Creative Management of Complex Systems

Creative Management of Complex Systems PDF Author: Jean-Alain Heraud
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119579023
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
This book is a general presentation of complex systems, examined from the point of view of management. There is no standard formula to govern such systems, nor to effectively understand and respond to them. The interdisciplinary theory of self-organization is teeming with examples of living systems that can reorganize at a higher level of complexity when confronted with an external challenge of a certain magnitude. Modern businesses, considered as complex systems, ideally know how to flexibly and resiliently adapt to their environment, and also how to prepare for change via self-organization. Understanding sources of potential crisis is essential for leaders, though not all crises are necessarily bad news, as creative firms know how to respond to challenges through innovation: new products and markets, organizational learning for collective intelligence, and more.

Creative Management of Complex Systems

Creative Management of Complex Systems PDF Author: Jean-Alain Heraud
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119579023
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Get Book

Book Description
This book is a general presentation of complex systems, examined from the point of view of management. There is no standard formula to govern such systems, nor to effectively understand and respond to them. The interdisciplinary theory of self-organization is teeming with examples of living systems that can reorganize at a higher level of complexity when confronted with an external challenge of a certain magnitude. Modern businesses, considered as complex systems, ideally know how to flexibly and resiliently adapt to their environment, and also how to prepare for change via self-organization. Understanding sources of potential crisis is essential for leaders, though not all crises are necessarily bad news, as creative firms know how to respond to challenges through innovation: new products and markets, organizational learning for collective intelligence, and more.

Creative Management of Complex Systems

Creative Management of Complex Systems PDF Author: Jean-Alain Heraud
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1848219571
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 198

Get Book

Book Description
This book is a general presentation of complex systems, examined from the point of view of management. There is no standard formula to govern such systems, nor to effectively understand and respond to them. The interdisciplinary theory of self-organization is teeming with examples of living systems that can reorganize at a higher level of complexity when confronted with an external challenge of a certain magnitude. Modern businesses, considered as complex systems, ideally know how to flexibly and resiliently adapt to their environment, and also how to prepare for change via self-organization. Understanding sources of potential crisis is essential for leaders, though not all crises are necessarily bad news, as creative firms know how to respond to challenges through innovation: new products and markets, organizational learning for collective intelligence, and more.

Managing Complex Systems

Managing Complex Systems PDF Author: Howard Eisner
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118006690
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Nine innovative methods to think outside the box and solve complex system problems Managing Complex Systems provides specific tools and guidance needed to be a more creative and innovative thinker. Following the author's methodology, the reader will be better able to devise and implement nontraditional solutions to seemingly intractable complex problems. By challenging the reader to think in new and creative ways, the book offers a road map to success, whether measured in terms of competitive advantage, greater market share, improved productivity, or higher profits, all based upon better solutions to difficult problems. The first four chapters set the foundation for creative thinking by exploring the nature of large-scale systems and complexity, thinking inside and outside the box, and examples of how an inventive mind solves problems in both management and scientific domains. Subsequent chapters address nine focused methods that the author has formulated to help the reader think outside the box: * Broaden and generalize * Crossover * Question conventional wisdom * Back of the envelope * Expanding the dimensions * Obversity * Remove constraints * Thinking with pictures * Systems approach Real-life examples are provided for each method that demonstrate how the approach enhances problem solving and decision making in system development and management. Following the discussion of the nine methods, the author examines group decision making as well as additional creative thinking procedures devised by other researchers, including references that assist in exploring these methods in greater detail. The author ends with a wrap-up chapter that includes a test to help readers practice their tendencies toward creative thinking skills and action with respect to solving real-world problems. The nine methods discussed in this book have broad applicability and can be used successfully by managers with a wide range of responsibilities in business and technology. For anyone who is tired of the same old approach with the same old results, this book is essential reading.

