The concept of transformation has long been known to the sciences and has been around in the popular vocabulary for several decades. Because, though, it has never been fully developed as a managed process and applied to our organizations, the way in which we have been trying to deal with the complex issues we face today is looking increasingly inadequate.

Transformation management, argue the authors of this inspirational book, now provides the opportunity for the application of the first significant world-wide innovation in the way we manage since Drucker put management itself on the map in the 1950s. In a book that draws on seminal theses and practical examples from the four corners of the world, Ronnie Lessem and Alexander Schieffer provide leaders, students of leadership, managers and change agents with a trans-culturally tested, integrated approach to leadership and management.

Only through a redefinition of what leadership, management and entrepreneurship amount to, say the authors, can organizations be transformed into sustainable enterprises capable of dealing with the burning issues of our time. Leaders are coming to realise that it is no longer possible for organizations to operate in any sort of isolation from the society and the wider world in which they exist, but paying lip service to notions of either social responsibility or globality is not good enough. From this indispensable book, those whose enterprises are to have any hope of becoming authentically socially responsible or authentically global will learn to understand and activate the process that dynamically links any organization with the society in which it is embedded and that links the local with the global.

The practice of transformation management is about creating real value... for organizations, people, and society. This book, the first in a new Transformation and Innovation Series, makes that practice possible.

Contents: Prologue. Part 1 Introduction - The Fundamentals of Transformation Management: Management and Transformation; The Four Fundamentals of Transformation Management. Part 2 The First Fundamental of Transformation Management: Nature and Transformation; Strategic renewal; Self, organizational and societal renewal. Part 3 The Second Fundamental of Transformation Management: Culture and transformation; Cultural dynamics; Transcultural learning and co-creation. Part 4 The Third Fundamental of Transformation Management: Science and transformation; Research to innovation. Part 5 The Fourth Fundamental of Transformation Management: Management and transformation; Transforming marketing into community building; Transforming human resources into conscious evolution; Transforming operations into knowledge creation; Transforming finance into sustainable development. Part 6 Transformation Management: Enterprise and transformation. Part 7 Epilogue. Index.

About the Author: Professor Ronnie Lessem is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics. He has been an adjunct professor at IMD, Lausanne and is now Director of the Trans-cultural Centre and programmes at the University of Buckingham, UK. Ronnie Lessem was the managing director of a clothing business in South Africa and he has acted as a consultant and adviser on organisational learning, knowledge creation and cross-cultural management to international companies such as the Anglian Water Group in the UK. He is currently working with Virgin Group companies. Professor Lessem has written over twenty books on subjects including organisational development, change and transformation.

Dr. Alexander Schieffer studied economics, business administration, law and social sciences at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland. He also gained a Doctorate in Leadership at St Gallen. Dr Schieffer is a member of the Society for Organisational Learning and the World Business Academy. He has published a variety of articles and books in the last ten years.

Both authors run doctoral programmes at Bethel University, USA , and Buckingham University, UK on Social and Economic Innovation, and are currently designing curricula for sustainable business and economics at Sekem's Heliopolis University in Egypt. They are co-founders of the Geneva-based TRANS4M Four World Center for Social Innovation. www.trans-4-m.com

Reviews: 'In these troubled times it takes Lessem and Schieffer and just a handful of others to remind us that sustainable wealth can only be created by generating wealth for other people. Hooked as we are on own speculative self-interests, we ignore the challenges of transforming our own systems. It is time to pay heed to those showing us how wealth arises from voluntary reciprocity, as opposed to unilateral manipulation of assets.' – Prof. Charles Hampden-Turner, School of Engineering, Cambridge University, UK

'...draws from the very best examples from the past, recognises the realities of today and seeks to develop innovative solutions for the future. It is welcomed by the International Business Leaders Forum which itself is committed to leadership transformation.' Adam Leach, Chief Executive, International Business Leaders Forum, UK

'...With their book, Lessem and Schieffer present everyone with the opportunity to understand and perform a transformation of their business model. "Transformation Management" is therefore an outstanding piece in today's management literature.' – Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish, Founder & President of Sekem Group, Egypt, Recipient of the "Right Livelihood Award" (Alternative Nobel Prize)

'Transformation Management is one of those rare management approaches that builds on the culture of particular worlds, enabling politicians, businessmen and civic activists, to build integral institutions upon our own local soils, while taking account of the wisdom of others.' – Mfuniselwa J. Bhengu Esq., Member of South African Parliament, Author of "Ubuntu: The Essence of Democracy"and "Ubuntu: A Global Philosophy for Humankind"

'Over the past two decades China has transformed from a command economy to a socialist market economy with many social, economic and environmental challenges to be addressed and overcome. Looking ahead, the world's economic landscape will be very different than it is now and there is an urgent need to seek innovative solutions to the world's burning issues. Transformation Management makes an important contribution to the thinking that will be a necessary foundation for new approaches to the role of business in society. - Prof. Dong Keyong, Dean of the School of Public Administration, The Renmin University of China'.

‘This book and the "Transformation and Innovation" series as a whole represent a logical development of the globalisation genre of books, many of which have been reviewed here. Now that the process of globalisation and the marketing potential it offers have been pretty well documented, it is only natural that analysis should move to deeper, more subtle, issues. This volume, and the series generally, are excellent examples of this change in emphasis, and as such they represent a valuble extension of the globalisation literature.’ Economic Outlook and Business Review

This title is also available as an ebook, ISBN 978-1-4094-0342-5

Professor Lessem and Dr Schieffer jointly founded TRANS4M

Extracts from this title are available to view:

Full contents list and list of figures

Prologue

Chapter 2 - The four fundamentals of transformation management