Systems Practice

How to Act in a Climate Change World

By: Ray Ison

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Paperback | 6 June 2010

At a Glance

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358 Pages

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23.39 x 15.6 x 1.88

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It is now accepted that humans are changing the climate of the Earth and this is the most compelling amongst a long litany of reasons as to why, collectively, we have to change our ways of thinking and acting. Most people now recognise that we have to be capable of adapting quickly as new and uncertain circumstances emerge: this capability will need to exist at personal, group, community, regional, national and international levels, all at the same time.

Systems Practice is structured into four parts. Part I introduces the societal need to move towards a more systemic and adaptive governance against the backdrop of human-induced climate change. Part II unpacks what is involved in systems practice by means of a juggler metaphor; examining situations where systems thinking offers useful understanding and opportunities for change. Part III identifies the main factors that constrain the uptake of systems practice and makes the case for innovation in practice by means of systemic inquiry, systemic action research and systemic intervention. The book concludes with Part IV, which critically examines how systems practice is, or might be, utilised at different levels from the personal to the societal.

The development of our capabilities to think and act systemically is an urgent priority and Systems Practice aims to show how to do systems thinking and translate that thinking into praxis (theory informed practical action) which will be welcomed by those managing in situations of complexity and uncertainty across all domains of professional and personal concern.

Industry Reviews

Dr. Lauren A. Rickards, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, The University of Melbourne, Australia

In: Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, Volume 14, Issue 4, 2012, pp.481-483

As the 'wicked' and 'messy' nature of contemporary problems becomes increasingly apparent, the need to better understand and appropriately engage with the complex systems we are part of is of growing importance. Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate Change World is rich in insight into the challenges and joys of developing this was of thinking and acting. It is itself a highly valuable but challenging book, in part because of the depth of the problems in modern society it reveals (including, for example, the very concept of 'problems', with its implicit simplistic corollary: 'solutions'). It is also challenging because of the richness of strategies it provides for engaging with these 'problems' and becoming a 'systems practitioner'... Its breadth and depth of thinking is stimulating and the intellectual and emotional challenges it poses reflect the situations we are in rather than weaknesses with the book itself, which is instead carefully and cleverly crafted.