Metaphorical Management

Metaphorical Management PDF Author: Klaus Elle
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9789400703407
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
In times of general instability change management is a great challenge. Our fossil mental patterns are not sufficient any more to be able to navigate sensibly the global scenario of complexity. Metaphorical thinking is a method which releases creative impulses into every change process and is of practical use, activating collective knowledge as a new network resource at the same time. This book reflects modern economy, ecology, sustainability and perception from an artistic perspective. However, it is not so much about "art", but rather how the modern artist takes on a serving role in the social arena again. He makes his creative knowledge available to connect processes of large-scale social development, he extends the boundaries of our scientifically limited world view and creates inspired playgrounds where the sensory-visionary can freely interact with the technically-necessary. This is no new aesthetic theory but rather a practical application of the creative process in operation at the crossroads of social interaction. Metaphorical thinking is emotionalized thinking and the observer is not separated from reality, but the centre, the starting point, of every change and new development. This volume offers creative ways to find solutions for a wide range of complex problems. It is a practical instrument for modern leadership and can be used to teach complexity in new ways. This work will help to create a global dialogue for sustainable change. Thsi book is also available in German: ISBN 978-90-481-9678-4

The Innovation Butterfly

The Innovation Butterfly PDF Author: Edward G. Anderson Jr.
Publisher: Nitin Joglekar
ISBN: 1461431301
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Product and service innovations are the result of mutually interacting creative and coordination tasks within a system that has to balance technical decisions, marketplace taste, personnel management, and stakeholder commitment. The constituent elements of such systems are often scattered across multiple firms and across the globe and constitute a complex system consisting of many interacting parts. In the spirit of the "butterfly effect", metaphorically describing the sensitivity to initials conditions of chaotic systems, this book builds an argument that "innovation butterflies" can, in the short term, take up significant amounts of effort and sap efficiencies within individual innovation projects. Such "innovation butterflies" can be prompted by external forces such as government legislation or unexpected spikes in the price of basic goods (such as oil), unexpected shifts in market tastes, or from a company manager’s decisions or those of its competitors. Even the smallest change, the smallest disruption, to this system can steer a firm down an unpredictable and irreversibly different path in terms of technology and market evolution. In the long term, they can shift the balance of the entire innovation portfolio into unplanned directions. More importantly, we describe how innovation leaders can influence the emergent behavior of the system for good or ill. The first half of the book draws parallels from physics, economics, and sociology as well as evidence from multiple industries to describe the structural and behavioral causes of emergent phenomena in innovation settings as well as their often negative impacts. In the second half of the book, we turn to distributed management of innovation under emergence. We show that innovation butterflies, if improperly managed, most often lead to negative outcomes. On the other hand, it is also argued that while the complexity of the innovation system and the desire to experiment and try new and emergent alternatives precludes precise planning, innovation leaders can actually tame innovation butterflies through the design and implementation of appropriate processes, strategies, tools and leadership choices.

Philosophy of Complex Systems

Philosophy of Complex Systems PDF Author:
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 9780080931227
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 952

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Book Description
The domain of nonlinear dynamical systems and its mathematical underpinnings has been developing exponentially for a century, the last 35 years seeing an outpouring of new ideas and applications and a concomitant confluence with ideas of complex systems and their applications from irreversible thermodynamics. A few examples are in meteorology, ecological dynamics, and social and economic dynamics. These new ideas have profound implications for our understanding and practice in domains involving complexity, predictability and determinism, equilibrium, control, planning, individuality, responsibility and so on. Our intention is to draw together in this volume, we believe for the first time, a comprehensive picture of the manifold philosophically interesting impacts of recent developments in understanding nonlinear systems and the unique aspects of their complexity. The book will focus specifically on the philosophical concepts, principles, judgments and problems distinctly raised by work in the domain of complex nonlinear dynamical systems, especially in recent years. -Comprehensive coverage of all main theories in the philosophy of Complex Systems -Clearly written expositions of fundamental ideas and concepts -Definitive discussions by leading researchers in the field -Summaries of leading-edge research in related fields are also included

