Navigating into the Unknown

In a few years, almost everything will be different: what we do, how we do it, and why we do it; how we produce and consume, how we conduct research, how we teach and learn, how we share information, communicate and cooperate, how we work-and how we live. How do we deal with this in business, politics and society?Great changes open up great possibilities, pushing aside the old and creating the new. Management, as Fredmund Malik understands it, is the task of taking advantage of these possibilities. This book is a call to clear-sightedness and personal courage. It is a chart for navigating the Great Transformation21, it is a chart for navigating with an open horizon."Fredmund Malik has become the leading analyst of, and expert on, Management in Europe ... and a powerful force in shaping it as a consultant. He is a commanding figure - in theory as well as in the practice of Management." Peter F. Drucker

ContentsPreface 9Chapter 1: Why we must revolutionize our thinking 11Observations 11Chapter 2: The Great Transformation21 14A Sign of Our Times? 14From the Old World to the New 15A Complete Change 16The Old World of 1997 22"Classical Management": an Obsolescent Model 24Almost Everything Will Change 26Birth Pangs of a New World 27Economics Is Not Enough 29A Crisis of Dysfunction 31The REvolution of Organizations 33Chapter 3: The Basic Law of Change 36A Map of Growth, Uncertainty, and Creative Destruction 37Navigating into the Unknown 39Not One but Three Strategies Needed 41Substitution and Experiencing Creative Destruction 42Fundamental Transformations 43Being Ahead of Change 46Chapter 4: The Drivers of Transformation 48Demographics 49Ecology 53Science and Technology 57Economics and Debt 62Complexity as the Main Driver 67Chapter 5: Complexity - a Raw Material of the New World 68Limits to the Old Ways of Thinking 70What Is Complexity? What is Variety? 71Inconceivable yet Manageable 73Simple and Complex Systems 75Complicated or complex? 78Chapter 6: Systems Out of Control? 81New Governance by Cybernetics: Communication and Control 84Cybernetics for Self-Capabilities 87Doing Business Is Not Enough 88Chapter 7: Complexity for the Functioning of Organizations 90Two Levels of Functioning 90Operational and Management Tasks 93Constants in Change: Master Controls 94How Master Controls Work 96Navigation Assistants for the Great Transition 104Chapter 8: Heuristics: Navigation Principles for New Territory 114Principles for Assessing a Situation in Circumstances of Uncertainty 116Principles for Control Capacity and the Shaping of Relationships 118Principles for Information 120Principles for Persuasiveness 121Chapter 9: From Disruption to New Destinations 123On Dealing with Limitations 124When Something Is New: Managing by Instructions 130Not Only Communication but also Meta-Communication 132Managing Your Boss and Colleagues 133Management as a Passion 135Epilog 137Sources 142Selected Readings by Fredmund Malik 145Index 146