Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgements xiv

Part 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The Crisis of Organization 3

Chapter 2 Management Myths, Models and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies 13

Chapter 3 Overview of the Viable System Model and the Rest of the Book 25

Part 2 Running the Business 39

Chapter 4 Autonomy and Control 41

Chapter 5 The Structure of Value Creation 61

Chapter 6 Coordination 81

Chapter 7 Organizational Cohesion – The Structure of Managing Performance 97

Chapter 8 Organizational Integrity and Monitoring for Trust 119

Chapter 9 Performance and Viability 133

Part 3 Changing the Business 151

Chapter 10 Intelligence 153

Chapter 11 Strategic Risk 169

Chapter 12 Strategy 183

Chapter 13 Innovation 209

Chapter 14 Managing Change 225

Chapter 15 Identity and Purpose 247

Chapter 16 Governance 265

Appendix The Process of Modelling 281

Glossary 301

References 309

Index 315

About the Author

Patrick Hoverstadt is a practicing consultant with a wealth of experience over the past ten years of applying VSM in analyzing and designing organizations for clients. He is a visiting lecturer at Manchester Business School, a visiting Research Fellow at Cranfield School of Management and a regular contributor to conferences and journals. A paper he wrote was awarded an Emerald publications "literati club" prize for clear presentation of difficult concepts. He is currently chairman of "Cybernetics North" a NW based group of systems practitioners and has access to the support and experiences of group members to draw on for further material.

Reviews

"This is a well-written book on a complex subject that uses helpful examples taken for actual organizations." (Quality World, January 2010)