Intro -- John N. Warfield LO622

JOHN N. WARFIELD (jwarfiel@osf1.gmu.edu)
Fri, 31 Mar 1995 09:22:32 -0500 (EST)

I am a newcomer to this list. I have joined both to contribute and to
learn, but my primary goal is to make my work known to members. I have
been studying and writing about complexity for over 26 years and, in the
process, have published quite a few things that have some relevance to
Peter's "learning concept" ideas. I will list just a small number of
these, and say how they are relevant, but first I want the readers to know
that there are dozens of organizations that have used my results, some of
them very well known, so what I will say is neither just academic (I'm a
prof at George Mason Univ in Fairfax, VA) or just applied. Rather it is
an integrated mix.

1976 SOCIETAL SYSTEMS, PLANNING, POLICY AND COMPLEXITY--a book, about 500
pages, published by Wiley (now out of print). Details the algorithm for
Interpretive Structural Modeling, a group learning process, which enables
a group to teach each other about a complex issue, while organizing that
complexity into structural models that reveal new insights accumumulated
from the collective wisdom.

1982 "ORGANIZATIONS AND SYSTEMS LEARNING". A paper about 75 pages long,
published in General Systems, discussing how complexity relates to
organizational learning, and describing seven "consensus methodologies"
that are used to help groups describe, diagnose, design, and implement
approaches to resolving complex issues in organizations.

1990 A SCIENCE OF GENERIC DESIGN. A book, about 680 pages describing a
science of design that is applicable in an overview way to the design of
complex sociotechnical systems. This book is now in its second edition,
published by Iowa State University Press (1994).

1994 A HANDBOOK OF INTERACTIVE MANAGEMENT. A book, about 350 pages,
describing in detail how to carry out organizational learning, and
identifying organizations that have been using this system for anywhere
from 12 to 0.1 years.

Both of the latter books also describe a number of applications carried
out in many places.

I hope you will appreciate that this is not meant to be an ad for the
materials, but it seems to me to be better to mention them than not to do
so.

For anyone who wants to look at this material, I would certainly be very
happy to learn what defects you see in it, and how you would like to see
improved. I am now about through writing a book called COMPLEXITY AND
DRUMMERS, in which I am incorporating additional theory and descriptions
of needed applications to a variety of subjects, including the design of
new institutions of higher education.

With best wishes,

JOHN N. WARFIELD
Jwarfiel@osf1.gmu.edu
(I'm in Fairfax, VA, Mail Stop 1B2, George Mason Univ., 22030-4444)