Systems Theory and Practice in the Knowledge Age

The concept of systems embodies the notion of a collection of elements connected together to form a whole. Systems thinking uses these notions to help understand the world. Central to this approach are the ideas of emergence and hierarchy, and communication and control. Systems practice employs systems ideas to design and manage complex processes and artefacts for the benefit of individuals, organisations, and society.Systems Theory and Practice in the Knowledge Age comprises a collection of papers written prior to the UKSS conference, that have been contributed by systems thinkers from around the world, with the aim of encouraging debate and promoting development of pertinent issues in systems theory and practice. In current times where the focus has moved from 'information' to 'knowledge' and where 'knowledge management', 'knowledge assets' and so on have become part of everyday speak, it seemed fitting to publish a book with the title of Systems Theory and Practice in the Knowledge Age.

The concept of systems embodies the notion of a collection of elements connected together to form a whole. Systems thinking uses these notions to help understand the world. Central to this approach are the ideas of emergence and hierarchy, and communication and control. Systems practice employs systems ideas to design and manage complex processes and artefacts for the benefit of individuals, organisations, and society.
Systems Theory and Practice in the Knowledge Age comprises a collection of papers written prior to the UKSS conference, that have been contributed by systems thinkers from around the world, with the aim of encouraging debate and promoting development of pertinent issues in systems theory and practice. In current times where the focus has moved from `information' to `knowledge' and where `knowledge management', `knowledge assets' and so on have become part of everyday speak, it seemed fitting to publish a book with the title of Systems Theory and Practice in the Knowledge Age.

Booknews

From the Seventh International Conference of the UK Systems Society held in July 2002 come 54 papers that put forth widely varying viewpoints on the current state of systems theory. The papers are organized under the headings of systems theory, systems methodologies, knowledge management, environmental management, critical systems thinking, social systems design, business, information systems, modelling, and student presentations. Specific topics include mapping the stages of the development of management sciences; cybernetic/systems approach to transformation of the towel production firms in Osaka, Japan; design of a knowledge management system for quality improvement in a public education system in Mexico; reconciling complexity science in organizations and Christian spirituality; and the contribution of semiotics to handling complexity in networked multimedia systems. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)