Does your organization focus too much on the short term? Do you often use quick fixes? Do you find yourself saying, "We've been in this mess before"? Systems Archetype Basics, the second volume in The Pegasus Workbook Series, introduces you to eight systems archetypes recurring systemic "stories" that crop up in all organizations. Like Systems Thinking Basics, this new resource offers detailed explanations, examples, and practice activities to help you recognize the archetypes and intervene. Use Systems Archetype Basics to address the most pressing challenges of organizational life today.

Systems Archetype Basics: From Story to Structure

Education & Teaching

Daniel H. Kim and Virginia Anderson

Schools & Teaching

Pegasus Communications, Inc.

Urban Dynamics

In this controversial book, Jay Forrester presents a computer model describing the major internal forces controlling the balance of population, housing, and industry within an urban area. He then simulates the life cycle of a city and predicts the impact of proposed remedies on the system. Startling in its conclusions, this book became the basis of a major research effort that has influenced many government urban-policy decisions.

Politics & Social Sciences

Jay W. Forrester

Forrester, Jay W.

Sociology

How do you apply the principles and tools of system dynamics to management, modeling, planning, and forecasting? The contributing authors of this anthology address this question in essays on complex corporate models, workload fluctuations, the "Honeywell experience," the growth strategies of a trucking company, aging organizations, weekly stock prices, long-range strategic planning, and many other timely topics.

Managerial Applications of System Dynamics

Business & Money

Roberts, Edward B.

Edward B. Roberts

Management & Leadership

Organizations around the world today are struggling to stay ahead of the pack. With its fanciful illustrations and deliciously wicked humor, Outlearning the Wolves is the story of an organization that might resemble yours--complete with bad habits, nagging vulnerabilities, and resignation to the status quo. 
A flock of sheep, fearful of the wolves' mythical cleverness, is initially debilitated by fragmentation and false assumptions. 
But as the sheep build a culture for learning, the contributions of each individual are utilized in strikingly new and productive ways. By working together, the flock develops the capability for dramatic learning that ensures it can thrive while facing fresh challenges. 
Outlearning the Wolves presents a powerful metaphor for understanding the issues organizations face when they realize they must learn how to learn differently. Any organization seeking to build both a rewarding workplace and a thriving enterprise should introduce these ideas to every worker--from the front line to the boardroom. 
Outlearning the Wolves is a unique resource for teachers and learners across a broad range of settings. Included is a concise guide to the story's essential points--a ready-made lesson outline, perfect for directing group learning.

Outlearning the Wolves: Surviving and Thriving in a Learning Organization

David Hutchens

Processes & Infrastructure

Chances are that you re not often called upon to execute a 360° tumbleturn while water skiing barefoot at work. But your everyday challenges may seem just as daunting if you are stuck in a "knower's" stance.  In this fresh, accessible new book, seasoned organizational development practitioner Brian Hinken draws on the lessons from his own story of self-discovery - including his encounter with the elusive tumbleturn - to offer a rich collection of disciplines, frameworks, tools, and methods for overcoming the "secrets of a knower". With disarming humility, the author provides a practical map for moving from awareness to action, empowering us to be learners more focused on increasing our ability to produce desired results, than on protecting our reputation for knowing.  Whether you re exploring your personal learning habits or seeking to develop a learning culture more broadly, this book will ease your journey.

The Learner's Path: Practices for Recovering Knowers

Brian Hinken

This volume in Pegasus Communications "Innovations in Management Series" introduces Appreciative Inquiry (AI), a highly adaptable philosophy and process for engaging people in building the organizations and world that they want to work and live in. By encouraging a broad range of stakeholders both within and outside the system to ask positive questions about peak experiences or successes, make shared meaning of the answers, and act on the responses, AI serves as a wellspring for transformational change. Bernard J. Mohr and Jane Magruder Watkins share stories of AI in action and give a detailed explanation of five processes that you can use to guide an appreciative inquiry in your workplace or community.

The Essentials of Appreciative Inquiry: A Roadmap for Creating Positive Futures

Mohr, Bernard J.

Watkins, Jane Magruder

Rumblings from a long dormant volcano provoke a crisis in the village of Smoldering Pines. Desperate to escape the flow of molten lava, the inhabitants meet to create a plan—and are soon at each other’s throats! But led by Milo, a group of neighbors discover a new way of talking and listening that taps fresh sources of creativity and unleashes the magic of collective thinking. While everyone knows how to engage in conversation, few of us practice the kind of meaningful dialogue that is crucial to leveraging an organization’s best thinking. Listening to the Volcano offers an engaging introduction to conversation as a disciplined workplace practice for sparking generative thinking, improving decision-making, and creating effective action. The fable features hilarious (and thought-provoking) plot lines and character illustrations and concludes with a group discussion guide to help you apply the ideas from the story to issues you face in your own organization.

Listening to the Volcano: Conversations That Open Our Minds to New Possibilities

Illustrated by Bobby Gombert

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Books by Pegasus Communications, Inc.