Creativity is a defining feature of contemporary work life. Who has not taken part in brainstorming sessions, read glossy pamphlets about innovation and creativity as important cornerstones of a new business strategy, or been made aware of the importance of creative skills for one´s career? But what does it mean to be creative in and as an organization? Organizing Creativity provides an answer to this question. The book builds on the premise that creativity is essentially about ideas. Eve...

A leading M.I.T. social scientist and consultant examines five professions -- engineering, architecture, management, psychotherapy, and town planning -- to show how professionals really go about solving problems. The best professionals, Donald Schon maintains, know more than they can put into words. To meet the challenges of their work, they rely less on formulas learned in graduate school than on the kind of improvisation learned in practice. This unarticulated, largely unexamined process...

A leading M.I.T. social scientist and consultant examines five professions - engineering, architecture, management, psychotherapy, and town planning - to show how professionals really go about solving problems. The best professionals, Donald Schön maintains, know more than they can put into words. To meet the challenges of their work, they rely less on formulas learned in graduate school than on the kind of improvisation learned in practice. This unarticulated, largely unexamined process ...

Transforming Schools demonstrates how transformation is no longer an option in teaching and learning - it has become a necessity. Changes in the way we work and the challenges of issues such as climate change, poverty and migration mean that teaching and learning need to alter to incorporate capacities that will help us meet those challenges. The 4Cs: Creativity, Critical Reflection, Communication and Collaboration have long been present in education, but Transforming Schools

Traditional strategy assumes stability and predictability. Today's world is better characterised by turbulence, uncertainty, novelty and ambiguity - conditions that contribute disruptive changes and trigger the search for new ways of coping. This book aims to become the premier guide on how to do scenario planning to support strategy and public policy. Co-authored by three experts in the field, the book presents The Oxford Scenario Planning Approach (OSPA). The approach is both intellectua...

This innovative and unique textbook describes change as a socially constructed process, reinforced by the interactions of employees at all levels. Including video and audio resources, it emphasises the fact that change is an on-going phenomenon: not an event that will soon be over once the consultants have left, but a permanent feature of an adaptable organisation.This novel theoretical perspective makes it the first and only text to focus on the central role of conversations and s...

A Dynamic New Approach to Organizational ChangeDialogic Organization Development is a compelling alternative to the classical action research approach to planned change. Organizations are seen as fluid, socially constructed realities that are continuously created through conversations and images. Leaders and consultants can help foster change by encouraging disruptions to taken-for-granted ways of thinking and acting and the use of generative images to stimulate new...

Many of today’s books on the tools and techniques of leadership and management provide descriptions of long lists for use in decision-making, leading, coaching and project management. This book takes a completely different approach. It contests the claims that the tools and techniques are based on evidence and explains why human activities of leading and managing are simply not amenable to scientific proof and consequently, why long-term futures of organizations are unpredictable.T...

With his usual engaging and inimitable style, Mats Alvesson takes the reader on a riveting journey through the diverse ways in which culture itself can be understood and how these powerfully inform organizational life.′ - Blake E. Ashforth, Arizona State University′Understanding Organizational Culture comunicates complex ideas in a manner that will illuminate for those who are less familiar with the concepts discussed, as well as providing a depth and crit...

This Open Access book explores the meaning and roles that strategy and leadership play in our lives. Based on decades of experience, the author contemplates whether we believe strategic leadership exists because it actually exists, or whether it exists because we believe it does? Both answers are true.The author argues that the duality of the essence of strategic leadership is clear. It may appear to be personalised, or it may seem to be an important characteristic of the organizat...

Making a case for a reflexive approach to leadership, the authors draw upon decades of carrying out in-depth studies of professionals trying to "do" leadership. Through interviews with managers and their subordinates, getting a good understanding of organizational context, and critically interpreting their observations considering both leadership theories and a wealth of other perspectives, their celebration of reflexivity is used to question dominant leadership thinking.Considerin...

This book is a practical guide to "reading" the culture of organizations and to understanding the implications of culture for organizational effectiveness. Sharing their experiences from over 25 years of consulting and teaching, the authors make the process of cultural analysis practical and applicable. Beginning with an explanation of the theories of organizational culture, the book provides guidance on collecting information, leading students through qualitative research methods of obser...