Complexity theory and organizations

This article is about the application of complexity science to strategy. For its application to the problems of economics, see Complexity economics. For other uses, see Complexity theory (disambiguation).

Complexity theory and organizations, also called complexity strategy or complex adaptive organizations, is the use of the study of complexity systems in the field of strategic management and organizational studies.[1][2][3][4] It draws from research in the natural sciences that examines uncertainty and non-linearity.[5] Complexity theory emphasizes interactions and the accompanying feedback loops that constantly change systems. While it proposes that systems are unpredictable, they are also constrained by order-generating rules.[6]: 74 

Complexity theory has been used in the fields of strategic management and organizational studies. Application areas include understanding how organizations or firms adapt to their environments and how they cope with conditions of uncertainty. Organizations have complex structures in that they are dynamic networks of interactions, and their relationships are not aggregations of the individual static entities. They are adaptive; in that, the individual and collective behavior mutate and self-organize corresponding to a change-initiating micro-event or collection of events.[7][8]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference CAS-T-32 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  5. ^ Grobman, Gary M. (2005). "Complexity Theory: a new way to look at organizational change" (PDF). Public Administration Quarterly. 29 (3): 351–384. doi:10.1177/073491490502900305. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  6. ^ Burnes, Bernard (2005). "Complexity theories and organizational change". International Journal of Management Reviews. 7 (2): 73–90. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2370.2005.00107.x.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference CAS-T-01 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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