New
Books And Articles We Think You Will Enjoy
New Article by Donde P. Ashmos, Dennis Duchon, and Reuben McDaniel
(2000). "Physicians and Decisions: A Simple Rule for Increasing
Connections in Hospitals." Health Care Management Review, Vol.
25, Issue # 1, pp. 109-115.
A gem of an article, which explores a simple rule for hospitals:
let doctors and nurses help decide key strategic issues. It
documents the benefits of increased connections among key
stakeholders: improved financial performance and more adaptable
strategies.
New Article by Ken Baskin, Jeffrey Goldstein & Curt Lindberg
(May-June, 2000). "Merging, De-merging, and Emerging at Deaconess
Billings Clinic." The Physician Executive, Vol. 26, Issue #3,
pp. 20-25.
This is an encouraging story about an emergent approach to the
creation of a genuine health care system through the coming
together of the Deaconess Medical Center and the Billings Clinic.
From the abstract: "By squarely surfacing the distinct cultures of
the organizations through abundant interaction, relationship
building and information flow, differences can be creatively
transformed, resulting in deep-seated change and the emergence of a
genuine, shared health care system culture."
Elizabeth Pennisi. (April 2000).
"In Nature, Animals that Stop and Start Win the Race."
Science, Vol. 288.
New research shows that animals in the wild move in cycles-short
bursts of movement followed by rest (intermittent locomotion).
This important article explores the benefits of such a variable
approach to movement. This has lead physiologists to speculate
about the value of intermittent locomotion for humans with
compromised physiological functioning. The consonance of these
findings with the HeartWaves Program of Dr. Irving Dardik is
noteworthy. (Dr. Dardik's "The Origin of Disease and Health, Heart
Waves: The Single Solution to Heart Rate Variability and Ischemic
Preconditioning" is also listed here as a new article
(Spring/Summer, 1997).
Christopher R. Cole, J.D., Eugene H. Blackstone, M.Dl, Fredric J.
Pashkow, M.D., Claire E. Snader, M.A., and Michael S. Lauer, M.D.
(October, 1999).
"Heart-Rate Recovery Immediately After Exercise as a Predictor
of Mortality." The New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 341,
No. 18, 1351-1357.
New Article by Paul Trachtman (February, 2000).
"Redefining Robots." Smithsonian, 97-112.
A fascinating report on Mark Tilden's surprisingly life-like robots
that learn and remember.
New Article by Brian Goodwin (Spring, 1999).
"From Control to Participation via a Science of Qualities."
ReVision, Vol. 21, No. 4, 2-10.
Brian Goodwin is a very prominent complexity scientist, with a
strong background in biology and mathematics and a deep interest in
health. He is a scholar in residence at Schumacher College in the
UK.
New
Book by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger. (2000). The Cluetrain
Manifesto: The end of business as usual. Cambridge: Perseus Books.
Taken from the foreward written by Thomas Petzinger,
Jr.-
"To rip off what rock
critic Jon Landau once said about Bruce Springsteen: I've seen the
future of business, and it's THE CLUETRAIN MANIFESTO. At first you
may be tempted to hide this book inside the dust jacket of CUSTOMERS.COM
or something equally conventional, but in time you'll see the book
spreading. It will become acceptable, if never entirely accepted.
It will certainly become essential. Why am I so sure? Because like
nothing else out there, it shows us how to grasp the human side of
business and technology, and being human, try as we might, is the
only fate from which we can never escape."
For a peek at the 95 theses contained in the manifesto, visit the
authors' web site at: http://www.cluetrain.com
To
find out more about this title or to place an order-click here:
New Book by Roger
Lewin and Birute Regine, January 2000: The Soul at Work
Roger
Lewin, a prize-winning author of seventeen science books, and Birute
Regine, a Harvard-educated developmental psychologist and therapist,
use complexity science to show us a better way to live and work. These
dynamic story-tellers uncover the complexity principles at work in
a diverse range of companies, drawing out important insights into
the organizational dynamics of healthy, innovative, and successful
organizations. Roger and Birute explore people-centered, relationship-focused
working environments and the commitment and respect that these settings
foster. You can visit http://www.thesoulatwork.com
for additional information.
To find out more about this title or to place an order-click
here:
New
Book by Dee Hock
: Birth of the Chaordic Age, Berrett-Koehler Publishers,
Inc. San Francisco 1999
Dee Hock, the founder and CEO Emeritus of VISA, tells
his engaging and wonderfully written story about the creation of VISA,
an international organization based more on biological concepts (he
calls them chaordic) than on traditional management thinking. While
weaving this story, a parallel one is told. It is about his search
for fundamental principles of healthy and more natural human organizations
and his personal reflections on VISA's development.