Complex Systems, Sustainability and Innovation

Complex Systems, Sustainability and Innovation PDF Author: Ciza Thomas
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 9535128418
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
The book on complex systems, sustainability, and innovation explores a broad set of ideas and presents some of the state-of-the-art research in this field concisely in six chapters. In a complex system, it is difficult to know exactly how the individual components contribute to an observed behavior and the extent of each component's contributions. It is the interactions of the individual components that determine the emergent functionalities. This makes it difficult to understand and predict the behavior of complex systems and hence the effects of any innovations in this field. This necessitates for the emergence of a new age of innovations with the main focus on user orientation and sustainability. This book explores some of the complex systems and their dependence on the environment to provide a long-term perspective, aiding innovations and supporting a sustainable society. The intended audience of this book will mainly consist of researchers, research students, and practitioners in the field of complex systems and sustainability.

Organization Design

Organization Design PDF Author: Nicolay Worren
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351383639
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
A well-designed organization is an effective organization. Decisions about organization design determine the shape and form of the organization – not only the reporting structure and authority relations, but also the number and size of sub-units and the interfaces between the sub-units. Indirectly, such decisions affect individual productivity as well as the organization’s ability to attain strategic goals. Organization Design equips the reader with advanced tools and frameworks, based on both research and practical experience, for understanding and re-designing organisations. Particular emphasis is placed on how one can improve effectiveness by simplifying complex roles, processes, and structures. This updated second edition includes a new chapter about traditional organizational forms, and is complemented by a companion website. Students will find thorough conceptual explanations combined with case studies from different industries. This textbook will be essential reading for students, scholars, and practitioners.

Organizations as Complex Systems

Organizations as Complex Systems PDF Author: Maurice Yolles
Publisher: IAP
ISBN: 1607528088
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 887

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Book Description
Managing the Complex is an ambitious title - and it would be an audacious one if we were not to begin with a frank admission: to date few to none of us have a skill set which includes managing the complex. We try various things, we write about others, and we wonder about still others. When a tool, perspective, or technique comes along which seems to evoke success, we emulate it probe it and recoil at the all too often admission that it was situation and context which afforded success its opportunity, and not some quality intrinsic to the tool perspective or technique. Indeed, if the study of complexity has done anything for managers, and for those who espouse managerial theory, it is in providing a ‘scientific foundation’ for the notion that context matters. Those who preach abstract ideas have then to reconcile themselves to the notion that situation and embodiment matters. Those who believe in strong causality and determinism are left to wrestle with the role of chance, uncertainty, and chaos. Those who prefer to argue that men move history are confronted with the role of environment and affordances, while those who argue the reverse are left to contend with charisma, irrationality of crowds, and the strange qualities we know as emotions. A series on complex systems has less ambitious goals to contend with than this. Such a series can deal with classifications, and categories, and speak of ‘noise’ as if it were not the central focus of the problem. Managing the complex is about managing ‘noise’ or perhaps we should say it is about ‘dealing with’ ‘accepting’ ‘making room for’ and ‘learning from’ ‘noise’. The articles in this volume and in volumes to come will each be considered as ‘noise’ by some and as ‘gems’ by others, but we hope that practicing managers and academics alike will find plenty of fuel to drive their personal explorations into understanding, and perhaps even managing, the complex.

Co-Design, Volume II

Co-Design, Volume II PDF Author: Mark Gatenby
Publisher: Business Expert Press
ISBN: 1948198754
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 182

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Book Description
This book is about understanding the nature of design and organization in complex living systems. Design is everywhere in our lives—but the nature of complex systems means that few people feel empowered or equipped to design better futures. Although the places we live are full of material objects, they only become meaningful as they are used and experienced by people. The author looks at design as a way of thinking and acting. Design becomes an open-ended conversation with the world around us. The text is also about the shifting social relations of design—moving from an emphasis on individual engineers and designers toward the participatory process of making sense of tools to improve our lives: we call this process co-design.