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Complexity Theory (complexity + theory)
Selected AbstractsAdaptive and Generative Learning: Implications from Complexity TheoriesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 2 2010Ricardo Chiva One of the most important classical typologies within the organizational learning literature is the distinction between adaptive and generative learning. However, the processes of these types of learning, particularly the latter, have not been widely analyzed and incorporated into the organizational learning process. This paper puts forward a new understanding of adaptive and generative learning within organizations, grounded in some ideas from complexity theories: mainly self-organization and implicate order. Adaptive learning involves any improvement or development of the explicate order through a process of self-organization. Self-organization is a self-referential process characterized by logical deductive reasoning, concentration, discussion and improvement. Generative learning involves any approach to the implicate order through a process of self-transcendence. Self-transcendence is a holo-organizational process characterized by intuition, attention, dialogue and inquiry. The main implications of the two types of learning for organizational learning are discussed. [source] Complexity Theory and the Philosophy of EducationEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 1 2008Mark Mason Abstract Following a brief introduction to complexity theory, this paper considers how various themes in the field relate to the philosophical study of education. Issues and questions introduced include the challenge of complexity theory for the philosophy of education,and, conversely, some critical challenges for complexity theory from educational philosophy; complexity theory and educational continuity and change; the importance that complexity theory places on interpretive perspectives that are transphenomenal, transdisciplinary and transdiscursive; the risks of simplifying complexity to a point that excludes its ambiguities and includes only its dominant usages; the degree of coherence between Dewey's philosophical orientation and that of complexity theory; how Foucault might be read as a complexity theorist; how educational research informed by complexity theory might ask different questions with different analytical perspectives,connectionist, holistic, non-linear, rather than input,output ,black-box' causal modelling, for example; and how curriculum, teaching, the epistemology of schooling, and the ,education of consciousness',understood s an emergent phenomenon,might be different when viewed from the perspective of complexity theory. [source] Educational Philosophy and the Challenge of Complexity TheoryEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 1 2008Keith Morrison Abstract Complexity theory challenges educational philosophy to reconsider accepted paradigms of teaching, learning and educational research. However, though attractive, not least because of its critique of positivism, its affinity to Dewey and Habermas, and its arguments for openness, diversity, relationships, agency and creativity, the theory is not without its difficulties. These are seen to lie in terms of complexity theory's nature, status, methodology, utility and contribution to the philosophy of education, being a descriptive theory that is easily misunderstood as a prescriptive theory, silent on key issues of values and ethics that educational philosophy should embrace, of questionable internal consistency, and of limited ,added value' in educational philosophy. The paper sets out key tenets of complexity theory and argues that, though it is useful for educational philosophy, it requires new conceptual tools and mind-sets to comprehend fully its significance. [source] When executives successfully influence peers: The role of target assessment, preparation, and tacticsHUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2005Harvey G. Enns We examined 62 lateral influence episodes to more fully understand the process used by executives to gain the support of peers for new initiatives. Behavioral complexity theories (cf. Zaccaro, 2001) were used to formulate the research questions related to this study and interpret the results. Interestingly, target assessment factors were connected to certain preparation efforts and the use of specific influence tactics. Executives' preparation efforts, however, were not associated with influence tactic use. Implications for HR professionals and directions for research are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Adaptive and Generative Learning: Implications from Complexity TheoriesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, Issue 2 2010Ricardo Chiva One of the most important classical typologies within the organizational learning literature is the distinction between adaptive and generative learning. However, the processes of these types of learning, particularly the latter, have not been widely analyzed and incorporated into the organizational learning process. This paper puts forward a new understanding of adaptive and generative learning within organizations, grounded in some ideas from complexity theories: mainly self-organization and implicate order. Adaptive learning involves any improvement or development of the explicate order through a process of self-organization. Self-organization is a self-referential process characterized by logical deductive reasoning, concentration, discussion and improvement. Generative learning involves any approach to the implicate order through a process of self-transcendence. Self-transcendence is a holo-organizational process characterized by intuition, attention, dialogue and inquiry. The main implications of the two types of learning for organizational learning are discussed. [source] "Globalization Theory": Yesterday's