Visible Thinking

by John M. Bryson, Colin Eden, Charles B. Finn

Causal mapping is a tool that enables you to make sense of challenging situations so that you can get more out of them. A causal map is a word and arrow diagram in which ideas and actions are causally linked with one another through the use of arrows. Typically, only specialists such as physical or social scientists and operations researchers know about causal mapping and the tool is therefore not widely known or its broad applicability understood. Until now there has been no guidance available on how to make use of the tool for more general purposes. This book lets managers understand the theory and practice of causal mapping in layman's terms for use in both individual and group settings. It shows managers how to develop and use action-oriented strategy maps and logic models in business decision making. The authors show how causal mapping can be used as a tool to make sense of challenging situations and develop effective business responses.

397 pages, ebook

First published July 7, 2004

About the author

John M. Bryson is McKnight Presidential Professor of Planning and Public Affairs at the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barely a two. I really want to give it a one. For the authorship to consist of four professors and then the level of knowledge/writing provided, if it took them more than one day to write this then they wasted their time. The book makes the most trivial of observations sound like dramatic breakthroughs and I don't say this because mapping is bad, but rather these people don't seem to know much about the subject in general. I've been doing this for a while now but never in the vacuum they consider it to exist. Mapping whether it be cause/effect, processes, logical thinking processes (a la Theory of Constraints) or a number of other specific applications revolves around the methodology behind the mapping, and in this regard this book is sorely lacking and I suspect the authors' joint knowledge as well. I could teach in an hour more than this book contains and include the background process as well. That's not an empty brag as I have done it numerous times around the world. I would not recommend this book, but maybe someone out there could find some benefit in it.