Harnessing Complexity : Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier

by Robert Axelrod; Michael D Cohen

• ISBN13: 9780684867175
• ISBN10: 0684867176
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-05-12
• Publisher: Free Press

Summary

Recent advances in the study of complexity have given scientists profound new insights into how natural innovation occurs and how its power can be exploited. Now two pioneers in the field, Robert Axelrod and Michael D. Cohen, provide leaders in business and government with a guide to complexity that will help them make effective decisions in a world of rapid change. Building on evolutionary biology, computer science, and social design, Axelrod and Cohen have constructed a unique framework for improving the way people work together. Their approach to management is based on the concept of the Complex Adaptive System, which can describe everything from rain forests to the human gene pool, and from automated software agents to multinational companies. The authors' framework reveals three qualities that all kinds of managers must cultivate in their organization: Variation What is the best way to manage the development of software? Should the problem be broken up into small pieces for programmers working independently, thus enhancing variation, or should there be a centralized hierarchy of programmers ruled by a chain of command? The authors show how the decentralized creation of variation combined with the centralized maintenance of standards was the key to the success of the Linux "open source software" project, which brought together thousands of volunteers in cyberspace to produce an operating system that can outperform Microsoft's. Interaction Why did northern Italy prosper while southern Italy remained poor? Recognizing the internal interactions of a Complex Adaptive System -- be it a national region, a company, or a nonprofit group -- reveals vital networks of trust. Axelrod and Cohen explain that in successful adaptive systems, rich networks of horizontal linkages foster cooperation and provide an advantage over other less cooperatively networked groups. In the case of Italy, voluntary associations created networks of trust in the Middle Ages that became northern Italy's critical advantage over the south. Selection Is a Pulitzer Prize better than a National Book Award? How can foundations and corporations design competitions that have a positive effect on the evolution of excellence? The authors' framework makes clear that the worst selection processes are mired in orthodox standards that have not adapted to a new environment. The best selection processes, on the other hand, are created and run by leaders who understand how the standards they use can transform their organization and its environment. This simple, paradigm-shifting analysis of how people work together will transform the way we think about getting things done in a group. Harnessing Complexity is the essential guide to creating wealth, power, and knowledge in the 21st

Author Biography

Robert Axelrod is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. The author of The Evolution of Cooperation. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Introduction	1	(31)
Introduction to the Framework	3	(8)
The Difficulty of Prediction	11	(4)
Complexity Research	15	(5)
The Design of Organizations and Strategies	20	(3)
The Information Revolution	23	(5)
Complexity and Information	25	(2)
Adaptation and Information	27	(1)
Complexity as a Way of Thinking	28	(4)
Variation	32	(30)
The Role of Variation	32	(6)
Altering the Frequency of Types	38	(5)
Copying With Error	38	(2)
Endogenous Copying Mechanisms	40	(1)
Recombining Mechanisms	41	(2)
Exploration Versus Exploitation	43	(7)
Military Personnel Systems	45	(5)
Whether to Encourage Variety	50	(8)
Linux Software Development	52	(6)
Extinction---The Vanishing of Types	58	(4)
Interaction	62	(55)
The Importance of Interaction	62	(6)
Social Capital	64	(4)
How Interaction Works	68	(10)
Proximity and Activation	68	(5)
Spaces: Physical and Conceptual	73	(2)
Combating the AIDS Virus, Part 1	75	(3)
External Methods of Changing Interaction Patterns	78	(8)
Barriers to Movement in Time and Physical Space	78	(2)
Barriers to Movement in Conceptual Spaces	80	(1)
Semi-permeable Barriers	81	(2)
Combating the AIDS Virus, Part 2	83	(1)
Activation in Sequence or in Parallel	84	(2)
Internal Methods of Changing Interaction Patterns	86	(31)
Following Another Agent	86	(7)
Following a Signal	93	(2)
Tags in the Prisoner's Dilemma	95	(6)
Forming Boundaries	101	(2)
Separating Time Scales	103	(1)
Redistributing Stress	104	(2)
Modes of Failure in Information Systems	106	(7)
Organizing Routines	113	(2)
Restructuring of Physical and Conceptual Spaces	115	(2)
Selection	117	(35)
Defining Criteria of Success	119	(9)
Prize Competitions	124	(4)
Determining the Level of Selection	128	(8)
Selection of Agents	128	(3)
Selection of Strategies	131	(5)
Attributing Credit for Success and Failure	136	(9)
Military Simulation	143	(2)
Creating New Agents or Strategies	145	(3)
The Key Role of Copying	146	(1)
Detailed Differences Among Generic Copying Processes	147	(1)
Exercising Visible Leadership	148	(4)
Conclusion	152	(9)
The Central Elements of the Framework	152	(1)
How the Elements Form a Coherent Framework	153	(1)
What a User of the Framework Asks	154	(1)
What a User of the Framework Can Do	155	(3)
What May Come of This Approach	158	(3)
References	161	(12)
Index	173