The paradoxical nature of a constraint is that it constrains or limits us, but we can use that very limitation to unleash potential we would not otherwise access.
The Human Constraint is a business novel with supplementary material for business leaders. It is inspired by dozens of implementations of the Decalogue methodology in Europe and North America since 1996. The Decalogue blends Deming’s philosophy with the Theory of Constraints in a cohesive, systemic approach to management. The novel explores an increasingly complex, interdependent and fast-changing world where companies must have a way to overcome obsolete mental models and embed continuous innovation in their operations with a coherent organizational model.
The story in Part One unfolds during the financial crisis that follows 2008 and illustrates how this affects a group of executives engaged in a transformation process. It charts their attempts through the crisis to transform part of an industry dominated by a zero-sum game mentality using a very different approach: an ethical and value-based supply chain where all stakeholders benefit.
Through the narrative in Part One, readers are exposed to a way to embed continuous innovation, conflict resolution, and problem-solving in action. In Part Two readers will find an introduction to a systemic method for management and the Thinking Processes from the Theory of Constraints.
These Thinking Processes can help readers develop the skills to:
■ Understand and analyze our current reality, as individuals and organizations.
■ Surface assumptions that keep us trapped in less-than-desirable situations.
■ Generate robust solutions/innovations.
■ Identify unintended consequences of what may seem like an effective idea and avert them upstream.
■ Resolve conflicts in a win-win way.
The knowledge, method, and tools to overcome obsolete mental models and practices exist. This book aims to present the reader, through narrative and supplementary material, with elements of a new way and a new economics that are fit for purpose in our age of complexity.
About the author
Angela Montgomery is British and Canadian. She co-founded the first Decalogue Method company with Dr. Domenico Lepore in Milan, Italy in 1996 and co-founded Intelligent Management in Canada in 2010 to expand the work in North America. As a Partner of Intelligent Management, she has worked with CEOs and Executive Teams to break down barriers, build organizations as networks, create a positive culture, and accelerate growth. The Intelligent Management team helps leaders counter the sub-optimization that silo-thinking and behavior bring in organizations and radically improve performance to build sustainable prosperity. Angela’s years of experience in adult education, research, and writing have allowed her to contribute meaningfully over the years to the development and promotion of the Decalogue knowledge base since its inception. She has a Ph.D. from the University of London in Literature and Science. Now based in Ottawa, she has lived in London, Milan, Brooklyn, Toronto and Victoria BC. and has published with Cambridge University Press, MacMillan, CRC Press, and Springer.
More books from Intelligent Management
Over the years we have communicated our approach to systemic management in a variety of ways. At the end of the 1990s, the unique blending of Deming and Goldratt into a methodology was first fully described by Domenico Lepore and Oded Cohen in ‘Deming and Goldratt: The Decalogue’. North River Press, 1999, translated into several languages and recommended reading in universities around the world. This was further developed after a decade of implementations by Lepore et al in ‘Sechel: Logic, Language and Tools to Manage Any Organization as a Network’. Intelligent Management Inc., 2011.
Our most scientific publication is a chapter we were invited to contribute to a volume on Complexity from Springer.
‘Managing Complexity in Organizations Through a Systemic Network of Projects’. Chapter in ‘Applications of Systems Thinking and Soft Operations Research in Managing Complexity’, Springer, 2015.
Following in the footsteps of Dr. Goldratt, we chose to narrate an entire novel about management in 21st century. Bought in over 40 countries as a web project, ‘The Human Constraint’ is now a Business Novel published by Routledge.
We were invited by CRC Press to give a complete summary of the Decalogue approach for complexity aimed at leaders and C-Suite executives. ‘Quality, Involvement, Flow: The Systemic Organization’ 2016 is available from CRC Press, New York.
Business Expert Press asked Dr. Domenico Lepore to provide an overarching approach to management for the Digital Age: ‘Moving the Chains: An Operational Solution for Embracing Complexity in the Digital Age’ (2019). The digital age is reshaping value chains and interactions. Lepore provides an operational solution for transformation.
We also blog continuously at www.intelligentmanagement.ws
