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Purpose: This paper introduces a conceptual lens for leading social change in slums and informal settlements. In line with this aim, the purpose of this case study is to describe the public problem-solving approach of a social change organization situated in an informal settlement through the lens of adaptive leadership, complexity theory and social change leadership (SCL). Design/methodology/approach: This paper follows an engaged reflection tradition. First, the author-practitioners describe an informal settlement case hereafter called ISC in southeast Iran where many people have historically remained undocumented and uneducated. Using complex adaptive systems theory, adaptive leadership and SCL as the conceptual lens, the paper analyzes ISC as a complex adaptive context in which the community and the government are in tension in solving problems, particularly illiteracy. The instrumental case study draws from participant observation and document analysis to describe and examine the endeavors of a community office operating within ISC. Through this reflective analysis, the authors illustrate how a social change organization can effectively tackle public issues like illiteracy within informal settlements. Findings: This paper applies complexity leadership theory to a social context. The study illustrates how social change organizations can support the transformation of informal spaces into adaptive spaces to enact social change. Originality/value: This paper reflects on engagement activity near the insecure borders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. By extending an organizational-level theory to the public sphere, this paper contributes theoretically to the complexity theory literature. Moreover, it provides a practical insight for community development and slum upgrading projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we argue that recognising humanitarian logistics (HL) as a complex system is a key step in developing supply chain design and management strategies that meet the needs of stakeholders. This study draws on complex adaptive systems theory to examine the characteristics and implications of complexity for HL. Through case-study research of humanitarian responses in Haiti and Pakistan, characteristics of complexity across organisational boundaries are identified. We find that the complexity of the context impacts the outcome of the humanitarian response and conclude that HL must not only react to its environment, it must also create its environment. As HL must work within significantly differing environments to create solutions, the standardised approaches used to manage supply chains are less desirable. While this paper focuses on HL, wider applicability to other complex logistics operations is also discussed, informing the design and management of contextually specific supply chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water access, demand, usage and management become complex due to the crossing of multiple boundaries: political, social and jurisdictional, as well as physical, ecological and biogeochemical. This paper focuses on a particular class of complex water problems: the allocation of transboundary water (TBW) among competing riparians with conflicting needs. The complexity in TBW allocation lies in the dynamic consequences of competition that arise from the interconnections and feedbacks among actors, processes and institutions operating in the knowledge and political communities. Consequently, many TBW allocation issues become contingent upon the dynamic changes that occur within the knowledge and political communities as well as the interactions and feedback occurring between these two communities. In addition to understanding and addressing the contingent contextual factors that span the knowledge and political communities, resolving complex TBW problems also needs to be guided by contextual application of two global principles - equity and sustainability - as anchors to accommodate the values and interests of the stakeholders involved in a TBW problem. This paper examines the process that led to the relatively successful resolution of conflict over allocating the waters in the Indus basin between India and Pakistan. Using the Indus water treaty as an illustrative case, the paper identifies three enabling conditions that underlie the effectiveness of negotiating a treaty and its continuous efficacy in addressing TBW problems. The paper argues that effective resolution of complex TBW problems is rooted in the nature of the negotiation process, the provisions in the negotiated agreement and the establishment of institutional means to solve emergent problems that are related to the original agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Based on the tenets of complexity theory, the purpose of the study is to identify the causal recipes that can lead to improved customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-country sample was drawn from Pakistan, China and Italy to explore customers' hotel experiences. The study used asymmetrical fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to unearth the recipes of antecedent conditions that can predict high scores in customer loyalty. Findings: The study results complementing the major tenets of complexity theory found several recipes in each of the countries that can lead to improved customer loyalty. Practical implications: Instead of focusing on individual factors, and how they impact loyalty, the study will help hotel management to understand the complexity of loyalty and it may not be improved through individual focus on antecedent conditions, instead, different pathways/recipes can help improve the loyalty. The study will help managers uncover alternative ways to attain increasing customer loyalty. The results reveal that customers in different countries have varied paths leading to loyalty, showing that hotel administration should not consider all customers as equal, with changing culture there is a change in how high loyalty may be achieved. Originality/value: Customer loyalty is a complex construct, and the latest research reveals that symmetric methods have significant limitations, as they view loyalty as an outcome of isolated antecedents. Symmetric methods are less informative and have limited theoretical implications. Drawing on the tenets of complexity theory the study contributes to the loyalty literature in the hotel industry by highlighting the causal configurations leading to improved customer loyalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]