What Causes Changes in Organizations?
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- Date Submitted: 12/03/2014 12:26 AM
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Complexity Science and Organization Studies
Miles A. Zachary
Authors
Steve Maguire- McGill University
Assistant Professor of Strategy and Organization
Ph.D. at H.E.C.-Montreal (2000)
Bill McKelvey- UCLA
Professor of Strategic Organizing and Complexity Science
Ph.D. at Sloan School of Management, MIT (1967)
Laurent Mirabeau- McGill University
Ph.D. candidate and MBA graduate (1997)
Nail Öztas- Gazi University (Turkey)
Member of Faculty of Management
Ph.D. at University of Southern California (2004)
Features of Complex Systems
Defined as a “whole comprised of a large number of parts, each which behaves according to some rule or force that relates it interactively to other parts.”
Individual parts can interact with others to produce emergent patterns on the whole
These emergent patterns could not be predicted from the individual parts
Interactions
Material/energetic or informational
Could be non-linear/highly dependent on initial conditions/interactions
Features of Complex Systems
Features of Complex Systems
Characterized in two ways:
A system whose elements may or not be complex themselves
Systems that characterized by elements being individually dynamic are referred to as complex adaptive systems with each element being “adaptive”
Complex systems are useful in describing all systems that have features of complex systems
Features of complex systems
Depending on the perspective, systems can display varying degrees of complexity
Systems that are highly stable, little can be gained from complexity theory
Complexity theory focuses on the study of complex systems and their emergent characteristics
European v. north america
European complexity theory
Far from equilibrium conditions
How unorganized systems, subject to the energy their energy source (sustainability), evolve
“Dissipative Structures” (Prigogine, 1955)- absent of an energy source or access to the external environment,...
Miles A. Zachary
Authors
Steve Maguire- McGill University
Assistant Professor of Strategy and Organization
Ph.D. at H.E.C.-Montreal (2000)
Bill McKelvey- UCLA
Professor of Strategic Organizing and Complexity Science
Ph.D. at Sloan School of Management, MIT (1967)
Laurent Mirabeau- McGill University
Ph.D. candidate and MBA graduate (1997)
Nail Öztas- Gazi University (Turkey)
Member of Faculty of Management
Ph.D. at University of Southern California (2004)
Features of Complex Systems
Defined as a “whole comprised of a large number of parts, each which behaves according to some rule or force that relates it interactively to other parts.”
Individual parts can interact with others to produce emergent patterns on the whole
These emergent patterns could not be predicted from the individual parts
Interactions
Material/energetic or informational
Could be non-linear/highly dependent on initial conditions/interactions
Features of Complex Systems
Features of Complex Systems
Characterized in two ways:
A system whose elements may or not be complex themselves
Systems that characterized by elements being individually dynamic are referred to as complex adaptive systems with each element being “adaptive”
Complex systems are useful in describing all systems that have features of complex systems
Features of complex systems
Depending on the perspective, systems can display varying degrees of complexity
Systems that are highly stable, little can be gained from complexity theory
Complexity theory focuses on the study of complex systems and their emergent characteristics
European v. north america
European complexity theory
Far from equilibrium conditions
How unorganized systems, subject to the energy their energy source (sustainability), evolve
“Dissipative Structures” (Prigogine, 1955)- absent of an energy source or access to the external environment,...