How Many Grapes Went Into the Wine : Stafford Beer on the Art and Science of Holistic Management

A collected work of Stafford Beer's papers, some previously unpublished, spanning 35 years. Presents a coherent vision to guide strategy and manage change.From the PublisherA collected work of Stafford Beer's papers, some previously unpublished, spanning 35 years. Presents a coherent vision to guide strategy and manage change.From the Inside FlapIn the frenetic search for a quick fix to meet the pace of change confronting us, it is frequently forgotten that issues to do with complexity and change are not a product of the turbulent 1980s and 1990s alone. Certain individuals and schools of thought have directly studied such matters in both natural and social sciences for the past half century. Today, many humanistic and innovative managers have lost patience with empty slogans that promise a single panacea for all their ills. They have come to see as counter-productive a black and white polarity between a hard-nosed bottom-line approach on the one hand, and the soft option of team work and empowerment on the other. Why cannot rigorous methods and goal alignment coexist with a concern for human beings? Does not everyone benefit if the enterprise maintains high standards and seizes its opportunities? In this book, the editors have selected papers which set out to trace the historical and intellectual progress of one man's battle with this conundrum, and point to a strategy for its resolution. Stafford Beer's early experiments on the self-organising properties of biological systems helped pave the way towards later connectionist models and neural-net computer architecture. They also evolved into a fully fledged holistic science of management, combining rigorous methodology with respect and space for the living, human individual.From the Back CoverIn the frenetic search for a quick fix to meet the pace of change confronting us, it is frequently forgotten that issues to do with complexity and change are not a product of the turbulent 1980s and 1990s alone. Certain individuals and schools of thought have directly studied such matters in both natural and social sciences for the past half century. Today, many humanistic and innovative managers have lost patience with empty slogans that promise a single panacea for all their ills. They have come to see as counter-productive a black and white polarity between a hard-nosed bottom-line approach on the one hand, and the soft option of team work and empowerment on the other. Why cannot rigorous methods and goal alignment coexist with a concern for human beings? Does not everyone benefit if the enterprise maintains high standards and seizes its opportunities? In this book, the editors have selected papers which set out to trace the historical and intellectual progress of one man's battle with this conundrum, and point to a strategy for its resolution. Stafford Beer's early experiments on the self-organising properties of biological systems helped pave the way towards later connectionist models and neural-net computer architecture. They also evolved into a fully fledged holistic science of management, combining rigorous methodology with respect and space for the living, human individual.About the AuthorRoger Harnden is the editor of How Many Grapes Went into the Wine: Stafford Beer on the Art and Science of Holistic Management , published by Wiley.Allenna Leonard is an American cyberneticist, consultant and Director of Team Syntegrity Inc. of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, internationally, specializing in the application of Stafford Beer's Viable System Model and Syntegration. How Many Grapes Went into the Wine Stafford Beer on the Art and Science of Holistic Management Edited by Roger Harnden and Allenna Leonard In the frenetic search for a quick fix to meet the pace of change confronting us, it is frequently forgotten that issues to do with complexity and change are not a product of the turbulent 1980s and 1990s alone. Certain individuals and schools of thought have directly studied such matters in both natural and social sciences for the past half century. Today, many humanistic and innovative managers have lost patience with empty slogans that promise a single panacea for all their ills. They have come to see as counter-productive a black and white polarity between a hard-nosed bottom-line approach on the one hand, and the soft option of team work and empowerment on the other. Why cannot rigorous methods and goal alignment coexist with a concern for human beings? Does not everyone benefit if the enterprise maintains high standards and seizes its opportunities? In this book, the editors have selected papers which set out to trace the historical and intellectual progress of one man's battle with this conundrum, and point to a strategy for its resolution. Stafford Beer's early experiments on the self-organising properties of biological systems helped pave the way towards later connectionist models and neural-net computer architecture. They also evolved into a fully fledged holistic science of management, combining rigorous methodology with respect and space for the living, human individual. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Appreciation Introduction Chapter 1: Holism and the Frou-Frou Slander Chapter 2: A Progress Note on Research into a Cybernetic Analogue of Fabric PART ONE: Beginnings: Interdisciplinary Application of Operational Research to Tangible Problems Chapter 3: A technique for Standardizing Massed Batteries of Control Charts Chapter 4: The Productivity Index in Active Service Chapter 5: The Mechanical Simulation of Stochastic Flow Chapter 6: The Impact of Cybernetics on the Concept of Industrial Organization PART TWO: Cybernetics: A New World View Chapter 7: The Irrelevance of Automation Chapter 8: The World, the Flesh and the Metal: 1964 Stephenson Lecture Chapter 9: Below the Twilight Arch—a Mythology of Systems Chapter 10: Towards the Cybernetic Factory Chapter 11: Retrospect—American Diary, 1960 PART THREE: Complexity in Human and Social Affairs Chapter 12: Cybernetics of National Development: The Zaheer Foundation Lecture, New Delhi, India Chapter 13: Preface to ‘Autopoiesis—The Organization of the Living: By Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela’ Chapter 14: Death is Equifinal: Eighth Annual Ludwig von Bertalanffy Memorial Lecture Chapter 15: I Said, You are Gods: The Second Annual Teilhard Lecture Author Index Subject Index

a Collected Work Of Stafford Beer's Papers, Some Previously Unpublished, Spanning 35 Years. Presents A Coherent Vision To Guide Strategy And Manage Change.

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stafford Beer, The Founder Of Management Cybernetics, Is An International Consultant In The Management Sciences, And Is Currently President Of The World Organization Of Systems And Cybernetics. The Papers In This Volume, Dating From The Mid-1950s On, Trace Beers Conceptual Journey And His Contribution To The Tradition Of Systems Thinking. Beer's Early Experiments On The Self-organizing Properties Of Biological Systems Helped Pave The Way Towards Later Connectionist Models And Neural-net Computer Architecture. Annotation C. Book News, Inc., Portland, Or (booknews.com)