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Thinking and Acting Differently
Introduction and Rationale	p. 3
Managing in a Climate That We Are Changing	p. 3
What Do We Do When We Do What We Do?	p. 5
Living in Language	p. 8
A Failure to Institutionalise	p. 9
Managing in a Co-evolutionary World	p. 11
References	p. 13
Systems Practice as Juggling
Introducing Systems Practice	p. 17
Systems Thinking or Thinking Systemically	p. 17
Systems Thinking as a Social Dynamic	p. 19
Exemplifying Systems Thinking as a Social Dynamic	p. 20
Different Systems Lineages	p. 27
System or Situation?	p. 34
References	p. 34
Making Choices About Situations and Systems	p. 37
Choices that Can Be Made	p. 37
OU Systems Course Definition of Systems	p. 43
Systems Practice as Process	p. 45
Practitioner, Framework, Method, Situation	p. 47
Bringing Forth Systems of Interest	p. 51
Systems Practice - an 'Ideal Type'	p. 53
References	p. 55
The Juggler: A Way to Understand Systems Practice	p. 57
Introduction of the Juggler	p. 57
An Example of Systems Practice as Juggling	p. 61
Reflecting on Reflections	p. 81
References	p. 82
Juggling the B-Ball: Being a Systems Practitioner	p. 85
Accepting Different Explanations	p. 85
Being Aware of the Constraints and Possibilities of the Observer	p. 87
Understanding Understanding and Knowing Knowing	p. 93
Living Within a Network of Conversations	p. 94
Thinking and Acting Based on Our Tradition of Understanding	p. 96
Learning and Effective Action	p. 102
Being Ethical	p. 103
Constraints and Possibilities Associated with Our 'Being'	p. 107
Technology as Mediator of Our Being	p. 107
The Role of Social Technologies	p. 109
An Example of Juggling the B-Ball	p. 112
References	p. 114
Juggling the E-Ball: Engaging with Situations	p. 117
Naming Our Experiences	p. 117
Naming Situations as 'Wicked Problems'	p. 118
Naming Experiences in Similar Ways	p. 125
The Trap of Reification	p. 127
Our Inescapable Relational Dynamic with 'Our World'	p. 127
Making Distinctions and Living with Them	p. 128
Reflecting on the Practice of Practice	p. 128
Some Implications Arising from Neologising and Reifying	p. 130
Exemplifying Juggling the E-Ball	p. 135
Interpreting the Reading	p. 147
References	p. 150
Juggling the C-Ball: Contextualising Systems Approaches	p. 153
What Is It to Contextualise?	p. 153
What Are Systems Approaches?	p. 155
Purposeful and Purposive Behaviour	p. 156
Appreciating the Place and Role of Learning and Knowing	p. 158
Juggling the C-Ball by Exploring Purpose	p. 160
Tools, Techniques, Method and Methodology	p. 164
Contextualising Practice to a Situation	p. 166
An Example of Juggling the C-Ball	p. 167
Responses to the Four Organising Questions	p. 180
Implications for Practice	p. 181
References	p. 183
Juggling the M-Ball: Managing Overall Performance in a Situation	p. 185
Perspectives on Managing	p. 185
Transforming the Underlying Emotions of Managing	p. 188
Managing with Systemic Awareness	p. 191
Skill Sets for Managing Systemically	p. 193
Clarifying Purposefulness in Managing	p. 196
Managing for Emergence and Self-Organisation	p. 198
A Case Study: Aspects of Juggling the M-Ball	p. 201
References	p. 212
Systemic Practices
Four Settings That Constrain Systems Practice	p. 217
Juggling Practice and Context	p. 217
Managing Systemic Failure - the Travesty of Targets	p. 219
The Consequences of Living in a Projectified World	p. 224
Projectification	p. 224
Project Management	p. 226
Governance and the 'Project State'	p. 228
Making Choices About Framing a Situation	p. 229
Breaking Down an Apartheid of the Emotions	p. 234
An Example of Emotionally Aware Systemic Practice	p. 235
Generating a Choreography of the Emotions	p. 238
References	p. 240
Systemic Inquiry	p. 243
Clarifying What Systemic Inquiry Could Be	p. 243
The Opportunity for Systemic Inquiry	p. 246
The Basic Process of Systemic Inquiry	p. 247
An Example of Setting Up a Systemic Inquiry	p. 250
Contracting a Systemic Inquiry	p. 251
Interpreting Our Contract	p. 254
Enacting Our Systemic Inquiry	p. 254
Changing Understandings Can Change Practices Can Change Understandings	p. 256
Other Evidence	p. 257
'Institutionalising' Systemic Inquiry	p. 259
Systemic Inquiry and the 'Design Turn'	p. 260
References	p. 262
Systemic Action Research	p. 267
Changing Your Situation for the Better	p. 267
The Nature of the Social World	p. 268
The First-Order Research Tradition	p. 269
Creating a Second-Order Research Tradition	p. 272
What Makes Action Research Systemic?	p. 273
Doing Systemic Action Research	p. 274
Enhancing Action Research with Systems Thinking and Practice	p. 277
References	p. 279
Systemic Intervention	p. 283
Systems Practice in the National Health Service (UK)	p. 283
Systemic Intervention	p. 284
Other Possibilities for Contextualising Systems Practice	p. 298
References	p. 299
Valuing Systems Practice in a Climate-change World
Valuing Systems Practice	p. 303
The Emergence of Value	p. 303
Perspectives on Valuing	p. 306
Appreciating Some of the History of Valuing	p. 308
Evaluating	p. 309
Authenticity and Accountability in Conversations	p. 311
Valuing Being Systemic	p. 313
Doing Systems	p. 317
Committing to Action (Praxis)	p. 317
An Evaluation Framework for Doing Systems	p. 318
A Framework for Capability Building in Systems	p. 320
Acting in a Climate of Hope in a Climate-Changing World	p. 323
Valuing in a Context of Hope	p. 323
Opportunities to be Cultivated	p. 325
References	p. 327
Index	p. 329
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Systems Practice

How to Act in a Climate Change World

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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