Managing complexity

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Keywords: complex systems; games; algorithmic-, organizational-, and organized complexity; organization & system; emergence; attractors; open systems; closure; co-evolution; coordination; double-interact; collective networks; duality of structure; enduring patterns; reflexive actors;

We are living in a world that is growing more and more interconnected, and therefore, complex. Systems of interactions between agents (actors) shape volatile collective networks. Consequently we find ourselves in the position of having to cope with problems that easily pass our comprehension.

In the flux of issues we are confronted with, from a global scale down to the level of local communities, it is almost impossible to find events that can be dealt with in isolation. Most contemporary political and managerial issues reveal entangled events, processes, and consequences that are difficult to understand without grasping the contextual forces that determine their interaction patterns. The acceleration of technological development, especially of the ICT-infrastructure, and the impact it has on governing industrial societies, on managing large multinational corporations, and on small and medium size enterprises cause many governments and boards of directors a headache because they find themselves entangled in inextricable cobwebs. In return for harnessing related complexity, instead of denying it, they may gain a perspective that is not explanatory but active. While seeking to improve emerging conditions, politicians and managers may be aware that they are not able to fully control them.
Governments, institutions and corporations are challenged to become more competent in dealing with complex problems with high levels of uncertainty and ambiguity. They need to shift from traditional mechanistic political approaches in socio-economics to handling vital interaction patterns. Often there is scant attention to important consequences over time and space that emerge from patterns of interaction between a variety of stakeholders.

The complex adaptive systems approach is a way of looking at the world, a way of thinking and acting. It provides sets of questions, concepts, and schemas, and a set of design issues to handle complexity.

To apply the complex adaptive systems approach to social systems, one would have to specify who the major actors are, what they can perceive and do, how they may generate variety in their actions, how they interact with one another, and how these actors frame and sustain their strategies through selection, retention, amplification, or extinction. While acting on local knowedge, how can actors learn to enhance co-evolution.

Can we learn lessons from managing complexity?
Can we become better educated instead of more educated to cope with complexity?
Can we become more competent in handling complexity?

Applications are discussed in detail in Part III "Cases", Chapters 8-11 of the book:

Magic Circle: Principles of Gaming & Simulation

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