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In a few years, almost everything will be different: what we do, how we do it, and why we do it; how we produce and consume, how we conduct research, how we teach and learn, how we share information, communicate and cooperate, how we work-and how we live. How do we deal with this in business, politics and society?
Great changes open up great possibilities, pushing aside the old and creating the new. Management, as Fredmund Malik understands it, is the task of taking advantage of these possibilities. This book is a call to clear-sightedness and personal courage. It is a chart for navigating the Great Transformation21, it is a chart for navigating with an open horizon.

"Fredmund Malik has become the leading analyst of, and expert on, Management in Europe ... and a powerful force in shaping it as a consultant. He is a commanding figure - in theory as well as in the practice of Management." Peter F. Drucker

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Contents

Preface 9

Chapter 1: Why we must revolutionize our thinking 11

Observations 11

Chapter 2: The Great Transformation21 14

A Sign of Our Times? 14

From the Old World to the New 15

A Complete Change 16

The Old World of 1997 22

"Classical Management": an Obsolescent Model 24

Almost Everything Will Change 26

Birth Pangs of a New World 27
Economics Is Not Enough 29

A Crisis of Dysfunction 31

The REvolution of Organizations 33

Chapter 3: The Basic Law of Change 36

A Map of Growth, Uncertainty, and Creative Destruction 37

Navigating into the Unknown 39

Not One but Three Strategies Needed 41

Substitution and Experiencing Creative Destruction 42

Fundamental Transformations 43

Being Ahead of Change 46

Chapter 4: The Drivers of Transformation 48

Demographics 49

Ecology 53

Science and Technology 57

Economics and Debt 62

Complexity as the Main Driver 67

Chapter 5: Complexity - a Raw Material of the New World 68

Limits to the Old Ways of Thinking 70

What Is Complexity? What is Variety? 71

Inconceivable yet Manageable 73

Simple and Complex Systems 75

Complicated or complex? 78

Chapter 6: Systems Out of Control? 81

New Governance by Cybernetics: Communication and Control 84

Cybernetics for Self-Capabilities 87

Doing Business Is Not Enough 88

Chapter 7: Complexity for the Functioning of Organizations 90

Two Levels of Functioning 90

Operational and Management Tasks 93

Constants in Change: Master Controls 94

How Master Controls Work 96

Navigation Assistants for the Great Transition 104

Chapter 8: Heuristics: Navigation Principles for New Territory 114

Principles for Assessing a Situation in Circumstances of Uncertainty 116

Principles for Control Capacity and the Shaping of Relationships 118

Principles for Information 120

Principles for Persuasiveness 121

Chapter 9: From Disruption to New Destinations 123

On Dealing with Limitations 124

When Something Is New: Managing by Instructions 130

Not Only Communication but also Meta-Communication 132

Managing Your Boss and Colleagues 133

Management as a Passion 135

Epilog 137

Sources 142

Selected Readings by Fredmund Malik 145

Index 146

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"Malik accomplishes what management authors have tried to do since pre-Y2K. He has distilled to its essence the birth pangs of a new world order. [...] A management primer cum self-help book suitable for undergrads through CEOs." G. E. Leaf, Community Colleges of Spokane (Choice, 10.08.2017)

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