Description
Over the last two decades a major focus of organization theory has been on understanding the dynamic relationships between individuals, organizations and their environments. This interest in dynamics, illustrated by systems, chaos and complexity theory, is recorded in the works of Ackoff, Senge and Stacey. This focus offers a new viewpoint on holism for practising leaders and theorists today. Building on this interest, Davis and Smiths original text presents a new philosophical lens for helping leaders see the advantages of a more holistic approach to improving organizations. Specifically they: introduce the AIC (appreciation, influence, control) philosophy, model and process of purpose-power relationships as a next step in the evolution of organization and systems theory trace its roots and evolution in organization theory and indicate its actual and potential contribution to that field translate the model into a transformative, strategic organizing process that can be used to organize at any level, in a way that will ensure the achievement of higher levels of purpose, at less cost and in less time than traditional organizational approaches. Developed and tested via their work for organizations including the World Bank, this revolutionary book, written by two leading academics, will change the way organizations and individuals work.
