Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-biological Civilization. Kevin Kelly, Addison Wesley, New York, 1994, 521p.

The focus is on biological systems and what we might learn from them about how society and its components function (living and non-living). The "neo-biological" comes from how the new world uses the biological system as a model. The old world of top down control is fading, and the spontaneous, unsupervised, and uncontrolled birth of the internet is an example of the new. "Control is out, out of control is in". Kelly defines the Nine Laws of God as: 1) distribute being, 2) control from the bottom up, 3) cultivate increasing returns, 4) grow by chunking, 5) maximize the fringes, 6) honor your errors, 7) pursue no optima; have multiple goals, 8) seek persistent disequilibrium, and 9) change changes itself.

The Fifth Discipline: The art & Practice of the Learning Organization. Peter Senge. Doubleday, New York. 1990 (1994 paperback), 423p.

This book addresses how organizations might change in the future. The overall approach the "learning organization" is: 1) systems thinking, 2) personal mastery, 3) mental models, 4) building shared vision, and 5) team learning. These 5 areas integrate and become the "fifth discipline". Laws of the fifth discipline include: 1) today's problems come from yesterday's "solutions", 2) the harder you push, the harder the system pushes back, 3) behavior grows better before it grows worse, 4) the easy way out usually leads back in, 5) the cure can be worse than the disease, 5) faster is slower, 7) cause and effect are not closely related in time and space, 8) small changes can produce big results - but the areas of highest leverage are often the least obvious, 9) you can have your cake and eat it too - but not at once, 10) dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants, and 11) there is no blame.

Upsizing the Individual in the Downsized Organization. 1994. Robert Johansen and Rob Swigart, Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts. 195 p.

With the widespread emphasis on reducing the size of organizations and restructuring major activities, not much has been written about the impact on the individual. The initial section summarizes current organizations: "Fewer managers managing more people with more diversity and more geographic separation but less loyalty to the organization". The authors then assess the situation: "Why this emerging organizational structure won't work in the future. They then focus on what could be: "Creating opportunities for yourself and your organization, now and in the future". One of their terms is the "fishnet" organization, where major portions of the hierarchy exist but there is a lot of "loose" movement for the rest of the organization. For example, poles holding a fishnet allow the net to move and fit the current needs but the net is still "anchored" to something. Several organizations use this approach to advantage. Other factors for the future organization include building communities with continuities to work and individuals, and the role of electronic/information capabilities.

The Team Net Factor: Bringing the Power of the Boundary Crossing Into the Heart of Your Business. 1993. Jessica Lipnack and Jeffrey Stamps, Oliver Wright Publications, Vermont. 414p.

Rethinking America. 1995. Hedrick Smith. Random House, New York. 474 p.

A subtitle reads: "A New Game Plan from the American Innovators: Schools, Business, People, Work." The overall context is: we are caught in a mind-set of past successes, we need to rethink our schools for the new global game, business mindsets change to we-we from us verses them, and government and business becoming collaborators. Much of the book is a comparison of America in the context of other countries when addressing the above topics. He concludes with "the question is now whether other Americans are ready to rethink old ways, to learn from the Innovators, and then to apply and adapt their lessons in order to move America to higher performance and a higher quality of life in the coming generation".

The New Management: Democracy and Enterprise are Transforming Organizations. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 1996. William Halal. 284 p.

Management techniques and approaches adjust to changing times. Halal addresses these changes with a backdrop of a major transition to a knowledge-based and global economy. After reviewing management approaches over the years, he provides a series of ideas and includes case histories based on interviews with over 400 managers, to show the "new management" is not just theory but is being practiced in varied locations. He also cautions about being caught up in "revolutionary zeal" that often accompanies new approaches and confronts existing managers with new buzz words and arrogant behavior patterns. Halal believe much of "old management" can be continued but combined with new forms to the changing times. His new management paradigm would include shifts to "1) internal markets - small enterprises cooperating within a large enterprise, 2) corporate community - coalition of all stockholder rights and responsibilities, and 3) organic organization - creative tension between internal markets and corporate community."

The Second Curve: Managing the Velocity of Change. Ballantine Books. Ian Morrison. 1996. 272 p.

Morrison is the former President of the Institute for the Future and addressees the various components of world changing as two curves. The first curve is what has been traditional, with a few powerful countries dominating, capital and money having major importance, and hardwork and current career and basic security as a setting. The second curve has different countries dominate, knowledge and communication along with people replacing capital and money as the important variables, and more organizational culture, uncertainty, future career orientation for individuals. Some of the lessons learned about the transition are: "1) don't mistake the second curve for an orderly new world, 2) how and when these shifts occur are extremely uncertain, 3) people tend to overestimate the impact of change in the short run and to underestimate in the long run, and 4) ground the future in information about the present." He identifies four common pitfalls in the road to success unless you are alert to them: 1) scale (honor small numbers), 2) incentives (need incentives for both curves during transition), 3) organization (don't let the reengineers get at the second curve), and 4) people (who is building the second curve in your organization - encourage them).