The author "demonstrates that when companies use systems thinking to view customers and the market as an extension of the organization, they achieve a meeting of the minds - creating value for customer, community, and enterprise. Barabba rejects the path of organizational restructuring and instead presents a framework for creating unity of knowledge and purpose across functions and for linking them with the markets they serve. He offers an array of tools and concepts - like the dialogue decision process and the knowledge-use network - designed to promote systemic knowledge gathering and decision making without dissipating functional competencies."--Book jacket.