Product Description

Here’s why thousands of readers in business and management turn to Russell Ackoff for innovative and effective ideas: "Russell Ackoff has probably influenced more managers than any other living person.… Two of his books, Scientific Method (1962) and Redesigning the Future (1974), are the cornerstones of much of the theory and methods for systematic analysis of problems in management and planning." —APA Journal "Russell Ackoff is undoubtedly one of the great masters of this art…" [of storytelling as a means of conveying information]. —Omega, The International Journal of Management Science The Art of Problem Solving is… "A witty, literate, and most of all convincing reflection…. He shines an often bright light into corners where problems hide, showing the manager how to understand the consequences of his own behavior; identify real, rather than supposed, elements of problems; perceive another’s aims; determine what is controllable; and deal with other nettlesome factors." —INC.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #505992 in Books
• Published on: 1981-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 312 pages

From the Publisher
Presents a participative, systems approach to corporate development, called Interactive Planning. Shows how to formulate the problems and opportunities of corporate growth, as well as presenting objectives and ideals to be pursued and the means toward those ends. Also stresses the implementation and control of the planning function.

From the Inside Flap
Here is a breakthrough book that delineates ideas and methods managers will need to plan for the uncertain environment corporations face in the future. Russell Ackoff is an original and provocative thinker. In previous books—A Concept of Corporate Planning (1970), Redesigning the Future (1974), and The Art of Problem Solving (1978)—he set forth innovative approaches to corporate planning that have been widely adopted. In Creating the Corporate Future Ackoff continues to give the business community original and major new challenging ideas that will enable corporate managers to re-think ways and means to plan for the future. Taking into account the pressing environmental and economic dilemmas we face, Ackoff presents a new, highly participative systems approach to planning, interactive planning. He not only develops its philosophical, conceptual, and theoretical foundations… he translates these into practical procedures. Interactive planning provides opportunities for individual and corporate development by synthesizing operational, tactical, and strategic planning into the design of a desirable future and the inventions of ways of realizing it. You get concrete guidance on these phases of interactive planning: —how to formulate the system of problems and opportunities that face a corporation —how to formulate goals, objectives, and ideals and select and evaluate the means by which they should be pursued —determining what resources will be required and how they should be acquired or developed —implementation and control of the planning decisions and the planning process itself. At once practical and provocative, Creating the Corporate Future is the result of many years of experience in all aspects of corporate planning. It belongs on the shelf of every manager or beginning manager who wants to get a head start on planning for the corporate future.

From the Back Cover
Here’s why thousands of readers in business and management turn to Russell Ackoff for innovative and effective ideas: "Russell Ackoff has probably influenced more managers than any other living person.… Two of his books, Scientific Method (1962) and Redesigning the Future (1974), are the cornerstones of much of the theory and methods for systematic analysis of problems in management and planning." —APA Journal "Russell Ackoff is undoubtedly one of the great masters of this art…" [of storytelling as a means of conveying information]. —Omega, The International Journal of Management Science The Art of Problem Solving is… "A witty, literate, and most of all convincing reflection…. He shines an often bright light into corners where problems hide, showing the manager how to understand the consequences of his own behavior; identify real, rather than supposed, elements of problems; perceive another’s aims; determine what is controllable; and deal with other nettlesome factors." —INC.

Customer Reviews

A Classic revisited
I recently had reason to re-read this 1981 book and, as with so much of Ackoff's writing, was astonished at the freshness and relevance of a book that is now over 20 years old.

Ackoff is a brilliant and original systemic thinker. His concept of 'the mess', which needs to be formulated for planning ends and means, anticipated (1981) much later work based on complexity.

The book consists of two parts. The first Part is on our changing concept of the world, the corporation and of planning. The second Part works through:
* 'formulating the mess';
* ends planning in terms of idealized design, design of management systems and organizational design;
* means planning, expressed as formulating and evaluating alternatives;
* resource planning; and
* implementation and control of plans and planning.

'Formulating the Mess' is a key concept of Ackoff's.

"... a corporation's mess is the future implied by its and its environment's current behavior. Every system contains the seeds of its own deterioration and destruction. therefore the purpose of formulating the mess is to identify the nature of these often conceled threats and to suggest changes that can increase the corporation's ability to survive and thrive."

Ackoff then sets out three types of study:

1. a detailed systems analysis of the state of the corporation and the nature of its interactions with the environment
2. an obstruction analysis - identification of the obstructions to corporate development
3 preparation of reference projections

These together provide a picture of the future the corporation is now in, and provide the basis for ends, means and resource planning to work towards a more sustainable future.

The book was years ahead of its time and describes processes that remain highly relevant and useful. There are strong similarities between Ackoff's approach and that of Friend, J. and Hickling, A. Planning Under Pressure: The Strategic Choice Approach.