Customer Reviews

Seeing Systems: Unlocking the Mysteries of Organizational Life

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a 20 year professional in Organization Development, this book illuminates one of the most frustrating elements of a change agent...the ability to have the client or target experience their own responsibility for the current situation. Without that, one is powerless to effect productive change. One can still effect change, but it will be retaliatory or not understood in the context needed to allow people to see the issue clearly and not as a result of someone elses opinion.

This book clearly illustrates these concepts and more and is a must read for everyone who wants to facilitate change effectively and productively.

Isn't that everyone.

I first struggled with the concepts because I am a student of organizational systems via Deming and the like. But this is a completely different viewpoint that provides a fantastic complement to the work of Deming, Weisbord and others looking at Open-systems theory.

If you want to see the impact of Human Systems and the dynamics that influence an organizations ability to partner, collaborate, and move beyond the powerful vaccuum of the human behaviors that stall organizational growth, this will provide a whole new way to view the relationships of people, power, and personal leadership within open-systems.

Mr. Cummings is right about the simplicity of the book in his review, it IS cartoon like at places. But let's be reminded how icons have changed the computer world and have worked to connect with people who need to remember things clearly, simply, and practically. People are visual learners and this book takes advantage of that reality. It's not written to be an IQ test - but to be clear and concise in boiling down the intricate and delicate issues, and choices, of human interaction in organizations.

It focuses on helping the reader learn and apply. If that works for you - make it so.

Sorry, I have to disagree with the rest of the reviews above. A serious student of systems thinking will find this book almost childlike. It looks like it was written based on the experiences of someone in a controlled lab instead of the real world. Some concepts are valid and worthwhile, such as the way in which position in the organization determine how people see the system affecting them. But most of the rest of the book is a struggle to get through, due to it's simplistic nature. The font used is almost cartoonish in nature, and the entire book probably could have taken up 40 pages if written in normal font type-spacing.

Someone seriously interesting in systems thinking should read. Ackoff, Senge' or Gharajedaghi. Not this book.

My favorite systems book is "Systems Thinking managing chaos and complexity" by Jamshid Gharajedaghi. That is a brilliant piece of work which deserves serious study.

Regards,

Seeing Systems is a brilliant book; Dr. Oshry has here succeeded in
relating a set of practicable principles in a highly readable and
entertaining fashion. The particular charm of Seeing Systems -- what
distinguishes it from other books of its type -- is in its pedagogical
style; it is designed not only to describe, but to teach the theories
which are there presented for inspection. The teaching itself is
twofold; the first part (which Dr. Cummings seems to think should be
the only part) consists in explaining an abstract theoretical model
for systems thinking. The second part is phenomenological, in that it
seeks to help the reader identify and sympathize with a range of
experiences that occur in system life. To this end, Dr. Oshry employs
evocative description and sympathetic re-enactment to great effect.
The result is that the contents of the book are easiest to remember
when that of other books are easiest to forget -- that is, when one is
caught up in a whirlwind of intense experiences.

The phenomenological part of the book manifests itself in the
distinctive manner of phenomenology; as winding and discursive. There
is no remedy for it, other than to stop doing phenomenology. If it
were not phenomenological, Seeing Systems would be as Dr. Cummings has
described it -- a mere shadow of "Systems Thinking: managing chaos and
complexity". Its prosody would be direct, as direct as it was dull;
its illustrations quite businesslike, and forgettable. It would never
be lightened with something so childish and so right as a mob of black
dots at a committee meeting. It would be a primly respectable little
book, fit to grace an executive desktop and be charming until opened.
And I for one should not read it.

Thankfully, Seeing Systems is not such a shadow. It deigns to stay
charming even after it is opened. It is not like other books in the
same field; but those books have been written already, and by other
authors. It is a book unto itself, and is all the better for it.

