Seeing Systems: Unlocking the Mysteries of Organizational Life [Paperback]

In this extensively revised and updated edition of his classic book, Barry Oshry shows how we can transform “system blindness” into “system sight,” enabling us to live and work together in productive partnership. Based on more than thirty years of research and packed with illustrative cases and solid systems theory on human interaction,Seeing Systemsprovides a penetrating look at the dynamics of systems and a unique foundation for revolutionizing our understanding of system life. This new edition features an extensive new section on having the wisdom and courage to face and work with the reality of uncertainty, and a new epilogue describing how Oshry is currently using theater, blogs, and podcasts to extend his multi-pronged revolution aimed at transforming system blindness into system sight.Preface to the Second Edition
Prologue: Overcoming System Blindness

Act I: Seeing the Big Picture
Scene 1. When We Don’t See Systems
1 Pinball
2 The Manager of the Heart
3 The Mystery of the Swim
4 Seeing the Local Picture
5 "Stuff" Happens
Scene 2. Transforming Spatial Blindness into Spatial Sight
6 Seeing Context
7 The "Truth" About Jack
8 Charlotte Is a Problem
9 Center Ring or Side Show ?
10 Times Out of Time: Seeing the Whole
11 The TOOT Dilemma
Scene 3. Transforming Temporal Blindness into Temporal Sight
12 The Invisible Histories of the Swims We Are In
13 History’s Burst of Illumination
14 Bart and Barb: A System Evolves…Perfectly
15 "Anthropology" or Mick Gets Wiped Out
16 Applied Anthropology: Unraveling System History
Summary

Act II: Seeing Patterns of Relationship
Scene 1. Relational Blindness
17 What About All the Drama?
18 The Dance of Blind Reflex
Scene 2. Transforming Relational Blindness into Relational Sight
19 Three Patterns of Relationship
20 One Wakes, the Other Sleeps
21 The Top/Bols4