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Books to read

If you want to gain a thorough understanding of Beta, or if you just want to learn about aspects of it, then these books should prove helpful. This selection is curated by Niels Pflaeging and Silke Hermann. The choice of books is necessarily subjective.

All BetaCodex Principles BetaCodex Network Foundations Background Organizational theory Case studies Decentralization Transformation OpenSpace Beta Change-as-Flipping Time-Boxed Change Consulting for transformation Organizational learning Lean & Agile & Beta Cell Structure Design Org Physics Relative Targets
Productive Workplaces

Productive Workplaces: Dignity, Meaning, and Community in the 21st Century

by Marvin Weisbord

The Capitalist Philosophers

The Capitalist Philosophers: The Geniuses of Modern Business - Their Lives, Times, and Ideas

by Andrea Gabor

Ackoff's Best

Ackoff's Best: His Classic Writings on Business and Management

by Russell Ackoff

Abolishing Performance Appraisals

Abolishing Performance Appraisals: Why They Backfire and What to Do Instead

by Tom Coens, Mary Jenkins

Adaptive Enterprise

Adaptive Enterprise: Creating and leading sense-and-respond organizations

by Stephan H Haeckel

Change or Die

Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life

by Alan Deutschman

Amoeba Management

Amoeba Management: The Dynamic Management System for Rapid Market Response

by Kazuo Inamori

A New History of Management

A New History of Management

by Stephen Cummings, Todd Bridgman

Confronting Our Freedom

Confronting Our Freedom: Leading a Culture of Chosen Accountability and Belonging

by Peter Koestenbaum, Peter Block

Decentralisation

Decentralisation: Why and how to make it work

by jan Wallander

Creative Experience

Creative Experience

by Mary P. Follett

Flawed Advice and the Management Trap

Flawed Advice and the Management Trap: How Managers Can Know When They're Getting Good Advice and When They're Not

by Chris Argyris

Beyond Budgeting

Beyond Budgeting: How Managers Can Break Free from the Annual Performance Trap

by Robin Fraser, Jeremy Hope

Community

Community: The Structure of Belonging

by Peter Block

Essays on Beta Vol 1

Essays on Beta, Vol. 1: What's now & next in organizational leadership, transformation and learning

by Niels Pflaeging

Freedom from Command and Control

Freedom from Command and Control: Rethinking Management for Lean Service

by John Seddon

What would Deming do

What would Deming do?: Nurture great organizations and societies guided by W. Edwards Deming's best quotes

Edited by Niels Pflaeging

What would Drucker do?

What would Drucker do?: Nurture great organizations and societies guided by Peter Drucker's best quotes

Edited by Niels Pflaeging

I'm Sorry I Broke Your Company

I'm Sorry I Broke Your Company: When Management Consultants Are the Problem, Not the Solution

by Karen Phelan

Images of Organization

Images of Organization

by Gareth Morgan

Humanocracy

Humanocracy: Creating Organizations as Amazing as the People Inside Them

by Gary Hamel, Michele Zanini

Hard Facts Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense

Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense

by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Robert I. Sutton

Bare Essentials

Bare Essentials: The ALDI Way to Retail Success

by Nils Brandes, Dieter Brandes

Joy at Work

Joy at Work: A Revolutionary Approach To Fun on the Job

by Dennis Bakke

Beyond Performance Management

Beyond Performance Management: Why, When, and How to Use 40 Tools and Best Practices for Superior Business Performance

by Jeremy Hope, Steve Player

Intentional Revolutions

Intentional Revolutions: A Seven-Point Strategy for Transforming Organizations

by Edwin C. Nevis, Joan Lancourt, Helen C. Vassallo

Management of the Absurd

Management of the Absurd

by Richard Farson

Management Rewired

Management Rewired: Why Feedback Doesn't Work and Other Surprising Lessons from the Latest Brain Science

by Charles S. Jacobs

Leadership Is an Art

Leadership Is an Art

by Max de Pree

Self Managing Organization

The Self-Managing Organization: How Leading Companies Are Transforming The Work of Teams For Real Impact

by Ronald E. Purser, Steven Cabana

Great Consulting Challenges and How to Surmount Them

Great Consulting Challenges: And How to Surmount Them

by Alan Weiss

Organize for Complexity

Organize for Complexity: How to Get Life Back Into Work to Build the High-Performance Organization

by Niels Pflaeging

OpenSpace Beta

OpenSpace Beta: A handbook for organizational transformation in just 90 days

by Silke Hermann, Niels Pflaeging

Profit Beyond Measure

Profit Beyond Measure: Extraordinary Results Through Attention to Work and People

by H. Thomas Johnson, Anders Bröms

Open-Book Management

Open-Book Management: The Coming Business Revolution

by John Case

Bookcover The Laws of the BetaCodex

The laws of the BetaCodex: Twelve design principles that make organizations fit for complexity and fit for human beings

by Niels Pflaeging, Silke Hermann

Still Surprised

Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership

by Warren Bennis

Managing Transitions

Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change

by William Bridges und Susan Bridges

Stewardship

Stewardship: Choosing Service over Self-Interest

by Peter Block

Punished By Rewards

Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes

by Alfie Kohn

Strategy Bites Back

Strategy Bites Back: Strategy is Far More, and Less Than You Ever Imagined

by Henry Mintzberg, Joseqph Lampel, Bruce Ahlstrand

Beyond Empowerment

Beyond Empowerment: The Age of the Self-Managed Organization

by Doug Kirkpatrick

Plain Talk

Plain Talk: Lessons from a Business Maverick

by Ken Iverson

Systems Thinking for Curious Managers

Systems Thinking for Curious Managers: With 40 New Management F-Laws

by Russell Ackoff

Taylorism Transformed

Taylorism Transformed: Scientific Management Theory Since 1945

by Stephen P. Waring

The Fifth Discipline

The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization

by Peter Senge

The Age of Heretics

The Age of Heretics: A History of the Radical Thinkers Who Reinvented Corporate Management

