Product Description

"Stafford Beer is undoubtedly among the world’s most provocative, creative, and profound thinkers on the subject of management, and he records his thinking with a flair that is unmatched. His writing is as much art as it is science. He is the most viable system I know." Dr Russell L Ackoff, The Institute for Interactive Management, Pennsylvania, USA. "If…anyone can make it [Operations Research] understandably readable and positively interesting it is Stafford Beer…everyone in management… should be grateful to him for using clear and at times elegant English and … even elegant diagrams." The Economist This is the companion volume to Brain of the Firm and addresses the nature of viable systems, those capable of surviving. It does not use the neurophysiological basis elucidated in brain, but develops the same theory from first principles. This book declares that every enterprise is a system, and in particular must be a viable system. Viability is not just a matter of economic solvency; we need laws that govern the capacity of any enterprise to maintain independent existence. The Heart of Enterprise is full of examples (actual, author-generated examples) taken from management practice. "I consistently find that Stafford Beer provides the most useful analytical framework for understanding and managing an enterprise—public or private. Heart of The Enterprise offers a demanding but rewarding exposition of his approach and applications." Sir Douglas Hague. CBE

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #700653 in Books
• Published on: 1995-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 596 pages

From the Publisher
Addresses the nature of viable systems within any organization by creating a model out of a set of managerial principles (rather than using a neurocybernetic model). Declares that we need laws which govern the capacity of any enterprise to maintain independent existence. Packed with examples from management practice.

From the Back Cover
"Stafford Beer is undoubtedly among the world’s most provocative, creative, and profound thinkers on the subject of management, and he records his thinking with a flair that is unmatched. His writing is as much art as it is science. He is the most viable system I know." Dr Russell L Ackoff, The Institute for Interactive Management, Pennsylvania, USA. "If…anyone can make it [Operations Research] understandably readable and positively interesting it is Stafford Beer…everyone in management… should be grateful to him for using clear and at times elegant English and … even elegant diagrams." The Economist This is the companion volume to Brain of the Firm and addresses the nature of viable systems, those capable of surviving. It does not use the neurophysiological basis elucidated in brain, but develops the same theory from first principles. This book declares that every enterprise is a system, and in particular must be a viable system. Viability is not just a matter of economic solvency; we need laws that govern the capacity of any enterprise to maintain independent existence. The Heart of Enterprise is full of examples (actual, author-generated examples) taken from management practice. "I consistently find that Stafford Beer provides the most useful analytical framework for understanding and managing an enterprise—public or private. Heart of The Enterprise offers a demanding but rewarding exposition of his approach and applications." Sir Douglas Hague. CBE

Customer Reviews

A profund analysis on the organizational behavior
I strongly recommend this book to the people interested in organizational behavior or the dynamics of the organization. It provides a deep phylosophical analysis of the interaction between the process and management. I can also recommend some related titles as Images of Organization (Gareth Morgan) How Many Grapes Went into the Wine (Stafford Beer) as well as other titles by Stafford Beer; this book is part of a series from the same author.