New
Book by Ralph Stacey: Strategic
Management and Organizational Dynamics: The Challenge of Complexity. Third Edition. New York: Financial Times Prentice Hall.
The five groundbreaking
chapters reviewed here are from the newest revision of Ralph Stacey's
insightful management text, Strategic Management and Organisational
Dynamics: The Challenge of Complexity. Traditional conceptualizations
of management and psychology are cogently challenged, but the greatest
significance of this work lies in the theory of "relationship psychology"
and in its implications for understanding the mind and healthy, creative
organizational dynamics.
To find out more about this title or to place an order-click
here:
New Article by Eric D. Beinhocker (Spring 1999).
"Robust Adaptive Strategies." Sloan Management
Review. pp.95-106.
This illuminating
article explores the need for multiple, parallel organizational strategies
in times of uncertainty and the application of the fitness landscape
concept from evolutionary biology and complexity for organizational
planning. The presentation of these concepts is articulate and helpful
examples bring the key ideas to life. This fine piece of thinking,
writing, and pragmatic advice by the coleader of McKinsey & Company's
Strategic Theory Initiative is well worth your attention if you are
involved in planning in any way.
New
Article by Plaman Ch. Ivanov, Luis A. Nunes Amaral, Ary L. Goldberger....
(June 3, 1999).
"Multifractality in human heartbeat dynamics."
Nature, Vol. 399, pp. 461-465.
The article by
a world-wide team of scientists in the internationally respected science
journal presents evidence of the fractal nature of healthy human heart
rate dynamics. This is contrasted with the discovery of the loss of
fractality in the life-threatening condition, congestive heart failure.
The following statement is presented in the closing paragraph of the
article - "the detection of robust multi-fractal scaling in the
heart-rate dynamics is of interest because it indicates that the control
mechanisms regulating the heartbeat might interact as part of a coupled
cascade of feedback loops in a system operating far from equilibrium."
New Book by Thomas Petzinger, March 1999: The New Pioneers
If you learn
from great stories and care about improving human organizations of
all types you will find The New Pioneers by Tom Petzinger a
remarkable treasure chest.
From the intellectual
curiosity, probing eye, and extensive travels of this noted Wall Street
Journal columnist comes an exploration of such fundamental issues
as how enlightened companies bring out the best in human nature, behaviors
driving creative and adaptable organizations, and basic motivating
forces in human institutions.
The exploration
does stop here however as Petzinger delves into recent, far-reaching
scientific discoveries about living systems, thus providing us with
a deeper, more encompassing framework for understanding human systems.
Combined, the vivid stories woven throughout the book and the related
scientific advancements, many of which are embodied in the newly emerging
field of complexity, provide the reader with many paths and many concepts
to use in creating healthier, more natural and sustainable organizations.
If Tom Petzinger
was not the author of this book, he'd certainly be featured as one
of The New Pioneers.
To find out more about this title or to place an order-click
here:
New
Article by G. Schmidt, M. Malick, P. Barthel, R. Schnieder, K. Ulm,
L. Rolnitzky, A.J. Camm, J.T. Bigger, & A. Schomig. (1999).
"Heart-rate turbulence after ventricular premature
beats as a predictor of mortality after acute myocardial infarction.
The Lancet, 353, 1390-1396.
A new risk
factor, heart rate turbulence (defined as the acceleration and subsequent
deceleration of sinus rhythm after a single ventricular premature
beat) has been found to be a better predictor of post-MI mortality
as compared to traditional predictive factors. This is an important
advance since accurate prediction of risk for repeat infarction
is critical in determining which individuals are appropriate for
prophylactic intervention.
Patients showing
an acceleration/deceleration pattern in heart rate after ventricular
premature beats are more likely to survive than patients with no
such adaptive response. Please see related articles by Dardik and
Goldberger.
New Book by Brenda Zimmerman, PhD., Curt Lindberg and
Paul Plsek, November 1998:
Edgeware: lessons
from complexity science for health care leaders
This valuable
resource reflects the contents of the Think
Complexity section of this website. Not just for healh care professionals,
Edgeware is relevant to anyone interested in complexity, organizations
and leadership. View the Table of Contents or Author
Biographies.
Wicked
questions.... Strange attractors.... Edge of chaos.... Daytime TV?
No. Edgeware - a revolutionary new book on managing the unmanageable
in health care.
"Pragmatic,
insightful and accessible."
