We face a world of increasing turbulence and uncertainty. As a result, social systems at every level including countries, government institutions, business organisations, labour and civil society have to operate in situations of high causal ambiguity and complexity. This is a world characterised by turmoil, conflict, and seemingly insurmountable social, technological, political and ecological problems. It is a world where cause and effect are not easily separated in space and time, where problem-solving approaches relying on knowledge and skills from individual disciplines is incapable of addressing multi-faceted problems and difficulties, and our attempts at problem solving and improvement are short-lived resulting in transitory change accompanied by more problems and unintended consequences. It is therefore imperative that academics, executives, professionals, managers and other practitioners be equipped with conceptual tools, methodologies, and practices for working under such conditions. Conventional analytical approaches (though useful) are insufficient to handle high levels of complexity, mutual and circular causality and inter-dependence. There is a need for more holistic, pluralistic and participatory approaches in order to survive in a highly interconnected, complex, turbulent environment. This calls for a shift in understanding and working with complexity. It requires a trans-disciplinary mindset, a focus on wholism as opposed to reductionism, a people-centered value orientation, a blend of analytical skills with synthesis, the rationality of science combined with intuitive understanding and appreciation of the art of being human, and a posture of intellectual humility that promotes collective endeavours in learning, living, relating and working in a complex world. The main purpose of this book, which consists of thirteen double blind peer reviewed chapters, is to draw on systems thinking and complexity theory to present and develop theoretical frameworks, conceptual models, methodologies and practical techniques to promote the understanding of complex systems, and to identify ways of intervening to bring about systemic change for improvement. These will apply to all kinds of social systems and organisations, and hence will be appropriate for public sector organisations, corporations, non-government institutions and civil society in general.

Scientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the ability of the system to return rapidly to that state following perturbation. However beginning with the work of C. S. Holling in the early 1970s, researchers began to look at conditions far from the steady state where instabilities can cause a system to shift into an entirely different regime of behavior, and where resilience is measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system is restructured. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems examines theories of resilience and change, offering readers a thorough understanding of how the properties of ecological resilience and human adaptability interact in complex, regional-scale systems. The book addresses the theoretical concepts of resilience and stability in large-scale ecosystems as well as the empirical application of those concepts in a diverse set of cases. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of the new theoretical approaches and their role in the sustainability of human-modified ecosystems. The book begins with a review of key properties of complex adaptive systems that contribute to overall resilience, including multiple equlibria, complexity, self-organization at multiple scales, and order; it also presents a set of mathematical metaphors to describe and deepen the reader's understanding of the ideas being discussed. Following the introduction are case studies that explore the biophysical dimensions of resilience in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and evaluate the propositions presented in the introductory chapters. The book concludes with a synthesis section that revisits propositions in light of the case studies, while an appendix presents a detailed account of the relationship between return times for a disturbed system and its resilienc. In addition to the editors, contributors include Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, C. S. Holling, Bengt-Owe Jansson, Donald Ludwig, Ariel Lugo, Tim R. McClanahan, Garry D. Peterson, and Brian H. Walker.

Large Scale Organizational Change provides the principles by which large scale organizations reinvent themselves not once, but on an ongoing basis. Continual reinvention allows leading companies to learn, adapt, and innovate faster than competitors in complex and fast changing environments. These action principles are based on first-hand experience at the world's leading Fortune 500 companies using emergent models of living systems. The context for large scale organizations is one of information overload, complexity and constant change. This book reduces the sense of vulnerability felt by managers. It provides a guide to piloting change in ways that lead to constant renewal and a capacity to survive frequent and often brutal changes in the operating environment. It describes a leadership concerned with the capacity to learn, inflection points, emergent strategies, knowledge management, the ability to anticipate, and tapping into the distributed intelligence resident in the organization. Large Scale Organizational Change provides managers with a framework for making their organizations highly adaptive in the complex market systems in which they operate, thereby reducing or eliminating the need for periodic episodes of traumatic restructuring and sometimes fatal reengineering processes.

