Complexity and Organization: Readings and Conversations

by MacIntosh; Robert

• ISBN13: 9780415352406
• ISBN10: 0415352401
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-08-03
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In the past decade, complexity-based thinking has exerted increasing, yet somewhat controversial influence over management theory and practice. This has in some part been due to the influence of a number of high-profile articles and the not inconsiderable hype which accompanied them. Another feature of the subject's development has been the diversity of the origins of the thinking and the claims which have been made for it in terms of managerial and organizational implications. This is the first text to bring this thinking together, presenting some of the most influential writing in the field and showing how the subject has emerged, developed and continues to influence managerial thinking. Seminal contributions to the field have been brought together in a single accessible volume, allowing readers to access what might otherwise appear a very diffuse literature. Moreover, the editors, who represent some of the leading thinkers and writers in this field, have combined these readings with a uniquecommentary, indicating not only the significance of the papers but teasing out the subtle but significant differences and similarities between them. These commentaries take the form of a discussion between the editors, debating the contribution that each paper has made to the field and the influence it has had on management thinking. Providing a unique overview, this accessible and thought-provoking reader will be an essential resource for anyone interested in complexity-based approaches.

Table of Contents

About the Editors	vii
Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1	(4)
PART ONE Chaos theory and dissipative structures: direct applications of complexity thinking	5	(126)
Editors' introduction and commentary	7	(2)
Chaos Theory and Strategy: Theory, Application, and Managerial Implications	9	(18)
David Levy
Conditioned Emergence: A Dissipative Structures Approach to Transformation	27	(29)
Robert MacIntosh
Donald MacLean
Surfing the Edge of Chaos	56	(18)
Richard T. Pascale
The Science of Complexity: An Alternative Perspective for Strategic Change Processes	74	(27)
Ralph Stacey
Chaos and the Strange Attractor of Meaning	101	(30)
Margaret J. Wheatley
Editors' discussion of the readings in Part One	115	(16)
PART TWO Categorizing complexity	131	(76)
Editors' introduction and commentary	133	(1)
Evolving Complexity in Social Science	134	(28)
Peter M. Allen
Speaking of Complexity in Management Theory and Practice	162	(23)
Douglas Griffin
Patricia Shaw
Ralph Stacey
Emergence: A Construct Amid a Thicket of Conceptual Snares	185	(22)
Jeffrey Goldstein
Editors' discussion of the readings in Part Two	200	(7)
PART THREE Complexity in social settings	207	(82)
Editors' introduction and commentary	209	(1)
From Complexity Science to Complex Thinking: Organization as Simple Location	210	(27)
Robert Chia
Learning as an Activity of Interdependent People	237	(10)
Ralph Stacey
Complex Thinking, Complex Practice: The Case for a Narrative Approach to Organizational Complexity	247	(42)
Haridimos Tsoukas
Mary Jo Hatch
Editors' discussion of the readings in Part Three	277	(12)
Concluding remarks	289	(4)
Index	293