Seeing the Forest for the Trees: A Manager's Guide to Applying Systems Thinking (Paperback)

by Dennis Sherwood (Author)
Key Phrases: investment this month, earnings this month, target dangle, Jay Forrester, Time Figure, Profits Sales (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Rich in detail...a great learning resource. A first-rate book of substance and quality. Highly recommended." -- Stern's Management Review

A practical handbook which explains the basics of systems thinking and shows how to construct causal loop diagrams and computerized -- The Midwest Book Review

Product Description
Following the groundbreaking work of such best-sellers as The Fifth Discipline and The Living Company, SEEING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES delivers the tools and techniques to make systems thinking a part of daily decision making to solve complex problems of business and organizational life.

For organizations large and small—whether for-profit, not-for-profit, or in the public sector—Dennis Sherwood makes clear that systems thinking is far from being only for scholarly and academic thinkers. Profoundly practical and pragmatic, he covers the gamut of everyday applications, spotlighting how his Systems Thinking Toolkit can help:

*manage ‘stars’
*grow a business smoothly and continuously
*build teamwork and leadership
*resolve cross-boundary conflict
*develop robust business strategies
*design policies for major social problems such as global warming

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Nicholas Brealey Publishing; illustrated edition edition (October 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185788311X
• ISBN-13: 978-1857883114
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #257,400 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with Knowledge!, March 1, 2004

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is an extraordinary, in the sense of out-of-the-ordinary, book. Flipping through it, you see page after page of loops and curves. At first, you might think it is a guide to drawing. And in a sense, it is. Most of the book explains how to use depictions of various types of loops to represent different kinds of business problems. Such problems never occur in isolation, because every business is a system, and everything that happens in a business has causes and effects that reach into other areas of the business and into the outside world. Author Dennis Sherwood is not peddling a simple notion, but rather is explaining "systems thinking," a method of analyzing systems and processes. We unexpectedly found this quite entertaining, written with a light touch and bound to give almost any manager some new, valuable insights. On the down side, the author probably could have delivered his core message more succinctly, and after a while his insistence on demonstrating and categorizing the species and genera of loops begins to seem, well, a bit loopy.