Fad or More Lively than Ever?INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2007MATHIAS ALBERT This article argues that while globalization theory is far from being past its most productive phase, as some of its critics claim, it does exhibit a number of shortcomings, particularly when it comes to identifying a clear point of reference for what is taken to be globalized and applying theoretical concepts developed in the analysis of national societies to a global level. This article argues that globalization theory stands on solid ground in that globalization theory has developed four strands of research, which are fairly well developed and which distinguish it as a separate field of inquiry, these four strands being the understanding of globalization as inherently varied globalization, global governance research, global history, and global/world society research. It argues that in order to redress some of the problems of globalization theory, it is necessary to build on these four strands and merge them with the traditional sociological concepts of functional differentiation and rationalization as well as with insights from complexity theories. [source] Theory of Mind and Relational ComplexityCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2003Glenda Andrews Cognitive complexity and control theory and relational complexity theory attribute developmental changes in theory of mind (TOM) to complexity. In 3 studies, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds performed TOM tasks (false belief, appearance,reality), less complex connections (Level 1 perspective-taking) tasks, and transformations tasks (understanding the effects of location changes and colored filters) with content similar to TOM. There were also predictor tasks at binary-relational and ternary-relational complexity levels, with different content. Consistent with complexity theories: (a) connections and transformations were easier and mastered earlier than TOM; (b) predictor tasks accounted for more than 80% of age-related variance in TOM; and (c) ternary-relational items accounted for TOM variance, before and after controlling for age and binary-relational items. Prediction did not require hierarchically structured predictor tasks. [source] Complexity Theory and the Philosophy of EducationEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 1 2008Mark Mason Abstract Following a brief introduction to complexity theory, this paper considers how various themes in the field relate to the philosophical study of education. Issues and questions introduced include the challenge of complexity theory for the philosophy of education,and, conversely, some critical challenges for complexity theory from educational philosophy; complexity theory and educational continuity and change; the importance that complexity theory places on interpretive perspectives that are transphenomenal, transdisciplinary and transdiscursive; the risks of simplifying complexity to a point that excludes its ambiguities and includes only its dominant usages; the degree of coherence between Dewey's philosophical orientation and that of complexity theory; how Foucault might be read as a complexity theorist; how educational research informed by complexity theory might ask different questions with different analytical perspectives,connectionist, holistic, non-linear, rather than input,output ,black-box' causal modelling, for example; and how curriculum, teaching, the epistemology of schooling, and the ,education of consciousness',understood s an emergent phenomenon,might be different when viewed from the perspective of complexity theory. [source] Educational Philosophy and the Challenge of Complexity TheoryEDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Issue 1 2008Keith Morrison Abstract Complexity theory challenges educational philosophy to reconsider accepted paradigms of teaching, learning and educational research. However, though attractive, not least because of its critique of positivism, its affinity to Dewey and Habermas, and its arguments for openness, diversity, relationships, agency and creativity, the theory is not without its difficulties. These are seen to lie in terms of complexity theory's nature, status, methodology, utility and contribution to the philosophy of education, being a descriptive theory that is easily misunderstood as a prescriptive theory, silent on key issues of values and ethics that educational philosophy should embrace, of questionable internal consistency, and of limited ,added value' in educational philosophy. The paper sets out key tenets of complexity theory and argues that, though it is useful for educational philosophy, it requires new conceptual tools and mind-sets to comprehend fully its significance. [source] DO WE NEED AN EXTENDED EVOLUTIONARY SYNTHESIS?EVOLUTION, Issue 12 2007Massimo Pigliucci The Modern Synthesis (MS) is the current paradigm in evolutionary biology. It was actually built by expanding on the conceptual foundations laid out by its predecessors, Darwinism and neo-Darwinism. For sometime now there has been talk of a new Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES), and this article begins to outline why we may need such an extension, and how it may come about. As philosopher Karl Popper has noticed, the current evolutionary theory is a theory of genes, and we still lack a theory of forms. The field began, in fact, as a theory of forms in Darwin's days, and the major goal that an EES will aim for is a unification of our theories of genes and of forms. This may be achieved through an organic grafting of novel concepts onto the foundational structure of the MS, particularly evolvability, phenotypic plasticity, epigenetic inheritance, complexity theory, and the theory of evolution in highly dimensional adaptive landscapes. [source] Challenges in urban flood management: travelling across spatial and temporal scalesJOURNAL OF