Ramblemuse^SM Annotated General Bibliography

Innovative managers from around the world are discovering the benefits and the power of systems thinking. By understanding how systems work, we gain valuable new perspectives on our most persistent organizational problems. Systems thinking is necessary when properties of the system "emerge" from the interactions and when changing one part causes others to readjust — sometimes in unanticipated or even undesired directions.

The leading authority on system dynamics explains this approach to organizational problem solving, emphasizing simulation models to understand issues such as fluctuating sales, market growth and stagnation, the reliability of forecasts and the rationality of business decision-making. The CD includes modeling software from Vensim, ithink, and PowerSim.

For more than twenty-five years, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking has been hailed as an innovative introduction to systems theory, with applications in computer science and beyond. Used in university courses and professional seminars all over the world, the text has proven its ability to open minds and sharpen thinking. Originally published in 1975 and reprinted more than twenty times over a quarter century, the text uses clear writing and basic algebraic principles to explore new approaches to projects, products, organizations, and virtually any kind of system. Now an award-winning author of nearly forty books spanning the entire software development life cycle, Weinberg had already acquired extensive experience as a programmer, manager, university professor, and consultant when this book was originally published. With helpful illustrations, numerous end-of-chapter exercises, and an appendix on a mathematical notation used in problem-solving, An Introduction to General Systems Thinking may be your most powerful tool in working with problems, systems, and solutions.