Swans, Swine, and Swindlers

by Alpaslan, Can M.; Mitroff, Ian I.

• ISBN13: 9780804771375
• ISBN10: 0804771375
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-07-05
• Publisher: Stanford Business Books

Summary

Swans, Swine, and Swindlersaddresses a core, contemporary question: What steps can we take to better anticipate and manage mega-crises, such as Haiti, Katrina, and 9/11? This book explores the concept of "messes." A mess is a web of complex and dynamically interacting, ill-defined, and/or wicked problems; their solutions; and our conscious and unconscious assumptions, beliefs, emotions, and values. The roots of messes can be classified as Swans(the inability to surface and test false assumptions and mistaken beliefs), Swine(the inability to confront and manage greed, hubris, arrogance, and narcissism), and Swindlers(the inability to confront, detect, and stop unethical and corrupt behavior). Working systematically with this concept and these classifications, authors Can M. Alpaslan and Ian I. Mitroff reveal that all crises are messes; one must learn to understand and manage them as such. They then provide tools and frameworks that readers can use to more effectively deal with the crises of today and tomorrow. Drawing on ideas from research areas as diverse as human development, philosophy, rhetoric, psychology, and high reliability organizations, this book aims to be the definitive guide for a new era in crisis management. Therefore, it is a must-have for practitioners, scholars, and students who study and deal in real-life crises.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Uncovering Assumptions
A Crisis Is Not What We Have Been Led to Believe; Every Crisis Is an Existential Crisis of Meaning	p. 3
What Is a Mess? The Fundamental Differences Between Exercises, Problems, and Messes	p. 15
All Crises Are Messes	p. 37
When Good Organizations Do Unwise, Immature, and Bad Things	p. 55
It's the Culture	p. 67
Managing Assumptions
Overcoming Mega-Denial	p. 81
Beyond Fear-Based Crisis Management	p. 99
Applications
The Art and Science of Messy Inquiry	p. 127
Trust, Transparency, and Reliability: What Can the HROs Teach the Financial Sector?	p. 149
Afterword	p. 169
Notes	p. 173
Index	p. 195
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