- Gareth Morgan, author of Complexity and Creativity in Organizations
"Edgeware
is gold -user-friendly, extremely thorough and practical - with real
how to's in usage and understanding." - Martha Lynn, senior director,
Organizational Development, St. Luke's Shawnee Mission Health System
What are people
saying about Edgeware?
- "Essential reading
for those who are trying to understand what complexity sciences
might mean for leadership and management in organizations."
- Ralph Stacey, author of Complexity and Creativity in Organizations
- "Edgeware is a breakthrough
resource. It instructs, challenges and inspires." - James Taylor,
president and CEO, University of Louisville Hospital
- "A fantastic resource
for health care professionals interested in exploring how insights
from the new science of complexity can help them deal with the challenges
facing health care today. * Pragmatic, insightful and accessible."
- Gareth Morgan, author of Images of Organization
- "At last. Authors
who reveal the clarity in complexity. As a journalist and business
author myself, I've read virtually every book seeking to apply complexity
science to strategy, work, and economics. None, I assure you, comes
close to EDGEWARE in terms of sheer clarity and utility. Though
solid on the theory of complexity, this book's real breakthrough
in its tremendous practicality for leaders. The pages are brimming
with case after case--episodes of complexity in action that inspire
as well as inform. For leaders (in hospitals and anywhere else)
who ask, 'What do I do on Monday morning?' EDGEWARE provides literally
dozens of suggestions.
"Don't get me wrong. Applying complexity is hard work. No book
will ever make it easy to abandon command-and-control leadership
or to let organizations 'play' their way into the future. But with
EDGEWARE as your guide, the work will be joyous." - Thomas
Petzinger, Jr. Pittsburgh , February 8, 1999
Ordering information
Order your copy
by calling: (800) 931-0053. It takes two-to-four days to get the book
by U.S. Postal Service express mail.
Price: $38.95 ($54.95 Canadian) plus shipping and handling, with a
25 percent discount for VHA members. Quantity discounts:
- 0-10 units, no discount
- 11-50 units, 15% discount
- 51-100 units, 20% discount
- more than 100 units, 25%
discount
If you are an
educator interested in using Edgeware in your work we are extending
a discount of 25 percent on the Edgeware book. Volume discounts are
in addition to the educational discount.
New
Book by Kevin Kelly, October 1998: New
Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected world
Kelly, executive editor or Wired, offers his thoughts
on making your way in an economy increasingly driven by networks,
providing 10 rules. Here are a few of them: No Harmony, All Flux;
Seeking Sustainable Disequilibrium; Let Go at the Top; Embrace the
Swarm; The Power of Decentralization. As in his previous book, Out
of Control, Kelly shows a remarkable ability to capture, synthesize
and present in memorable ways the essence of important new trends
and developments in science, technology, economics, and communications.
To find out more about this title or to place
an order-click here:
New
book by Shona L. Brown and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Competing
on the Edge, Strategy as Structured Chaos.
Published by Harvard Business School Press, April 15,
1998.
A brand new
book by a Stanford University professor and a McKinsey consultant
which explores a "competing on the edge" management strategy.
Introduces concepts such as edge of time, the improvesational edge,
and time pacing, and includes lots of real company examples. Worth
a look!
To
find out more about this title or to place an order-click here:
New
article by Irving I. Dardik,
(Spring/Summer,1997). "The Origin of Disease and Health, Heart
Waves: The Single Solution to Heart Rate Variability and Ischemic
Preconditioning." Frontier Perspctives, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp18-32.
This provocative article explores the concepts of
the heart waves and heart rate variability as indicators of health
and disease and proposes a route to increase the fractal complexity,
and hence health, of human physiologic systems.
New
article by Ary L. Goldberger,
(Summer, 1997). "Fractal Variability Versus Pathologic Periodicity:
Complexity Loss and Stereotypy In Disease." Perspectives in Biology
and Medicine, Vol. 40, pp. 543-561.
Here Goldberger develops the case that healthy physiologic
systems are characterized by fractal complexity, while unhealthy systems
are marked by highly periodic (regular) dynamics and a concomitant
loss of adaptability.
Book by Aldo Leopold.
(1987). A
Sand County Almanac And Sketches Here and There. New York: Oxford
University Press.
View this beautiful work as a gift from one of the first ecologists
and the acknowledged father of wildlife conservation to all those
seeking a deeper understanding of nature's complex living systems,
our biota. Leopold's perceptive insights foretold many of the essential
principles of complex adaptive systems.
To
find out more about this title or to place an order-click here:
