The theory of complex responsive processes and its implications for those working within organizations has become the focus of increasing interest in recent years. This is in good part due to the success of the editors' previous groundbreaking theory, "Complexity and" "Emergence in Organizations,"
In this innovative new series, the editors have focussed on what these ideas mean for practitioners tackling real organizational issues, and how they can be used to make sense of the changes and challenges which organizations must face. This book introduces and explores the possible meanings of the idea of "working live." It makes sense of the sense-making experience itself, drawing attention to the way ideas and concepts emerge "live" in all conversations in organizations. An appreciation of the open-ended, improvisational nature of ongoing human communication becomes key to such an understanding. The chapters, all written by experienced managers and consultants, explore:
- How various forms of improvisation in social interaction can inform ways of appreciating how those links are forged
- How these insights can illuminate the challenges of managing, developing and changing organizational practices
In "Experiencing Risk, Spontaneity and Improvisation in Organizational Life," Shaw and Stacey explore, through the real-life experiences of practicing managers, some of the emerging themes and practical insights that can be drawn from an improvisational view of organizational life. With contributions from managers in both the private and public sectors, the book explores human communication skills and interactions to provide a unique exploration of "working live." It will be ofinterest to advanced students and practitioners.

The theory of complex responsive processes and its implications for those working within organizations has become the focus of increasing interest in recent years. This is in good part due to the success of the editors' previous groundbreaking theory, "Complexity and" "Emergence in Organizations,"
In this innovative new series, the editors have focussed on what these ideas mean for practitioners tackling real organizational issues, and how they can be used to make sense of the changes and challenges which organizations must face. This book introduces and explores the possible meanings of the idea of "working live." It makes sense of the sense-making experience itself, drawing attention to the way ideas and concepts emerge "live" in all conversations in organizations. An appreciation of the open-ended, improvisational nature of ongoing human communication becomes key to such an understanding. The chapters, all written by experienced managers and consultants, explore:
- How various forms of improvisation in social interaction can inform ways of appreciating how those links are forged
- How these insights can illuminate the challenges of managing, developing and changing organizational practices
In "Experiencing Risk, Spontaneity and Improvisation in Organizational Life," Shaw and Stacey explore, through the real-life experiences of practicing managers, some of the emerging themes and practical insights that can be drawn from an improvisational view of organizational life. With contributions from managers in both the private and public sectors, the book explores human communication skills and interactions to provide a unique exploration of "working live." It will be ofinterest to advanced students and practitioners.

Examining the experience of being in the midst of change, this book focuses on the essential uncertainty of participating in evolving events, and considers the creative possibilities of such participation. Using detailed reflective narrative to evoke and elaborate on the experience of participating in conversational processes, Patricia Shaw asserts that possibilities are perpetually sustained and changed by the conversational life of organizations.
The book questions the suggestion that we can choose and design new futures for our organizations in the way we often hope. It encourages the reader to live in the immediate paradoxes and complexities of organizational life, where we must act with intention into the unknowable.
The book will be valuable to consultants, managers and leaders, indeed all those who are dissatisfied with idealized models of change and are searching for ways to develop an effective change practice.

Drawing on the theoretical foundations laid out in earlier volumes of this series, this book describes an approach to organizational change and development that is informed by a complexity perspective. It clarifies the experience of being in the midst of change. Unlike many books that presume clarity of foresight or hindsight, the author focuses on the essential uncertainty of participating in evolving events as they happen and considers the creative possibilities of such participation.

Most methodologies for organizational change are firmly rooted in systems thinking, as are many approaches to process consultation and facilitation. This book questions the suggestion that we can choose and design new futures for our organizations in the way we often hope. Avoiding the widely favoured use of two by two matrices, idealized schemas and simplified typologies that characterize much of the management literature on change, this book encourages the reader to live in the immediate paradoxes and complexities of organizational life, where we must act with intention into the unknowable. The author uses detailed reflective narrative to evoke and elaborate on the experience of participating in the conversational processes of human organizing. It asserts that possibilities are perpetually sustained and changed by the conversational life of organizations.

This book will be valuable to consultants, managers and leaders, indeed all those who are dissatisfied with idealized models of change and are searching for ways to develop an effective change practice.

Decades of hard work have made Austin Broderick a rich man. His sheep station, Springfield, is one of the largest in Australia and the good relations between the native Aborigines and the Brodericks have made it one of the most peaceful. But with the arrival of the pious Reverend Billings all that looks set to change. Under the guise of friendship he enters the Aborigines' camp and leaves with three six-year-old boys - eager for adventure but destined for misery. Meanwhile, Austin is facing the threat of the Selection Act - a bill which, if passed, will mean the loss of a large proportion of his land. His only hope is his son Harry and his influence as a Brisbane politician. But as the months go by it soon becomes clear that the family's problems run far deeper than any of them had imagined and the answers lie in the last place they would think to look...

Come along with Gilly the duck as he travels on an adventure to find someone to love him. His journey starts after he is discovered on a toy store shelf by a magical lady.

Once the pride of the British Navy's East India fleet, the Veritas has fallen on hard times. She is now a transport ship, her cargo prisoners of the Crown, her destination the penal settlement of Van Diemen's Land, now known as Tasmania, the southernmost State of Australia. Pastor Bob Cookson tries to offer solace to the convicts on board. He meets Angus McLeod, a hard-liner on the rights of workers, who is about to enter a world where no such rights exist; Lester Harris, a farmer, who insists his wife follows him to the Antipodes; and Sean Shanahan, miserably separated from the love of his life. Cookson is shocked to discover that most of the men have committed only trivial offences. He suspects a conspiracy to empty British prisons, but finds a more sinister motive at work.

As the luxurious ocean liner China Belle enters Australian waters, its passengers have little idea of the tragedy that awaits them, particularly not Mal Willoughby, who is returning to his native land to start a new life with his Chinese wife Jun Lien. The crew, led by First Officer Jake Tussup, mutinies off the coast of Australia, taking the passengers hostage. By the time the horrific ordeal is over and the crew have escaped to the goldfields of the Palmer River, Mal's beautiful wife is dead and the lives of all the survivors have been altered for ever. In the months that follow, a close bond develops between the passengers as they try to put the traumatic experience behind them. For Mal the only way to do this is to track down his wife's killers - but will he ever be able to break free from the past?

Exploring the personal and cultural experiences that have shaped the creative output of one of Australia's foremost composers, this fascinating study begins in a Russian enclave in northern China, progresses through student days in Sydney and San Francisco, and culminates with Sitsky's present position as Professor of Composition at The Australian National University in Canberra. The many influences on his work, including important professional and personal relationships with such eminent persons as the poet Gwen Harwood and the violinist Jan Sedivka, are discussed in detail as are the sources of much of the inspiration for Sitsky's compositions, now numbering close to 200. Of interest to scholars, students, and anyone interested in 20th-century music. In addition to presenting Sitsky's fascinating life story and expounding on the central position he has occupied for the past 40 years in Australia's musical culture, this important work provides for the first time comprehensive bibliographic references to all of Sitsky's compositions, his writing, his recordings, and his appearances as a pianist and lecturer on music. The book is a most valuable addition to any collection, for it is both a work of reference and a compelling story of the development of one of the most eclectic, visionary, and confronting artists of his generation.