> "Hidden Order - How Adaptation Builds Complexity" by John H. Holland
> Addison-Wesley, 1995 24.00 USD
> ISBN 0-201-40793-0
This book is marvelous, a breakthru theoretical uderpinning for complex
systems. Organizational theory will be pushed VERY far in the next two
decades via our modeling of orgs as complex adaptive systems. My guess is
that this work is the "theory" behind the Santa Fe Institute's
soon-to-be-released, public domain software package SWARM. Once this is
available, we will all be able to "customize" our own CAS simulations in a
standard way.
Another book whose theory has *direct* applicability is Stuart Kauffman's
"At Home in the Universe". His research on Boolean networks is applicable
to org design, and his work on "rugged landscapes" is applicable to
problem solving and innovation (we have already incorporated it into our
research on response surface optimization methods for multiple response
systems).
-- Check out "Women Changing Science" by Mary MartiKevin Dooley...U Minnesota...Industrial Engineering...kdooley@maroon.tc.umn.edu New address! : http://www.me.umn.edu:70/1/home/kdooley
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>