by Art Kleiner

The Flippng Point

The Flipping Point: Deprogramming Management

by Leandro Herrero

The Future of Management

The Future of Management

by Gary Hamel

The Culture of Learing Organizations

The Culture of Learning Organizations: Understanding Argyris' Theory through a Socio-Cognitive Systems Learning Model

by Laura Friesenborg

The Human Side of Enterprise

The Human Side of Enterprise, Annotated Edition

by Douglas McGregor

Maslow Management

Maslow on Management

by Abraham Maslow

Reinventing the CFO

Reinventing the CFO: How Financial Managers Can Transform Their Roles And Add Greater Value

by Jeremy Hope

Solid, outlined, hatched

Solid, outlined, hatched: How visual consistency helps better understand reports, presentations and dashboards

by Rolf Hichert, Jürgen Faisst

Rework

ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever

by David Heinemeier Hansson, Jason Fried

Leading Change

Leading Change

by John Kotter

Leading Continuous Change

Leading Continuous Change: Navigating Churn in the Real World

by Bill Pasmore

Flight of the Buffalo

Flight of the Buffalo: Soaring to Excellence, Learning to Let Employees Lead

by James A. Belasco, Ralph C. Stayer

Employees First Customers Second

Employees First, Customers Second: Turning Conventional Management Upside Down

by Vineet Nayar

Complexity and Organizational Reality

Complexity and Organizational Reality: Uncertainty and the Need to Rethink Management After the Collapse of Investment Capitalism

by Ralph Stacey

Million Dollar Consulting

Million Dollar Consulting: The Professional's Guide to Growing a Practice

by Alan Weiss

The Daily Drucker

The Daily Drucker: 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done

by Peter F. Drucker

The Excellence Dividend - Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last

The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last

by Tom Peters

The Great Game of Business

The Great Game of Business: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company

by Jack Stack, Bo Burlingham

The Management Myth

The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy

by Matthew Stewart

The Leader's Dilemma

The Leader's Dilemma: How to Build an Empowered and Adaptive Organization Without Losing Control

Jeremy Hope, Peter Bunce et al.

The Managerial Choice

The Managerial Choice, To Be Efficient and to Be Human

by Frederick Herzberg

The New Economics

The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education

by W. Edwards Deming

The Seven-Day Weekend

The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works

by Ricardo Semler

The Principles of Scientific Management

by Frederick W. Taylor

The Real Wealth of Nations

The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics

by Riane Eisler

The OpenSpace Agility Handbook

The OpenSpace Agility Handbook

by Daniel J. Mezick, Deborah Pontes, Harold Shinsato, Louise Kold-Taylor

The Social Engagement Of Social Science

The Social Engagement of Social Science, a Tavistock Anthology, Volume 2: The Socio-Technical Perspective: A Tavistock Anthology

by Eric Trist, Hugh Murray

The Toyota Way

The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles From the World's Greatest Manufacturer

by Jeffrey Liker

Toyota Production System

Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production

by Taiichi Ohno

Up the Organization

Up the Organization: How to Stop the Corporation from Stifling People and Strangling Profits, Commemorative Edition

by Robert C. Townsend

What Were They Thinking?

What Were They Thinking?: Unconventional Wisdom About Management

by Jeffrey Pfeffer

Work Rules

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead

by Laszlo Bock

Who Really Matters

Who Really Matters: The Core Group Theory of Power, Privilege, and Success

by Art Kleiner

Working Identity

Working Identity: Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career

by Herminia Ibarra

Unstuck

Unstuck: A Tool for Yourself, Your Team, and Your World

by Keith Yamashita, Sandra Spataro

Why We Cooperate

Why We Cooperate

by Michael Tomasello

Value-Based Fees

Value-Based Fees: How to Charge - and Get - What You're Worth

by Alan Weiss

Steal Like an Artist- 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

Steal Like an Artist:10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

by Austin Kleon

Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered

Show Your Work!: 10 Ways To Share Your Creativity And Get Discovered

by Austin Kleon

Teaching Naked

Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning

by José Antonio Bowen

The Trusted Advisor

The Trusted Advisor

by David H. Maister

The Value of Everything

The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy

by Mariana Mazzucato

Work- A History of How We Spend Our Time

Work: A History of How We Spend Our Time

by James Suzman

Talent is Overrated

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else

by Geoff Colvin

The Past, Present and Future of Sustainable Management: From the Conservation Movement to Climate Change

by Stephen Cummings, Todd Bridgman

The Essential Deming: Leadership Principles from the Father of Quality

Edited by Joyce Orsini, texts by W. Edwards Deming

Creating Strategic Change: Designing the flexible, high-performing organization

by Bill Pasmore

Classics of Organizational Behavior

by Walter E. Natemeyer, Paul Hersey

Taiichi Ohnos Workplace Management: Special 100th Birthday Edition

by Taiichi Ohno

Lean RFS (Repetitive Flexible Supply): Putting the Pieces Together

by Ian Fraser Glenday, Rick Sather

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

by Ori Brafman, Rod A. Beckstrom

Breaking Through to Flow: Banish Firefighting and Increase Customer Service

by Ian Fraser Glenday

Autobiography of a Restless Mind: Reflections on the Human Condition Volume 1

by Dee Hock

BetaCodex Network

The BetaCodex Network

Since its foundation in 2008, the BetaCodex movement has been taking part in “a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress”, in organizations and within our societies.

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