BOOKS FOR MANAGERS

the appearance of a standard textbook and although the athor states his rationale for the structure of the book, the reader is left wondering what the author’s view of the subject is. This is important given the current debate surrounding the direction of the subject. Further. the ‘something for everyone’ approach necessitates a long course in strategic management if all the chapters have to bc covered.

The use of short illustrative case studies within each chapter is excellent, as too is the use of references. Thus the book blends research and practicality with giving the reader the opportunity to match the appropriate research with ‘real life’ examples. The short cases make their point well and are drawn from IIK companies and organisations.

For the student of strategic management there is a lot of information in the book, as well as some useful questions of how to utilize the material. However, :IS with many such texts, the difficulty remains of how to operationally deploy the information in real situations. This would perhaps make the book too prescriptive, but in a live subject such as strategic management, such devices are essential. One is left with the impression that the book is excellent in terms of being about business rather than for business. An accompanying series of cases which shows how the information can be deployed would be more than useful. S M Sanderson lhizersity of Rrudford Management Crntre

Systems: Concepts, Methodologies and Applications (Second Edition) by BRIAN WILSON

This is an excellent book which recently has been revised and extensively updated. It describes and applies systems concepts and methodologies which have been developed at Lancaster University. Most of these have their origin in the soft system problem solving

4

methodology of Peter (:heckland. The text is logicall)

presented and covers essential background material for those unfamiliar with the need for s)%ems methods. Topics disc.usscd at an early stage include models and modelling. problems and concerns, structure and logic, systems, and model classification. The historical evolution of systems Ixngwges is ;ilso xvell

at2ted.

Wlc rcmaindcr of the book i:; concerned \vith presenting :I

rxnge of particular problem

sollkig tllethoclologics. Each of these has been de\~loped by the ;iuthor for specific application in slrhtcnis at many different points on the spectrum of problem situations. The methodologies include s)‘stems engineering, system control, information s)‘stem methods and organisa- tional rc-&sign methods. (;ood

C:ISC study materhl is prcscnted in

respect ot each mcthoclolog);.

(:oml”chcnsivc appcndicx3

c‘o\w model classifications in detail, exercises :ind the

prcscntation of :I full sJ5tcni study carried out by a different author. Whilst interesting, it is not clearly explained why this is prcscntcd and why xs an

appendix. The book is, essentially, :I

write up of Brian Wilson’s extensive experiences within the Lancaster action research programme of tackling real problems in ;I wide variet!, of industrial and commercial settings ;inci. from a systems pructicc

point of view, this is a vcq useful contribution to knowledge.

f Iowever, from a systems theory point of view, the message of the book seems to be that there is often a need to tailor a general methodology, such as the Checkland Methodology, to a given situation by the inclusion of ne\v or alternative stages and b) the inclusion of more detailed steps and guidelines. Such :m

interpretation carries with it a danger of diluting the principal axioms of the soft system problem solving methodology. Firstly, if changes to the methodology are required for each type of problem situation encountered, this could be seen

:IS :I move tow;mIs tcchniquc orientation. That is. towards the specific. Operational Research based problem solving approach. kvhrre off-the-shelf tcchniqucs arc :t\,ailable for application to gcncric problem themes. Second, the creation of more and more detail in the mett~odolog~ is indicative of a iiio\~ aw:i). from holism towards reductionism and can ;ilso lead to system victors losing touch \yith the o\vtlership of a problem x~ci Lvith a commitment to its etimin:ition.

Brian Wilson is clearly auarc of these dangers :mcl is at pains to

cmphasise that his methods arc htill rclati\.cly broad based and

flexible. I think that I agi-cc Lvith his htancc, but would be \2.:iry of the creation of too m;in!~

additional specifications and steps in the \rery successful soft system methoclotog)~.

Advanced Manufacturing by DOLJGLAS K MacI3ETII IflY I’rrhiic~utioris, I WW. .f_?O. ‘i

This \‘cry rcadablc little book reviews the plethora of Ad\~~ncecl Manufacturing Technologies c.onfronting tod:i)-‘s managers and sccka to guide them through the processes of selection, introduction and cisc.

The book starts with two csscntialty introductory chapters. The first examines the objecti\pes of the manufacturing process. reminding LIS of the goals of quality, dclivcry :ind cost. The second chapter sets the scene for advanaced manufacturing in terms of management style and philosophy. It owes a lot to I>cming. Juran and Schonbcrgcr, introducing concepts of manufacturing to meet customer’s needs rather than output targets :incl of establishing partnership with suppliers rather than adversarial relationships.

Chapter three is the kernel of the book, defining over twent) i\dvanccd Manufacturing Technologies (AM’I‘s) with which \vc arc daily bornbardcd by their three 2nd four letter ;icronynis; these definitions alone make the

ECIROPEAN MANAGEMENT JOI’RNAL Vol c) No 1 March 1001