This book provides the conceptual framework and a comprehensive guide to the principles, methods and tools for managing organizations. The authors introduce “New Knowledge” by presenting a methodology, 'The Decalogue’, that portrays a genuinely systemic approach for managing complexity in organizations and Value Chains through focusing on the management of a leverage point called constraint (Theory of Constraints) and the understanding of variation (Theory of Profound Knowledge). This systemic approach leverages the intrinsic process and project-based nature of the work of organizations. Functional hierarchy is replaced by a network-like structure, driven by the goal of the system and governed by a new design of the organization called “Network of Projects”. The transition towards the Network of Projects requires a cognitive shift in the way we view and put to good use human talent and ingenuity as well as a powerful algorithm to orchestrate and synchronize individual competencies.
The authors discuss at length this algorithm, how the Theory of Constraints helps in the cognitive challenges of this shift and also how technology can be used fruitfully to assist with the operational implications. The target audience for this book is made up of leaders and managers of organizations as well as researchers and practitioners in the field of management and organizational design.
Dr. Domenico Lepore graduated in Physics from the University of Salerno (dottore in fisica), Italy in 1988 with an experimental thesis on non-linear dynamics in superconductors. First at the Ministry of Industry, Milan, and since the second half of 1990s with the companies he founded, his focus has always been the drastic improvement of business performance in small and medium enterprises, enabling them to shift, conceptually and operationally, beyond a pre-complexity paradigm.
Lepore co-developed the Decalogue Management Methodology, a unique synergy of Deming's Theory of Profound Knowledge and Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, successfully implemented internationally in multiple sectors and first published internationally in 1999.
Following a period as President of a USA public company, Lepore founded Intelligent Management in Canada to disseminate the Decalogue and with his partners developed the ‘Network of Projects’ organizational design and the Ess3ntial platform for multi-project environments, drawing on Systems Science and Network Theory.
Dr. Angela Montgomery was awarded a PhD in Literature (University of London) in 1994 with a thesis on Literature and Science. She taught at the Universities of London and Salerno and at the European Business School, Milan.
In 1996, with Dr. Domenico Lepore she co-founded a consulting firm in Milan, Italy that developed The Decalogue management methodology; she became directly involved in its dissemination with a particular interest in the Thinking Processes from the Theory of Constraints. She subsequently co-founded Intelligent Management in Canada.
Montgomery writes regularly about the Decalogue methodology and is author of a business novel about personal and business transformation bought in 43 countries to date. ‘The Human Constraint’ (Taylor & Francis) provides a narrative version of several case histories with the Decalogue method. It illustrates the vision of a new economics that allows the human community to live within its environments more intelligently and harmoniously.
Dr. Giovanni Siepe graduated in Physics from the University of Salerno, Italy in 1985 (dottore in fisica, magna cum laude) with research work on theoretical physics. He worked for almost two decades as an executive in industries in Italy and Switzerland before joining a consulting firm in Milan, Italy founded by Domenico Lepore, where he led the creation and development of algorithms and software to manage organizations as complex systems.
In 2007 Siepe became Director of Statistical Studies for Barzel Industries, Canada. In 2010 he co-founded Intelligent Management, a consulting firm with the goal of further disseminating the Decalogue Management Methodology. He contributed to developing the ‘Network of Projects’ organization design and led and supervised the development of the Ess3ntial web-based platform for managing multiple projects at finite capacity.
Siepe is author of two patents in the field of micro-electronics and co-author of several papers and books on managing complexity.
Dr. Francesco Siepe was awarded a PhD in Mathematics in 1998 with a thesis on Calculus of Variations at the University of Florence where he carried out research activities on partial differential equations.
He has taught Mathematics and Physics in Italy since 2001 and is adjunct professor at the University of Salerno, for the Departments of Civil Engineering and Mathematics.
In 2009, Siepe became Project Coordinator and Algorithm Developer for Barzel Industries, Canada. Since 2010 he has been a consultant for Intelligent for whom he developed the entire algorithm for the Ess3ntial platform for managing multi-project environments. This new algorithm represents a significant innovation in the application of the Critical Chain solution from the Theory of Constraints for multi-project environments.
Siepe has produced many international publications on topics relating to the existence and regularity of the solutions of partial differential equations and of functionals of the calculus of variations.
