Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences. This volume is part of a 2001 reissue of a selection of those important works which have since gone out of print, or are difficult to locate. Published by Routledge, 112 volumes in total are being brought together under the name The International Behavioural and Social Sciences Library: Classics from the Tavistock Press. Reproduced here in facsimile, this volume was originally published in 1968 and is available individually. The collection is also available in a number of themed mini-sets of between 5 and 13 volumes, or as a complete collection.

Policymaking, Communication, and Social Learning presents Sir Geoffrey Vickers's seminal essays on policymaking and related issues facing modern Western culture. These essays, many of them published here for the first time, illustrate the range of Sir Geoffrey's thought, and also articulate certain recurrent themes. He portrays a unique view of policymaking, building on his notion of "appreciation" and focusing on the processes of reflection and communication in setting and changing the tacit norms which govern our conduct. These themes culminate in his perception of the emerging challenges facing the professions, and in what he sees as the educational requirements implied by these challenges. Vickers was a master of the English language. He writes vividly, blending concrete example with more general statement. As a result, this volume will appeal to a wide audience concerned with issues of public governance, regulation, communication, ecology, value conflict and resolution, the modern role of the professions, education, and ethics.

Sir Geoffrey Vickers taught us that a value-free judgment would be literally worthless. Human systems become recognizable as more than machines only as they honor (or betray) valued norms like impartiality or responsiveness, respect or productivity, or combinations of these. So all management and administration, all planning political action, depend not just on mechanical rule-following, but on practical goal-setting too: on appreciative judgments constructed in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty about what a rule, obligation, or goal really means. The insights of The Art of Judgment will guide us in these fields for years to come. --John Forester, Cornell University "This book is very worthwhile reading for those engaged in teaching public administration." --Teaching Public Administration "To anyone familiar with the work of Sir Geoffrey Vickers (1894-1982) this centenary edition of The Art of Judgment will mark a welcome reappearance of a book that was far ahead of its time when originally published thirty years ago. For those new to Vickers's thought, it should be intellectually energizing to discover a body of thought so keenly applicable to understanding and dealing with the complex issues of public affairs at the dawn of a new century. This centenary edition contains a new introduction by Guy B. Adams, Scott D. N. Cook, and Baynard L. Catron, a biographical essay on Sir Geoffrey Vickers by Margaret Blunden, as well as the entire original text of The Art of Judgment. In recent years, many of the concepts central to the study of organizations have been called into question. This study provides a fresh foundation for the exercise of judgment in policy and management, particularly for those interested in an interpretive and critical approach to the study of organizations." --Guy Adams, University of Missouri-Columbia "For all its theoretical sophistication, the crucial aspect of Vickers's work is its grounding in his experience in the real-life practice of policy making in which such complexity is the norm. Thirty years after its initial publication, The Art of Judgment remains worthwhile reading for all students and policy makers." --Canadian Public Administration For the past 10 years, The Art of Judgment was published and distributed solely in the United Kingdom. Now this centenary edition--containing an intriguing new foreword explaining why Vickers's work is still on the cutting-edge as well as a bio-essay on Sir Geoffrey Vickers--is once again available in the United States. Vickers, a man who was truly ahead of his time, dealt with complex issues in public administration in the 20th century. The Art of Judgment, both in the past and still today, speaks to the student, academic, and practitioner interested in understanding decision making in organizational settings. Written in an accessible and lively style, this work remains a timely study that transcends both a narrow and scientific view of administrative behavior and lays the groundwork for a view of management thought and action grounded in the world of human experience. The Art of Judgment provides a seminal work for scholars and students seeking to develop an interpretive and critical account of management and organization.