Kees van der Heijden, Ron Bradfield, George Burt, George Cairns, George Wright
ISBN: 0-470-84491-4
Cloth
320 pages
July 2002

Most managers find themselves where they are because they have proven themselves to be energetic problem solvers and deal makers. Underpinning these activities is a mental model of how the business works which they have built up in the past. Change causes such models to become obsolete, and managers experience loss of control. With today's accelerating change this condition is encountered with increasing frequency.

This book helps managers to overcome the future will resemble the past thinking and instead harness multiple perspectives through scenario thinking. The nature and importance of socially constructed realities in organisations is explained, as well as the power of organisational experience and beliefs in framing limitations and hindering change. Scenarios are shown to overcome thinking flaws and assist in sense making. The iterative nature of sense making and scaffolding is discussed, and awareness is created of how sense-making helps in anticipating changes in the business environment and preparing for an inevitable future. The notion of such thinking is extended to organisational learning, to include change and action as a key message. The complexity of learning in organisations, organisational politics and embedding learning in the organization is also examined. Building the emotional case for change, and learning to see the power of novelty as a catalyst in this are not ignored -and a reliable source of help and inspiration is provided.