Complex Decision-Making in Economy and Finance

3Engineering and Complexity Theory: A Field Design Approach

This chapter addresses the concepts seen before in the domains of management and the organization. We describe a number of cases and applications with a view to facilitating the art of concretely applying complexity concepts.

3.1. Design approach for a complex system

This first section focuses on the design level, which should always be the initial concern for practitioners.

3.1.1. Methodological elements for the design of a complex system

As a generic example, a company as a whole can be considered a complex system, as it interacts with its suppliers, clients, the economic and financial context, shareholders and the needs of society. While the principles developed in the previous chapters directly apply, nevertheless, attention will have to be paid to the following multiple points and basic rules:

• – In order to make significant progress, transdisciplinary approaches must be implemented. We will not discard transposing solutions already existing in other fields such as the life sciences or economic and social sciences.
• – The notion of unpredictable behavior must be taken into account and integrated into the system’s ability to react, which implies a differing understanding to the issue of adaptation. Here, the notion of postdiction will be used as much as possible. Yet, in terms of prediction, it will be replaced by the detection of low noise – because minor events can have a great influence and impact on the evolution ...