bookreviews

by Theodore B. Kinni

bookreviews

by Theodore B. Kinni



Seeing Systems
by Barry Oshry

Barry Oshry's first book, Seeing Systems, is an eye-opening read. For instance, Oshry tells us that he has not read the literature of business and organizations-he wanted to remain "uncontaminated." Next, we learn that his book is completely based on direct observation, and a quick look at the text reveals an odd presentation style that includes long poems, transcribed conversations and terms like "mutant middles," "slugs" and "the dance of power." The result: a unique book that may have the power to transform readers.

Oshry is a student of systems thinking. For several decades, he has been conducting week-long, total-immersion organizational workshops in which corporate participants enter a new world comprised of three types of people: tops, bottoms and middles. Each person gets assigned to one of these groups-which includes an appropriate housing assignment, meals, work and treatment.

This book reports the results of these exercises and, in doing so, offers insights into real life that have often shocked participants. The most important finding is one that Deming would have surely enjoyed: Our systems truly impose results on us.

As Oshry explains, the biggest problem with systems is that once we grow acclimated to them, we don't see them any longer-"system blindness" sets in. This blindness comes in four flavors-spatial, temporal, relational and process-and keeps us from seeing the whole picture. There is good news, though: By understanding the how and why of systemically imposed behavior, we can change negative outcomes into positive, productive results.

There is much more to Oshry's work-more than can be summarized in a short review. So, do yourself a favor and read Seeing Systems (Berrett-Koehler, $24.95).


The Digital Economy
by Don Tapscott

The Digital Revolution and the Information Superhighway are familiar terms these days. Less familiar are their implications for business, and it is to that subject that Don Tapscott applies his analytic skills.

The new economy, the Age of Networked Intelligence, is being created by ever-quickening convergence of three technologies (and their corresponding industries): computing, communications and content. The result of this convergence is interactive multimedia-a new technology that has yet to be fully revealed and an industry that Tapscott predicts will generate $1.5 trillion in 2005. Interactive multimedia will enable the restructuring in business-in fact, Tapscott maintains, it may well demand that restructuring. The new media can be applied at five levels: the effective individual who will be empowered by personal multimedia, the high-performance team empowered by work-group computing, the integrated enterprise pulled together by enterprise infostructure, the extended enterprise connected by in-terenterprise computing and, at the highest level, the internetworked business that will contain collections of companies interacting over the I-Way to deliver a complex product to a customer.

This may seem obscure and theoretical, but Tapscott devotes full chapters to exploring how specific industries, education, health care and government could be transformed. With the specific examples, the reader begins to understand the real impact and potential of the digital economy.

The Digital Economy (McGraw-Hill, $24.95) joins a good number of books that are exploring the new territories opened by interactive media. It deserves a place at the top of the stack for its emphasis on business and its informed approach.


How to Drive Your Competition Crazy
by Guy Kawasaki

Driving the competition crazy is a catchy idea. But it is more a byproduct of good business than a worthy goal. The competition goes crazy when it can't earn your customers' business or keep you from converting its customers.

Kawasaki describes how to accomplish this two-part goal in four sections. First, he says, begin by understanding the playing field. Know yourself, your customers and your competition. Second, "do the right things"-that is, create a successful strategy. Third, "do things right" or execute the strategy. Finally, "push the envelope"-a section Kawasaki describes as containing "ideas that are too dangerous for amateurs" (whatever that means).

The only thing that really pushes the envelope here are the copious examples. No reader should walk away from it without at least a few good ideas. Among these: how Sears purposely produced a smaller catalog so customers would put it on top of their competitors', and how a pizza shop enticed customers to rip competitors' ads out of the Yellow Pages by offering a two-for-one special.

The author's reliance on Apple Computer for many of the examples, however, is questionable. The company's mistakes in long-term planning are becoming increasingly clear, and its recent financial downturn is a serious problem.

Kawasaki does retain his free-wheeling imagination and a real enthusiasm for business in this book. His previous books, on business evangelism and his book of interviews, were great reads. But How to Drive Your Competition Crazy (Hyperion, $22.95), even though it includes many ideas and a strong sense of fun, lacks focus.


booknotes

Not Just for CEOs
by Jack Zenger
(Irwin, 163 pages, $21.95)
The founder of well-known training firm Zenger Miller has created a short handbook for individual business success. Aimed mostly at productivity and value enhancement, each chapter offers short lessons, a to-do list and tips from the "highly successful."

Creativity for Leaders
by Gary Fellers
(Pelican, 107 pages, $14.95)
Deming method consultant and author Gary Fellers branches into creativity enhancement with this extended essay. In a sometimes surprising mix of Zen thought, stress-relief techniques, time management and dream interpretation, the author creates a kind of New Age business read.

Philip Crosby's Reflections on Quality
by Philip Crosby
(McGraw-Hill, 140 pages, $10.95)
Fans of this early quality guru will enjoy these 295 wide-ranging, one-sentence inspirations ranging from, "Quality is ballet, not hockey" to "Debt is not a friend." Other readers may well wonder exactly what the point is.

Real-Time Profit Management
by Bob Dragoo
(John Wiley & Sons, 204 pages, $34.95)
This book, the latest in a series of Ernst & Young-sponsored titles, describes an accounting system that combines activity-based costing with real-time reporting. The result is accounting data that enhances managerial decision making across the manufacturing organization.

The Power of Statistical Thinking
by Mary Leitnaker, et al.
(Addison-Wesley, 519 pages, $48.37)
All the statistical tools needed to identify, evaluate and improve processes are collected in this text. The authors, all of whom are affiliated with the University of Tennessee, include practice and application problems with every chapter.

The 20% Solution
by John J. Cotter
(John Wiley & Sons, 230 pages, $24.95)
Cotter explains Rapid Redesign, a business process reengineering methodology that focuses only on the 20 percent of change that will yield the greatest return. The five-stage system promises a fast-moving, flexible organization capable of keeping up with changes in the business environment.