Nature Of Change Or The Law Of Unintended Consequences, The: An Introductory Text To Designing Complex Systems And Managing Change

Change is a constant topic for conversation. This absorbing book provides a broad introduction to the surprising nature of change, and explains how the Law of Unintended Consequences arises from the waves of change that follow one simple change. Over time, mankind has deliberately built social and technology-based systems where there are goals to achieve and requirements to be met. Building such systems is man's way of planning for the future, and these plans are based on predicting the future behaviour of the system and its environment. Unfortunately, in a truly complex social or technical environment, this planned predictability can break down into a morass of surprising and unexpected consequences. The Nature of Change or the Law of Unintended Consequences explains how change works and serves as an introduction to complex systems and as complementary reading for systems engineers. Professionals in system building or business change management will find this book especially useful, as would students studying systems in a variety of fields such as biology, information technology, business, law and society.