The authors emphasize that an economy's competitiveness relies on purposive and intermeshed measures at the meta-, macro-, meso-, and micro- level and a multidimensional guidance concept consisting of competition, dialogue and shared decision-making which integrates the key groups of actors.

Large Systems Change (LSC) is a field of study and action that is characterized by its focus on transformational pathways towards a participative, flourishing future through inter- and trans-disciplinary approaches that value engagement with practitioners and those aspiring for such futures. Its emergence holds great promise for addressing critical issues. Advancing its development requires aggressiveness to cross the many disciplinary, institutional and other boundaries and build the necessary scale of effort; however, humbleness is also required to recognize that although we have substantial knowledge and methodologies for approaching LSC, we are still at early stages of their development. The papers in this Special Issue of The Journal of Corporate Citizenship focus on the question of how to scale to the field of LSC. We can see the contributors and editors reflect on this at the three levels: broadening by increasing the numbers of people and organizations identified with it; going up and out with a more receptive environment arising with failures of traditional management approaches; and deepening of knowledge and methods for supporting LSC. This Special Issue will be essential reading for those researching in this emerging field, and practitioners looking for the latest thinking on how LSC may be a solution to global challenges.

The guide offers an instrument and tools for systematic evaluation of interventions.

Double your odds of leading successful, sustainable change Leaders aren’t short on access to change management advice, but the jury has long been out as to which approach is the best one to follow. With the publication of Beyond Performance 2.0, the verdict is well and truly in. By applying the approach detailed by authors, Scott Keller and Bill Schaninger, the evidence shows that leaders can more than double their odds of success—from thirty percent to almost eighty. Whereas the first edition of Beyond Performance introduced the authors’ “Five Frames of Performance and Health” approach to change management, the fully revised and updated Beyond Performance 2.0 has been transformed into a truly practical “how to” guide for leaders. Every aspect of how to lead change at scale is covered in a step-by-step manner, always accompanied by practical tools and real-life examples. Keller and Schaninger’s work is distinguished in many ways, one of which is the rigor behind the recommendations. The underpinning research is the most comprehensive of its kind—based on over 5 million data points drawn from 2,000 companies globally over a 15-year period. This data is overlaid with the authors’ combined more than 40 years of experience in helping companies successfully achieve large-scale change. As senior partners in McKinsey & Company, consistently named the world’s most prestigious management consulting firm, Keller and Schaninger also draw on the shared experience of their colleagues from offices in over 60 countries with unrivaled access to CEOs and senior teams. Beyond Performance 2.0 also dares to go against the grain—eschewing the notion of copying best practices and instead guiding leaders to make choices specific to their unique context and organization. It does this with meticulously balance of focus on short- and long-term considerations, and on fully addressing the hard technical and oft cultural elements of making change happen. Further, the approach doesn’t just focus on delivering change; it builds an organization’s muscle to continuously change, making it healthier so that it can act with increased speed and agility to stay perpetually ahead of its competition. Leaders looking for a proven approach to leading large-scale change from a trusted source have found what they are looking for in Beyond Performance 2.0.

From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.

Large Group Interventions are methods used to gather a whole system together to discuss and take action on the target agenda. That agenda varies from future plans, products, and services, to redesigning work, to discussion of troubling issues and problems. The Handbook of Large Group Methods takes the next step in demonstrating through a series of cases how Large Group Methods are currently being used to address twenty-first-century challenges in organizations and communities today, including: Working with widely dispersed organizations, and the problem of involvement and participation Working with organizations facing a serious business crisis Working with organizations in polarized and politicized environments Working in community settings with diverse interest groups Working at the global level and adapting these methods for cross-cultural use Embedding and sustaining new patterns of working together in organizations and communities

Beinhocker has written this work in order to introduce a broad audience to what he believes is a revolutionary new paradigm in economics and its implications for our understanding of the creation of wealth. He describes how the growing field of complexity theory allows for evolutionary understanding of wealth creation, in which business designs co-evolve with the evolution of technologies and organizational innovations. In addition to giving his audience a tour of this field of complexity economics, he discusses its implications for real-world issues of business.