Beyond the fads: Systems thinking for managers

This paper makes a comparison between research work going on in management science, particularly that taking a systems approach, and the research which underlies what is being offered to managers on the market in the form of the so‐called management ‘fads’—concentrating here on guru theory, total quality management, business process re‐engineering and the learning organization. This comparison proves favourable to the systems approach which, with its carefully crafted foundations, seems to offer much more to managers than the fads. Broadening the debate beyond management, a final section discusses the relationship between systems thinking and postmodernism—the latter usually associated with a pessimism about adopting any systemic or systematic approach.