Harnessing Complexity

by Axelrod, Robert; Cohen, Michael D

• ISBN13: 9780465005505
• ISBN10: 0465005500
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-02
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

Harnessing Complexity will be indispensable to anyone who wants to better comprehend how people and organizations can adapt effectively in the information age. This book is a step-by-step guide to understanding the processes of variation, interaction, and selection that are at work in all organizations. The authors show how to use their own paradigm of "bottom up" management, the Complex Adaptive System-whether in science, public policy, or private commerce. This simple model of how people work together will change forever how we think about getting things done in a group."Harnessing Complexity distills the managerial essence of current research on complexity....A very valuable contribution to the emerging theory of competition and competitive advantage."-C.K. Prahalad, University of Michigan, coauthor of Competing for the Future"A brilliant exposition that demystifies both the theory and use of Complex Adaptive Systems."-John Seely Brown, Xerox Corporation and Palo Alto Research Center

Author Biography

Robert Axelrod is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. A MacArthur Prize Fellow, he is a leading expert on game theory, artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology, mathematical modeling, and complexity theory. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michael D. Cohen, Professor of Information and Public Policy at the University of Michigan, has served as an External Faculty Member of the Santa Fe Institute and as a long-term consultant at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.

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	(20)
Copying With Error	38	(2)
Endogenous Copying Mechanisms	40	(1)
Recombining Mechanisms	41	(2)
Exploration Versus Exploitation	43	(2)
Example: Military Personnel Systems	45	(5)
Whether to Encourage Variety	50	(2)
Example: Linux Software Development	52	(6)
Extinction---The Vanishing of Types	58	(4)
Interaction	62	(55)
The Importance of Interaction	62	(6)
Example: Social Capital	64	(4)
How Interaction Works	68	(10)
Proximity and Activation	68	(5)
Spaces: Physical and Conceptual	73	(2)
Example: 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)
Example: 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)
Example: Tags in the Prisoner's Dilemma	95	(6)
Forming Boundaries	101	(2)
Separating Time Scales	103	(1)
Redistributing Stress	104	(2)
Example: 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)
Example: 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)
Example: 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