8)
David Scanlon
Global competencies	460	(8)
Jane Blacketer
References	468	(11)
Index	479