| Marc's Writing
This page describes a selection of Marc Gerstein's articles, books, and videos related to organization design & culture, leadership & risk, and information technology-based innovation.
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"Organizational Bystanders" (co-authored by Robert Shaw), People and Strategy, the journal of the Human Resource Planning Society, 2008.
Gerstein and Shaw's research on the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster formed the foundation for chapter 1 of Flirting With Disaster. The article contains additional organizational analysis and specific recommendations for human resources executives and organizational leaders not included in the book. |
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Beyond Intuition: Disasters and Their Prevention, 2005.
This manuscript formed the research foundation for Flirting With Disaster. The research collected the cases that form the book's comparative fact base, and it assembled a broad range of analytical methods, such as decision analysis, agent-based and systems dynamics simulation methods, and real options decision modeling, that provide an alternative to the error-prone intuitive thinking that often contributes to disaster. |
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"Understanding the Value Chain," "The Logic of Organization Design," and "Organization Structure and Design Decisions," in Richard Dorf (editor), The Technology Management Handbook, CRC Press, 1999.
Dr. Gerstein was invited to write three articles for this comprehensive management handbook. He explains the value chain using MIT research work on coordination theory developed while a Visiting Scholar at MIT's Center For Coordination Science. The article covering organization design theory and methods is based upon the research performed for Organizational Architecture. |
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“Mojavia: In Pursuit of Agility,” MGA Media, 1997.
This executive development video describes the U.S. Army’s legendary After Action Review, arguably one of the most potent organizational learning methods ever developed. This management training video, produced and directed by award-winning BBC documentary director Judi Rose, tells the story of the transformation of the U.S. army after the failure of Vietnam, and the AAR's key role in the pedagogy of the Army's famed National Training Center.
The video features live action footage shot during actual war games at Ft. Irwin, California, as well as interviews with key Army leaders, including Gen. Scott Wallace, commander of the ground troops for Operation Iraqi Freedom. |
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Organizational Architecture: Designs for Changing Organizations, Jossey-Bass, 1992.
Gerstein's lead chapter in this long-selling textbook firmly placed the concept of "organizational architecture" in the business lexicon as more than a catchy synonym for organization design. Organizational Architecture presents a variety of ideas and methods on the subject of organization change. In particular, one chapter builds on the Strategic Selection work presented in Gerstein's Sloan Management Review article (see below). |
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The Technology Connection: Strategy and Change in the Information Age, Addison-Wesley, 1987.
Expanding on the 1982 article in the Journal of Business Strategy, this 1987 book in the well-known Addison-Wesley Organization Development Series edited by MIT's Richard Beckhard and Edgar Schein was one of the first to link information technology, strategy and organization change. |
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“Strategic Selection: Matching Executives to Business Conditions,” Sloan Management Review, Winter, 1983. (Reprinted in Edgar H. Schein, The Art of Managing Human Resources, Oxford University Press, 1987.)
The Strategic Selection method was based upon Dr. Gerstein's MIT research for Prof. Edgar Schein and a multi-year consulting assignment that focused on general manager level executive selection and development. |
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“Creating Competitive Advantage with Computer Technology,” Journal of Business Strategy, 1982.
One of the earliest articles to position information technology as a competitive weapon as well as an operational tool, this article set the tone for the role of IT for the 1980s and beyond. |
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