Russell L. Ackoff Libri

The complete collection of all 122 of Russ Ackoff's Management F/laws.

Don't settle for incremental change: invent tomorrow today! bull; Discover your 'ideal' solution: then, work backwards to make it happen! bull; The definitive guide to idealized design, authored by its legendary creator, and leading practitioner. bull; Start-to-finish techniques and examples drawn from hundreds of companies, nonprofits, and government organizations. [Source : 4e de couv.].

A full collection of more than 80 of Russell Ackoff's management the uncomfortable truths about how organizations really work, what's wrong with the way we design and manage businesses, what makes managers tick... and how we can make things work better. Russell Ackoff is one of the world's top business brains. Herbert Addison has worked for years in business book publishing. Sally Bibb is a pioneer of organizational change. Who better to zero in on organizations, take them apart and then suggest ways of putting them back together - but better?

Russell Ackoff's long and distinguished career as the doyen of Design and Systems Thinking was built around a collection of deceptively simple-but often overlooked-principles and observations. In Differences That Make a Difference-the last of his many books-Ackoff determined to distill the wisdom of a lifetime into a "glossary" that would be easily accessible to managers, employees, students, and academics alike. His aim was to dissolve (not solve or resolve) some of the many disputes in professional and private life that revolve around meaning and (mis)understanding. For example, development and growth do not mean the same thing. A cemetery or rubbish heap can grow without developing, whereas a person continues to develop long after he or she has stopped growing. Ackoff understood that getting to the bottom of differences like this one could have far-reaching practical consequences for improving our organizational health. In Differences That Make a Difference, he has succeeded magnificently in creating what Charles Handy in his Foreword calls "a manual for clear thinking". And if the world ever needed clear thinking...

The 13 f-LAWS featured in this little red book are an introduction to Ackoff's thinking about management. Russell Ackoff, who died in 2009, was one of the world's leading business thinkers and one of the founding fathers of Systems Thinking. His Management f-Laws (a term coined by Ackoff) expose the conventions and laws of management the hierarchies and power struggles, the ineptitudes and time-wasting, the prejudices and careless thinking as flaws of all of which hinder successful strategies for organizational change and development.

This gem of a book introduces the extraordinary world of Systems Thinking and its "Dean," Russell Ackoff, to curious and enquiring managers, teachers, business people - anyone, anywhere who works in an organisation.Finished just before Professor Ackoff's death late in 2009, Systems Thinking for Curious Managers opens the door to a joined up way of thinking about things that has profoundly influenced thinkers and doers in the fields of business, politics, economics, biology, psychology. Although Systems Thinking was 'invented' early in the 20th century, even Peter Senge's best-selling The Fifth Discipline (Systems Thinking is the fifth discipline) failed to popularise the term. But now, in business and academia, in the public sector and in the search for solutions to the environmental problems we face, Systems Thinking is being talked about everywhere. This timely book presents 40 more of Russ Ackoff's famously witty and incisive f-Laws (or flaws) of business - following on from his 2007 collection Management f-Laws. All those in this collection are new and previously unpublished. Andrew Carey's extended introduction ties these f-Laws into the rest of Ackoff's work and gives the reader new to Systems Thinking a guide to the implications of Systems Thinking for organisations and managers. The Foreword by Jamshid Gharajedaghi is a moving tribute from Ackoff's friend and business partner of many years.

In this insightful book, Russell Ackoff and Sheldon Rovin explore the frustrations of dealing with bureaucracies like phone companies and government agencies. They share entertaining anecdotes of individuals overcoming these systems and provide effective strategies to identify and exploit bureaucratic weaknesses for personal advantage.

From analyzing birth rates in India, to a fireside chat with the Queen of Iran, to introducing theme parks to the US, this book collects stories that lay bare the workings of a number of well-known businesses and other organizations - and the people who run them.