This list of materials for further study was created by Trond Hjorteland and can be found on his LinkedIn post here
First we acknowledge the contribution of Prof. M. Emery. For the authoritative view of OST and a vast collection of academic papers visit Merrelyn’s site https://www.socialsciencethatactuallyworks.com/
Papers
- Aughton – An Open Systems Thinking Perspective on Agile Transformation [easy intro]
- de Guerre – Open Systems Theory and the Two-Stage Model of Active Adaptation
- Emery M – Open or Closed Systems Bridging the Gap (emcsr Vienna 2012)
- de Guerre & Emery M – Modern Forms of Laissez-Faire Organization
- Emery M – The current version of Emery’s open systems theory
- Emery & Emery – Participative Design – Work and Community Life. 1974 (2022)
- Emery M – Would the real participative design workshop (PDW) stand up please? [loads of useful tips on running DP2s]
- Emery M – The Search Conference (Tavistock anthology 1997)
- Emery M – The Search Conference in the USA Today: Clarifying some confusions [on Future Search]
- Emery & Trist – The Causal Texture of Organizational Environments [classic]
- Trist & Bamforth – Some Social and Psychological Consequences of the Longwall Method of Coal-Getting: An Examination of the Psychological Situation and Defences of a Work Group in Relation to the Social Structure and Technological Content of the Work System [THE classic]
- Cherns – Principles of Sociotechnical Design Revisted
Anthologies
- Trist – The Evolution of Socio-technical systems
- Van Eijnatten – An Anthology of the Socio-Technical Systems Design Paradigm
- Mumford – The story of socio-technical design – reflections on its successes, failures and potential
- Pasmore et al – Reflections: Sociotechnical Systems Design and Organization Change
Books
- Holman et al – The Change Handbook [3 chapters on OST]
- Mohr & Amelsvoort (ed.) – Co-Creating Humane and Innovative Organisations [chapter on OST]
- Boonstra (ed.) – Dynamics of Organizational Change and Learning [chapter on OST]
- Emery M – Searching
- Emery M (ed.) – Participative Design for Participative Democracy
- Emery – Futures we’re in
Websites
- www.socialsciencethatactualyworks.com [Fred and Merrelyn Emery]
- Tavistock anthologies
Videos