Prospective Theorizing: Researching for Social Impact

Prospection—defined here as the mental representation and evaluation of possible futures—offers scholars a powerful new approach to researching with social impact. In this paper, we begin by reviewing the strengths and limitations of the kind of theory building long favored by the Academy. We do so to understand why management scholarship is perceived as falling short in terms of its relevance and social impact. We invite management scholars to re-examine what determines a theory’s assessed value in the face of social and global challenges distinguished by emergent complexity (Funtowicz & Ravetz 1994; Scharmer & Käufer, 2010). The advantages of prospective theorizing are presented in two variants: projective and envisioned. The first embraces prospection within the current bounds and editorial practices of the Academy. When viewed through a quantum lens, the second proposes a radically new approach to theory building. It contends that quantum science is giving powerful impetus and renewed legitimacy to the idea that prospective theorizing calls forth a reality rather than objectively studying a world “out there”. Such theorizing is not only about advancing knowledge about what exists. In a very real sense, it has agency to create the future it studies. We conclude with an inquiry into what it means for management research aimed at tackling wicked problems such as climate change and social justice.

Narrative Complexity and the Case of Pfitz: An Update for the ‘Systems Novel’

Recent narrative studies of complexity theory have shown that so-called ‘emergent complexity’ does not accommodate to narrative form. Complexity theory is an interdisciplinary field of study that researches how large-scale phenomena emerge from simple components without the guidance of a plan or a controlling agent. Emergence happens by chance, through decentralised interactions at lower levels. Its lack of clear causal chains makes the process difficult to conceptualise in narrative so this article turns to a fictional narrative to demonstrate how complexity theory has trickled down into contemporary literature: the historical novel Pfitz (1995) by Scottish novelist and theoretical physicist Andrew Crumey. While there have been a spate of publications on complex narratives in film studies, literature studies has lagged behind. As a counter, the article revives Tom LeClair’s notion of the systems novel (1987, 1989) as one useful model for thinking about narrative complexity in prose fiction. I first turn to LeClair’s definition of the systems novel and bring it up to date with recent discussions of complexity theory, then turn to Crumey’s novel to illustrate how Pfitz imitates the logic of complex systems through its looping structure, its interconnectedness, and its thematic insistence on chance and necessity.

Societal fragilities and resilience: The emergence of peoplehood in Belarus

The article examines societal fragilities and local resilience strategies in Belarus with a particular focus on the notion of peoplehood. Premised on the idea of evolving forms of agency under the Anthropocene, and the emergent complexity-thinking in International Relations, the article draws on these approaches to societal fragilities and community resilience to understand and explain the unprecedented levels of mobilization occurring in Belarus since the disputed presidential election in August 2020. To this end, the article zooms onto the local communities to provide an analytical perspective on the study of resilience as self-organization. In line with complexity-thinking, it argues in favor of history-specific processual identities, shaped by the aspirations of a “good life,” and realized via local support infrastructures which lie at the heart of societal resilience in Belarus. Yet, the potential of all these elements to actualize into a sweeping transformative force, referred to as “peoplehood” in this article, is rare, and comes at a time of unprecedented crises and existential threats to the life of a community. The Belarusian society seems to be undergoing such a moment that not only makes it more resilient and adaptive to change; it also transforms it into a new form of societal being, self-aware of its worth, self-organized, and self-reliant on its inner capabilities to fight for a life of excellence. The article traces these moments of becoming with, and societal being, via a critical discussion of fragilities and the elements of resilience, actualized into peoplehood.

Reframing Systems Integration: A Process Perspective on Projects

The delivery of large-scale technical systems is achieved through project organizing. The concept of systems integration, with its distinct focus on the systems that projects deliver, is theoretically important as projects become more complex and face significant uncertainty. We reframe systems integration in interorganizational projects as a flexible and adaptive process of making constituent parts of systems work together. This process involves boundary-spanning structures and activities to address emergent complexity and uncertainty (that are both technological and organizational in nature). We discuss implications and highlight areas for further research on projects.

Leadership Competency for Megaproject‘s Complexity Management: A Conceptual Study

This study aims to formulate a project manager’s leadership competency to manage megaproject’s complexity. Through qualitative literature exploration, this study integrates seven organizational leadership theories to develop megaproject leadership competency. Technical, emotional social and adaptive competencies are proposed as components of megaproject leadership competency that are crucial for managing structural, social, and emergent complexity. This study contributes to scholarship by giving insight into the leadership theories that potentially expanded the megaproject realm. For the practitioners, among others the project manager, this study gives a description of competencies that could be considered for managing megaproject complexity.

Greek Government’s Communication Approach During the Covid-19 First Wave

The present policy brief draws from an empirical dissertation research, which took place during the outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic, in Athens, Greece. The main assumption of this interdisciplinary work is that Greek government’s Covid-19 emergency communication and crisis management approach (during the first wave of the pandemic) can be described by the Pragmatic Complexity Communication Model (PCOM), according to which communication involves an emergent complexity of reciprocal relationships and levels of interaction. This assumption is examined and validated through a qualitative research process, using an online open-ended questionnaire and focusing on a group of government officials and a group of correspondent journalists. The subsequent analysis also highlights the intimate links between government’s emergency communication (and crisis management) approach and the so-called “reformist culture”, that is, an extrovert, pluralist and anti-populist way of government, emphasising preparedness, collaboration, consistency, coordination, trust and community. This results in specific policy considerations and recommendations regarding governmental Covid-19 response in general.

The long and winding road: Accidents and tinkering in software standardization

Software is based on universal principles but not its development. Relating software to hardware is never automatic or easy. Attempts to optimize software production and drastically reduce their costs (like in hardware) have been very restricted. Instead, highly-skilled and experienced individuals are ultimately responsible for project success. The long and convoluted path towards useful and reliable software is often plagued by idiosyncratic accidents and emergent complexity. It was expected that software standardisation would remove these sources of unwanted diversity by aiming to controllable development processes, universal programming languages, and toolkits of reusable software components. However, limited adoption of development standards suggests that we still do not understand why software is so difficult to produce. Software standardisation has been limited by our poor understanding of humans’ role at the origin of technological diversity.