Books Archives - Page 36 of 58

Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity

This book presents a theory of learning that starts with the assumption that engagement in social practice is the fundamental process by which we get to know what we know and by which we become who we are. The primary unit of analysis of this process is neither the individual nor social institutions, but the informal ‘communities of practice’ that people form as they pursue shared enterprises over time. To give a social account of learning, the theory explores in a systematic way the intersection of issues of community, social practice, meaning, and identity. The result is a broad framework for thinking about learning as a process of social participation. This ambitious but thoroughly accessible framework has relevance for the practitioner as well as the theoretician, presented with all the breadth, depth, and rigor necessary to address such a complex and yet profoundly human topic.

The IT Value Stack: A Boardroom Guide to IT Leadership

Successful IT value realisation is a cloudy subject. This in part contributes to the overall dissatisfaction many organisations have with IT. This book tackles the subject of IT value realisation head on. Most importantly it provides a model to help CIOs and business leaders maximize the return on their IT investment. This book is based on the author’s IT Value Stack methodology, which helps business leaders take control of their IT investment. Boardroom-bound CIOs will also find this book of value. As will those that advise on strategic business-IT matters. The model is corroborated with input from influential people working within the world’s most successful end-user, business advisory and technology organisations. This book covers: The IT Value Stack Model; Business-IT strategy entwinement; Process-IT entwinement; User-technologist entwinement; Technology management; IT service management; Circulation management; Value management; and, valuable input from influential contributors from the end-user, technology and advisory communities.

Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide

Web 2.0 makes headlines, but how does it make money? This concise guide explains what’s different about Web 2.0 and how those differences can improve your company’s bottom line. Whether you’re an executive plotting the next move, a small business owner looking to expand, or an entrepreneur planning a startup, “Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide” illustrates through real-life examples how businesses, large and small, are creating new opportunities on today’s Web. This book is about strategy. Rather than focus on the technology, the examples concentrate on its effect. You will learn that creating a Web 2.0 business, or integrating Web 2.0 strategies with your existing business, means creating places online where people like to come together to share what they think, see, and do. When people come together over the Web, the result can be much more than the sum of the parts. The customers themselves help build the site, as old-fashioned ‘word of mouth’ becomes hypergrowth.”Web 2.0 : A Strategy Guide” demonstrates the power of this new paradigm by examining how: Flickr, a classic user-driven business, created value for itself by helping users create their own value; Google made money with a model based on free search, and changed the rules for doing business on the Web-opening opportunities you can take advantage of; social network effects can support a business-ever wonder how FaceBook grew so quickly?; and, businesses like Amazon tap into the Web as a source of indirect revenue, using creative new approaches to monetize the investments they’ve made in the Web. Written by Amy Shuen, an authority on Silicon Valley business models and innovation economics, “Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide” explains how to transform your business by looking at specific practices for integrating Web 2.0 with what you do. If you’re executing business strategy and want to know how the Web is changing business, this book is for you.

Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity: A Platform for Designing Business Architecture

The first edition of Systems Thinking was the first book to develop a working concept of systems theory and to deal operationally with systems methodology. The author has been working for the last 5 years to incorporate parallel development in quantum theory, self-organizing systems and complexity theory, the sum of which is included in this new 2nd edition. He has tested these concepts with 200 executive MBA students, and also with Russell Ackoff, one of the founding fathers of systems thinking. Ackoff reported that it was the most comprehensive systems methodology he has seen. The 2nd edition features the synthesis of holistic thinking (iteration of structure, function and process), operational thinking (understanding chaos and complexity), sociocultural systems (movement toward a predefined order), and interactive design (redesigning the future and inventing ways to bring it about). Also added are the operational thinking and self-organizing aspect of sociocultural systems, with updates made to the holistic thinking and interactive design parts to incorporate recent new developments.

The Heart of Enterprise

This is the 1979 companion volume to Brain of the Firm and addresses the nature of viable systems, those capable of surviving. It does not use the neurophysiological basis elucidated in brain, but develops the same theory from first principles. This book declares that every enterprise is a system, and in particular must be a viable system. Viability is not just a matter of economic solvency; we need laws that govern the capacity of any enterprise to maintain independent existence. The Heart of Enterprise is full of examples (actual, authorâ€“generated examples) taken from management practice.