Creative Management of Complex Systems

2The Evolution of Complex Systems

Companies and all forms of human organizations function as complex adaptive systems (CAS). The description of such CAS is the subject of this chapter as well as Chapter 3. The present chapter aims to describe the ways in which organizations evolve by interpreting them as self-organized systems whose trajectories over time are marked by periods of dynamic flux and adaptation as well as phases of stability. Chapter 3 will be dedicated to the question of steering CAS, as we noted in Chapter 1, adaptive systems cannot be controlled but can be steered over time. Overall, this Chapter presents the evolutionary characteristics of complex systems from the vantage point of an outside observer – a cybernetic, systems dynamic and economic approach. Chapter 3 will assume a more managerial perspective. The management of systems that, due to their “complexity”, are likely to organize themselves through radical and largely unexpected changes is obviously a challenging task. We will see what qualities their managers must have in order to overcome this challenge, as well as the types of procedures they must implement in order to intelligently “steer” them within such a context. These two chapters necessarily have a strong connection, which will lead us to deal with the same subjects, but from different perspectives. In particular, the paradigm shifts described in this chapter will be interpreted in Chapter 3 as the emergence of new signals for management, ...