Systems fragility: The sociology of chaos

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori R. Hodges, MA
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Sociotechnical Systems ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Complex Adaptive

This article examines the concept of community fragility in emergency management from a systems perspective. Using literature that addresses fragility in four areas of complex systems, including ecosystems, social systems, sociotechnical systems, and complex adaptive systems, a theoretical framework focused on the emergency management field is created. These findings illustrate how community fragility factors can be used in the emergency management field to not only improve overall outcomes after disaster but also build less fragile systems and communities in preparation for future disasters.

The complexity continuum, Part 1: hard and soft theories

Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1330-1354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Yolles
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Viable Systems ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Complexity Theories

PurposeComplex systems adapt to survive, but little comparative literature exists on various approaches. Adaptive complex systems are generic, this referring to propositions concerning their bounded instability, adaptability and viability. Two classes of adaptive complex system theories exist: hard and soft. Hard complexity theories include Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) and Viability Theory, and softer theories, which we refer to as Viable Systems Theories (VSTs), that include Management Cybernetics at one extreme and Humanism at the other. This paper has a dual purpose distributed across two parts. In Part 1, the purpose of this paper is to identify the conditions for the complementarity of the two classes of theory. In Part 2, the purpose is to explore (in part using Agency Theory) the two classes of theory and their proposed complexity continuum.Design/methodology/approachA detailed analysis of the literature permits a distinction between hard and softer approaches towards modelling complex social systems. Hard theories are human-incommensurable, while soft ones are human-commensurable, therefore more closely related to the human condition. The characteristics that differentiate between hard and soft approaches are identified.FindingsHard theories are more restrictive than the softer theories. The latter can embrace degrees of “softness” and it is explained how hard and soft approaches can be mixed, sometimes creating Harmony.Originality/valueThere are very few explorations of the relationship between hard and soft approaches to complexity theory, and even fewer that draw in the notion of harmony.

scholarly journals The Substrate-Independence Theory: Advancing Constructor Theory to Scaffold Substrate Attributes for the Recursive Interaction between Knowledge and Information

Systems ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
John Turner ◽  
Dave Snowden ◽  
Nigel Thurlow
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Structure Learning ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Complex Environments ◽  
External Threats ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Construction Tasks ◽  
Post Hoc

The substrate-independence theory utilizes sensemaking techniques to provide cognitively based scaffolds that guide and structure learning. Scaffolds are cognitive abstractions of constraints that relate to information within a system. The substrate-independence theory concentrates on the flow of information as the underlying property of the host system. The substrate-independence theory views social systems as complex adaptive systems capable of repurposing their structure to combat external threats by utilizing constructors and substrates. Constructor theory is used to identify potential construction tasks, the legitimate input and output states that are possible, to map the desired change in the substrate’s attributes. Construction tasks can be mapped in advance for ordered and known environments. Construction tasks may also be mapped in either real-time or post hoc for unordered and complex environments using current sensemaking techniques. Mapping of the construction tasks in real-time becomes part of the landscape, and scaffolds are implemented to aid in achieving the desired state or move to a more manageable environment (e.g., from complex to complicated).

scholarly journals THE ADOPTION OF MANAGEMENT CONTROLS FROM A COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-24
Author(s):  
Joshua Mandre ◽  
◽  
James Kagaari ◽  
Levi Kabagambe ◽  
Joseph Ntayi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Management Controls ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether self-organisation predicts of adoption of management controls in manufacturing firms. The study employed the lens of complex adaptive systems theory to investigate the research question. The study used a cross-sectional survey to collect data from 202 manufacturing firms with the use of a multi-dimensional self-administered questionnaire Data were analyzed quantitatively using PLS-SEM. The findings indicate a positive relationship between innovativeness, emergence and adoption of management controls. The hypothesis for networks of interaction was not supported.

Complex Adaptive Systems Thinking Approach to Enterprise Architecture

2016 ◽  
pp. 339-389
Author(s):  
Marc Rabaey
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Enterprise Architecture ◽  
Time Dynamic ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Unstable Environment ◽  
Systems Thinking Approach ◽  
High Degree

Complex systems interact with an environment where a high degree of uncertainty exists. To reduce uncertainty, enterprises (should) create intelligence. This chapter shows that intelligence has two purposes: first, to increase and to assess (thus to correct) existing knowledge, and second, to support decision making by reducing uncertainty. The chapter discusses complex adaptive systems. Enterprises are not only complex systems; they are also most of the time dynamic because they have to adapt their goals, means, and structure to survive in the fast evolving (and thus unstable) environment. Crucial for enterprises is to know the context/ecology in which they act and operate. The Cynefin framework makes the organization and/or its parts aware of the possible contexts of the organization and/or its parts: simple, complicated, complex, chaotic, or disordered. It is crucial for the success of implementing and using EA that EA is adapted to function in an environment of perpetual change. To realize this, the chapter proposes and elaborates a new concept of EA, namely Complex Adaptive Systems Thinking – Enterprise Architecture (CAST-EA).

Modularity and Complex Adaptive Systems

2008 ◽  
pp. 75-104
Author(s):  
David Cornforth ◽  
David G. Green
Keyword(s):  
Fault Tolerance ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Single Unit ◽  
Phase Changes ◽  
Critical Phase ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Different Levels

Modularity is ubiquitous in complex adaptive systems. Modules are clusters of components that interact with their environment as a single unit. They provide the most widespread means of coping with complexity, in both natural and artificial systems. When modules occur at several different levels, they form a hierarchy. The effects of modules and hierarchies can be understood using network theory, which makes predictions about certain properties of systems such as the effects of critical phase changes in connectivity. Modular and hierarchic structures simplify complex systems by reducing long-range connections, thus constraining groups of components to act as a single component. In both plants and animals, the organisation of development includes modules, such as branches and organs. In artificial systems, modularity is used to simplify design, provide fault tolerance, and solve difficult problems by decomposition.

Web Knowledge Turbine as a Proposal for Personal and Professional Self-Organisation in Complex Times

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique Rubio Royo ◽  
Susan Cranfield McKay ◽  
Jose Carlos Nelson-Santana ◽  
Ramiro N Delgado Rodríguez ◽  
Antonio A. Ocon-Carreras
Keyword(s):  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Collective Narratives ◽  
Complex Process ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Complex Ecosystem ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
Self Organisation ◽  
Web Knowledge

This article describes a proposal for sustainable way to adapt to current complex process of global transformation, using the ‘Web Knowledge Turbine' (WKT) as a self-organised ecosystem for the co-creation of personal and collective narratives. The authors contemplate all human social systems as Complex Adaptive Systems with the capacity for self-organisation derived from a permanent learning process. Accordingly, a shift in the focus of teaching programmes from mere mechanisms of knowledge transmission, to a process focused on learning and in particular, a process of self-directed, connected, and deep learning which has at its core the profile of the eLearner as the central protagonist. The cornerstone of this process is a Complex Ecosystem of Personal Knowledge (CEPK) which will support teaching at an undergraduate level, progressively and transversely, from its outset. Considering the classroom as a networked community of learners whose objective is not only to gain a command of a particular subject (WHAT content do they need to learn?), but also HOW and WHY they need to learn it.

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