FLOOD RISK MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008C. Zevenbergen Abstract Urban floods cannot be managed in isolation at the city scale and responses to potential flood impacts are complicated by interlinked political, socio-economic and environmental changes. To understand the unique features of urban flood management, a framework should be developed in which spatio-temporal relations are further defined and investigated. This should provide clarity regarding both the feedback loops that cause vulnerability as well as those that build resilience, and how they interact across differing spatial scales. Various insights and methods from system and complexity theory could provide hands-on methods to create such a framework. Yet the transition towards system-based approaches is still surrounded by many unknown factors; more effort should be put into developing a roadmap towards this transition. It is argued that local-scale pioneering and experimentation are essential in this process to encourage the cultivation of resilience through bottom-up initiatives that can shape strategy and policy development. [source] Health in Organization: Towards a Process-Based View*JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, Issue 2 2007Robert MacIntosh abstract This paper reports on a collaborative project involving organization scholars and clinicians to examine the ways in which individual and organizational health are conceptualized in the literature. We illustrate how the use of systems theories (in this case complexity theory) in relation to organizational health introduces problems such as the risk of promoting organizational health at the expense of individual well-being. The phenomena of organizational health and individual health are often presented as having a symbiotic relationship and we suggest some circumstances where this is not the case. Our central argument is that we need to move beyond current conceptual limitations and move towards a more process-based model of health in organization rather than organizational health. [source] On the complexity of finding paths in a two-dimensional domain I: Shortest pathsMLQ- MATHEMATICAL LOGIC QUARTERLY, Issue 6 2004Arthur W. Chou Abstract The computational complexity of finding a shortest path in a two-dimensional domain is studied in the Turing machine-based computational model and in the discrete complexity theory. This problem is studied with respect to two formulations of polynomial-time computable two-dimensional domains: (A) domains with polynomialtime computable boundaries, and (B) polynomial-time recognizable domains with polynomial-time computable distance functions. It is proved that the shortest path problem has the polynomial-space upper bound for domains of both type (A) and type (B); and it has a polynomial-space lower bound for the domains of type (B), and has a #P lower bound for the domains of type (A). (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Fractals of strategic coherence in a successful nonprofit organizationNONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 4 2007Janice A. Black We theorize that organizations that are able to use stories and examples to explain their strategy and offer a flexible guide to discretionary employee behaviors use them in what can be termed a fractal fashion. The thesis is based on the idea of how strategic logic can be communicated and how it can be reiterated to lead to strategic coherence across different levels of analysis in organizations. The parallels of a nonlinear, reinforcing process that is based on iteration inspired us to draw on complexity theory and fractal processes to understand the generation of strategic coherence. We present the case of a successful nonprofit organization where it appears that such a fractal use of stories occurred. [source] Beyond frontiers of traditional project management: An approach to evolutionary, self-organizational principles and the complexity theory,results of the research programPROJECT MANAGEMENT JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Manfred Saynisch Abstract This article speculates beyond current thinking in project management, asserting that traditional project management cannot fulfill the challenges and requirements for mastering increased complexity in society, economics, and technology. The new paradigmatic evolutionary-systemic and cybernetic-systemic research results (including self-organization or chaotic systems) in the more recent natural and social sciences were analyzed based on their relevance for a new perspective in project management. Selected results of the research program will be presented, including a short description of "Project Management Second Order (PM-2)" as a highlighted result and a new paradigm in project management. [source] Good vibrations: Analytic process as coupled oscillationsTHE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, Issue 5 2009Robert M. Galatzer-Levy This paper develops a new model for the action of psychoanalysis based on concepts from non-linear dynamics (chaos theory and complexity theory). It shows that the analyst,analysand couple may be conceptualized as a new configuration with its own properties that promote complex development in both members of the couple. These developments are an emergent result of the formation of the analyst,analysand couple and are significantly independent of the particular content of the manifest interaction of the couple. The well-studied phenomena of coupled oscillators suggest the specific features of the analysand,analyst interaction that are likely to be most important in conceptualizing analytic change. The model has substantial clinical applications since efforts to arrange for a coupled oscillator system that is central to it are distinct from many of the traditional considerations associated with creating an analytic situation. [source] | ||||||||||||||||