Barry Oshry provides an insight into what he terms the "dance of blind reflex"; those patterns of behaviors we experience in organizations or relationships of any kind. He writes in a conversational tone which allows one to observe their less-than-desirable patterns of behavior and offers a choice. He reinforces that we can change the "dance" but it starts with being able to see the "dance" first. His book is a great start

In Seeing Systems, Oshry describes how we do not see systems, and what it takes to start seeing them. The book describes in four 'Acts' our blindness to the system in favour of attributing our condition to personal qualities. In the first three acts Oshry relates to our Spatial blindness, Temporal blindness, Relational blindness, and Process blindness. Through examples and case studies from his Power Lab, Oshry reveals what it takes and means to move from blindness to sight. In Act IV Oshry describes seeing uncertainty - we are always in uncertainty, and are compelled to turn it into certainty, compromising along the way our ability to see systems and maintain blindness to systemic situations.
With simple, accessible, examples Oshry successfully describes that we ARE living in complex systems, and that a simplistic view of these systems maintains our blindness. Only by shaking off our tendency to simplify our systems by making up stories can we start the journey to become better persons in our family, organization, community, society, mankind.
Upon completing reading Act I, I said to myself - this is great insight, but now I have gone through less than a quarter of the book - what else can he explain in this respect and using these concepts? Am I going to be bored through the rest of the book? But Oshry surprises, and highlights the all too familiar situations we run into with additional "A-ha!" moments. By the end of Act II, I have realized that I should expect these revelations throughout the book - which I certainly have.
Anyone with mild awareness to systems will easily identify himself in similar situations - as Oshry puts it - not always, not with everyone, but with great regularity.
Having finished reading the book the epilogue left me with great hunger to see more of Seeing Systems. I am certain that the book and the concepts will accompany me for a long while to go, and I do hope that I will engage with the other methods and media that can be found in the book.
Great book, great insight, and a very hard task ahead to improve my sight of system.

As an organization change and transformation practitioner, I am often confronted with the initial overwhelming complexity of a new client organization. Seeing Systems provided me with a set of tools that make my life easier and interventions more effective.

Simplistic? One might think so. But, you'd be wrong. I believe it to be a distillation of truths of organization theory. It's pure genius. The author understands organizations so well he is able to convey it to others in an understandable context. Oshry brings to life the consequences of being in different positions of power in the organization.

I have taken his model and use it to look at each of my clients. It gives significant insight to understand why the organization works; why it doesn't and what to do.

Read Seeing Systems atleast twice. After the first reading, go to work. What are the behaviors? How effective are the relationships? What are the outcomes? Now read Seeing Systems again. Go back into your organization. Observe the relationships. Apply the model. Predict the outcomes. You'll probably be right. Can't ask much more from a book.

By the way, after reading Seeing Systems, I participated in a one-day workshop Oshry presented to the Dallas-Fort Worth Organization Development Network. I wasn't disappointed. He is, that good.

Barry Oshry has given us a great gift with his entire body of work on power and systems. This book, Seeing Systems, is an excellent and practical example.

There are several things that work well for me with this book. First is the refreshing and unique style that Barry chooses to present the information. He makes it easy to relate to and spells out the dynamics of complex interactions with a well crafted story. Second is that this body of work is the foundation for some internal training at my company. It receives excellent reviews because it really helps individuals see their role in the organization and offers practical approaches that are far more effective than the norm.

Barry's Oshry's work demonstrates a corpus of understanding that dates back into his early works. I have read most everything he has published since 1976 and have also attended the Power Lab, the subject of another book by Doctor Oshry. This seminal text is an excellent, erudite, and unpretentious introduction to seeing systems. I agree with the 2-star opiner that the book is simplistic. However, that is its strength. Dr. Oshry's opus lacks the esoteric gravity or fluffy prose of the learned ignoramus. Instead, he elegantly, playfully, dances through systems, explaining their basics in a manner that belies their complexity.

That said, from my reading and my actual experience in the Power Lab is that the book is written by Elites for Elites and has a much harder time looking through true Bottom space--the realities versus the perceptions of those on the bottom by those on the top. After all, this is a book geared more towards corporate executives than everyday Joes.

This is a book worth buying and the Power Lab is a place worth going, even if it is a bit cushy by real Immigrant standards. It is a rare writer of big ideas who is impassioned and able to translate into a prosaic vernacular worthy of the wisest sages.

I read this book about 6 years a go as a part of my graduate program on organizational learning. My reaction at that time was, "Wow! I feel as if I was blind and Now I See!." It was like I gained a secret lens through which the organizational behaviors were making more sense to me. I felt so enthralled with the book, I called the number on the back of the book to inquire how I could explore, experience and learn the Seeing Systems concepts further. I have not done that before or since. 6 years later, I still feel Barry Oshry's teachings are one of real gems in understanding organizations and their behavior mysteries. I have integrated these concepts into my own ways of thinking and being and use them to generate partnerships for impact. I most highly recommend this book to anyone who works with organizations including executives, organizational developers and change agents.