Complexity summary
Contents:
Lecture 1 - General introduction
Workshop 1 - Organizations as complex socio-technical systems and complex adaptive systems
Workshop 2 - Open systems model of group effectiveness; structural complexities of teams
Workshop 3 - CAS part 2 - The Dutch healthcare system
Workshop 4 - Leadership and virtuality
Workshop 5 - Complexities of gender
Workshop 6 - Organizational learning
Key terms collected
Cases collected
,Lec1 - General Intro
● Complexity - the amount of differentiation that exists within different elements constituting the
organization
● Sources of complexity
→ can be internal and external
○ variety / differentiation - connected to specialization → variety
○ dynamism → change
○ causal mechanisms → expectations
● Open systems
engage in interchanges with the environment & this interchange is an essential factor underlying the
system’s viability
○ organizations as open systems
■ systems of interdependent activities
■ trends, issues, and outside events influence internal decisions & behaviors
■ embedded in the environment → boundaries (physical, cognitive, social) are
difficult to define
■ negentropy
→ all systems evolve naturally toward entropy
→ via resources → organizing → negentropy
■ Law of Limited Variety
- A system’s internal complexity should match the complexity of the environment in
order to survive
open systems perspective
■ Law of Requisite Variety
- A system’s internal complexity should exceed the complexity of the environment in
order to adapt
CAS perspective
● Contingency Theory
○ the best way to organize depends on the nature of the environment to which the
organization relates
○ Steady and transition states
■ steady states
● sufficient degree of organization, complexity and openness
● dynamic equilibrium of change & maintenance
● maintaining fit among internal subsystems and environment → continual
existence
■ transition states
● moving from one steady state to another
● open systems react to environmental pressures that require adaptation
● in a complex&dynamic environment → transition states seen as normal
condition
, Other views:
○ Lawrence & Lorsch: fit
■ external persp. → fit external demands and internal structural design
■ internal persp. → fit among key design components
○ information processing approach (Galbraith, 1973) - 2 assumptions
■ there is no best way to organize
■ different ways of organizing are not equally effective
○ Weick: sense-making
■ creating certainty and sense-making is essential → organizational responses →
routines
● Responses to complexity
○ barriers around technical core → representatives (marketing, sales)
○ smoothing input and output transactions
○ attempts to predict uncertainty
○ rules to coordinate less complex aspects
Mind map
Contents:
Lecture 1 - General introduction
Workshop 1 - Organizations as complex socio-technical systems and complex adaptive systems
Workshop 2 - Open systems model of group effectiveness; structural complexities of teams
Workshop 3 - CAS part 2 - The Dutch healthcare system
Workshop 4 - Leadership and virtuality
Workshop 5 - Complexities of gender
Workshop 6 - Organizational learning
Key terms collected
Cases collected
,Lec1 - General Intro
● Complexity - the amount of differentiation that exists within different elements constituting the
organization
● Sources of complexity
→ can be internal and external
○ variety / differentiation - connected to specialization → variety
○ dynamism → change
○ causal mechanisms → expectations
● Open systems
engage in interchanges with the environment & this interchange is an essential factor underlying the
system’s viability
○ organizations as open systems
■ systems of interdependent activities
■ trends, issues, and outside events influence internal decisions & behaviors
■ embedded in the environment → boundaries (physical, cognitive, social) are
difficult to define
■ negentropy
→ all systems evolve naturally toward entropy
→ via resources → organizing → negentropy
■ Law of Limited Variety
- A system’s internal complexity should match the complexity of the environment in
order to survive
open systems perspective
■ Law of Requisite Variety
- A system’s internal complexity should exceed the complexity of the environment in
order to adapt
CAS perspective
● Contingency Theory
○ the best way to organize depends on the nature of the environment to which the
organization relates
○ Steady and transition states
■ steady states
● sufficient degree of organization, complexity and openness
● dynamic equilibrium of change & maintenance
● maintaining fit among internal subsystems and environment → continual
existence
■ transition states
● moving from one steady state to another
● open systems react to environmental pressures that require adaptation
● in a complex&dynamic environment → transition states seen as normal
condition
, Other views:
○ Lawrence & Lorsch: fit
■ external persp. → fit external demands and internal structural design
■ internal persp. → fit among key design components
○ information processing approach (Galbraith, 1973) - 2 assumptions
■ there is no best way to organize
■ different ways of organizing are not equally effective
○ Weick: sense-making
■ creating certainty and sense-making is essential → organizational responses →
routines
● Responses to complexity
○ barriers around technical core → representatives (marketing, sales)
○ smoothing input and output transactions
○ attempts to predict uncertainty
○ rules to coordinate less complex aspects
Mind map
