An Initial Set of Heuristics for Handling Organizational Complexity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Beale ◽  
Theo Tryfonas
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Complexity

Science Fiction and Administrative Truths: The Short Story and Novella as Administrative Cases

Public Voices ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Nolan J. Argyle ◽  
Lee M. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
Organizational Complexity ◽  
Professional Career ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Hands On

Pre-service and in-service MPA students share a common desire for hands-on, real world instruction related to their professional career goals, leading to a pedagogic discounting of fiction as an appropriate tool for analyzing and "solving" problems. However, several factors weigh heavily in favor of using science fiction short stories and novellas in the MPA classroom setting. These include the need for interesting case scenarios exploring various administrative issues; leveling the playing field between the two types of students by de-emphasizing the use of "contemporary" cases; access to literature that explores the future shock of increasing organizational complexity; and the desirability of Rorschach type materials that facilitate discussion of. values and administrative truths. The discussion proceeds by tracing the development of the case study technique, its advantages and disadvantages in the classroom, addressing the utility of "fiction" as an educational resource, and showing how the science fiction literature has matured to the point where it can be applied in all of the major sub-fields of public administration. Several outstanding examples are detailed, and a thorough bibliography is provided.

Re-envisioning organizational complexity using a multiple perspectives model

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Choon Bae (Paul) Yoo
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Alliances ◽  
Business Partnerships ◽  
Multiple Perspectives ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
Organizational Complexity ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Stakeholder Perspectives ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Effective Decision Making ◽  
Perspective Model

Abstract Organizations are now more complex and require collaboration to function effectively across multiple stakeholders. Consequently, they need to be familiar with collaborative projects and participate consciously in shared processes for the accomplishment of particular goals. In order to support and strengthen business partnerships, organizations could use a model based on a multi-perspective approach, as a way of visualizing effective decision-making processes and gaining an understanding regarding how they can establish and maintain stable relationships with other organizations and strategic alliances. The benefits of the new multi-perspective model could be utilized for the collaboration of multiple stakeholders and to drive future organizational change. This study presents a case study which explores the use of a multiple perspective framework in Australian Government Organizations. The results from this study suggest that a multi-perspective model may be used to address organizational complexity through the holistic integration of stakeholder perspectives and sustained knowledge flow.

scholarly journals A Multi-criteria Approach in the Project Selection Process in Multi-Project Context

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Charles Éric Manyombé ◽  
Sébastien H. Azondékon
Keyword(s):  
Selection Process ◽  
Selection Procedure ◽  
Project Selection ◽  
Project Portfolio ◽  
Organizational Complexity ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Project Environment ◽  
Effective Decision ◽  
Effective Decision Making

In a multi-project environment, organizational complexity refers to the difficulties that organizations often face in choosing projects to build their portfolios, since they do not aim to achieve the same strategic business objectives. It is for this reason that the project selection process requires the implementation of an effective decision-making tool when composing a project portfolio. The objective of this paper is to propose an adapted framework for a better project selection procedure inspired by the approaches of strategic relevance, profitability criteria, uncertainty, and risk analysis, the ability to dispose of scarce resources, and the determination of interdependencies between different projects. 

scholarly journals Evolutionary Thermodynamics and Theory of Social Quality as Links between Physics, Biology, and the Human Sciences

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-86
Author(s):  
Jaap Westbroek ◽  
Harry Nijhuis ◽  
Laurent van der Maesen
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Time Reversibility ◽  
Organizational Complexity ◽  
Social Quality ◽  
The Social ◽  
Laws Of Thermodynamics ◽  
Time Irreversibility ◽  
Quality Approach

This article seeks to open a dialogue between physics, other natural sciences, and the human sciences. Part 1 questions time reversibility as a fundament of physics. This runs counter to the discourses of all other sciences, which do presume the irreversibility of time and the evolution of phenomena. Characteristics of evolution (time irreversibility, chance, evolvement of higher levels of organization) are explained according to the laws of thermodynamics. Evolutionary thermodynamics (ET) is launched as a new connecting concept. Part 2 explores interpretation of the human sciences in analogy with ET. Dialectical interaction between levels of organizational complexity is seen as a driving force in the evolution of nature, humans, and societies. The theory of social quality and the social quality approach (SQA) imply ontological (and epistemological) features with close affinity to elements of ET. Therefore, the SQA carries potentialities to stimulate border-crossing dialogue between the sciences.

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