Beyond Dispute: The Invention of Team Syntegrity (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Over the last forty years, Stafford Beer has published a steady stream of books and papers in which he has applied cybernetic science to organizational problems. In all of these he has explained underlying principles and developed new theories and recorded a great variety of practical applications. He has now invented and demonstrated Team Syntegrity. Syntegrity is a powerful invention in the organization of normative, directional, and strategic planning, and other creative decision processes. The underlying model is a regular icosahedron (20 sides). This has 30 edges, each of which represents a person. An internal network of interactions is created by a set of protocols. A group organized like this is an ultimate statement of participatory democracy, since each role is indistinguishable from any other. There is no hierarchy, no top, no bottom, no sideways. Beer illustrates how continued dynamic interaction between persons causes ideas and resolutions to hum around the sphere, which reverberates into a kind of group consciousness. Mathematical analysis of the structure shows how the process is determined by the even spread of synergy. The aim of the book is to provide managers and their advisors with a new planning method that captures the native genius of the organization in a non-political and non-hierarchical way. The book includes an enquiry into Beers concept of recursive consciousness, based on this model, that is relevant to both neurocybernetics and the social systems sciences.

From the Publisher

The arguments in this fascinating, interdisciplinary book are wide-ranging, running the gamut from company management to the nature of consciousness. The author discusses the theory of team syntegrity and the social technique of syntegration which works in practice, offering a potent management tool for developmental planning.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 380 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (August 30, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471944513
• ISBN-13: 978-0471944515
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,859,414 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Management |Technique of the 21st century, December 28, 1999

By A Customer

The techniques of management developed in this book are inspired by the polyhedral geometry worked out in detail by the late R Buckminster Fuller with whom I had spent several exclusive hours. Fuller's thoughts and those developed by the author have a resonance with very ancient ieas of organization and action contained in the Hindu philosophy. It would be nice to introduce the system developed by the author and the training regimen inspired by him under "Team Syntegrity" in India where getting anything done is still next to impossible. Anyone who can facilitate this can contact this reviewer via his e-mail: [e-mail]

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disputing "Beyond Dispute", January 21, 2003

By	Craig Brooksby (Edina, MN USA) - See all my reviews

I am an average person. I read Beer's "Brain of the Firm" back in 1981, and have been a fan since. And yes, I am familiar with Fuller, have built my share of domes and tensegrity models. But this book lost me early on, despite several attempts.

OK, so geodesics was (again) borne out by Buckyballs. What I never got was *why* team interactions are best mapped or modeled by convex polyhedra. Why? It was just as easy to conclude that he arbitrarily selected the icosahedron because it is fascinating.

Do synergy and reverberation really exist in group dynamics? Or is he just ascribing those names? It was never clear to me.

In fairness, I haven't read the epilogue. Let me just say that this is a *difficult* book, even if you are already know Gurdjieff, Euler and the whole pantheon.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Management |Technique of the 21st century, December 28, 1999

By	Vyom Akhil (Sambalpur,Orissa,India) - See all my reviews

The techniques of management developed in this book are inspired by the polyhedral geometry worked out in detail by the late R Buckminster Fuller with whom I had spent several exclusive hours. Fuller's thoughts and those developed by the author have a resonance with very ancient ieas of organization and action contained in the Hindu philosophy. It would be nice to introduce the system developed by the author and the training regimen inspired by him under "Team Syntegrity" in India where getting anything done is still next to impossible. Anyone who can facilitate this can contact this reviewer via his e-mail: [e-mail]