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This is the fourth of a series of papers on the stages of critical systems practice. Critical systems practice is a multimethodology that seeks to employ the ideas of critical systems thinking to intervene in and improve complex real‐world 'messes'. It has four stages—Explore (the problem situation), Produce (an intervention strategy), Intervene (flexibly), and Check (on progress)—called to mind as EPIC. The aim is to set out where thinking has reached on the best way to carry out each of these stages and to invite comment on what more needs doing. This paper discusses the fourth stage, Check. During Check, decision makers, and other stakeholders, evaluate the intervention, reflect on what has happened with a view to improving future interventions, and discuss next steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the third of a series of papers on the stages of critical systems practice. Critical systems practice is a multimethodology that seeks to employ the ideas of critical systems thinking to intervene in and improve complex real‐world problem situations. It has four stages—Explore (the problem situation), Produce (an intervention strategy), Intervene (flexibly) and Check (on progress)—called to mind as EPIC. The aim is to set out where thinking has reached on the best way to carry out each of these stages and to invite comment on what more needs doing. This paper discusses the third stage, Intervene. It is concerned with executing a flexible multimethodological intervention in accordance with the agreement reached by decision makers, and other stakeholders, at the end of the previous stage. The theoretical and practical problems associated with multimethodological interventions are discussed, and solutions and ways forward are suggested based on the philosophy of pragmatism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on implicit person theories, this paper investigates the relationship between the growth mindset of management accountants and changes in the design of costing systems, as well as the role that organisational culture plays in this relationship. Using survey data from 146 management accountants of manufacturing companies, we find that management accountants who have a growth mindset increase the complexity, inconclusiveness, and functionality of their firm's costing system, compared to those who have a fixed mindset. Additionally, our results show that innovation‐oriented culture (a dimension of organisational culture) strengthens the relationship between growth mindset and changes in the design of the costing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Research Note seeks to add to the body of knowledge concerning social sustainability in work organizations, especially within the context of new challenges and threats in contemporary, post-industrial working life. Moreover, the intention is to explore the added value of the complexity lens in promoting social sustainability at work. Work organizations are conceptualized as Chaordic systems to make accessible some aspects of organizations' structure and dynamics important for social sustainability. Our earlier paper (Kira and van Eijnatten, ) on the theme was critically assessed by Merrelyn Emery (). Therefore, we offer clarifications of some aspects in our earlier paper. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a conceptual model for a renewed consideration of the complex adaptive systems (CAS) perspective in operations and supply chain management research. A literature review identifies the approaches taken in published research to examine issues such as complexity, adaptation, and emergent behavior. We present a revised conceptual framework that offers directions for embracing key tenets from CAS research so as to gain deeper insights into pertinent issues within the field. We introduce the articles that are part of this special issue and highlight how these articles relate to the conceptual framework proposed in the paper. We also propose some methodological directions that can help in undertaking rigorous investigations of some important aspects that have theoretical and managerial significance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws lessons from the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic to suggest how health systems research can be strengthened to assist better with preparedness for and mitigation of future public health emergencies. The epidemic killed more than 11 000 people in West Africa between February 2014 and January 2016. The causes of the epidemic and the response to the outbreak harbour many lessons concerning how health systems were overwhelmed and need to be re‐designed in order to cope with future public health emergencies and limit their escalation. From these lessons, it is possible to identify the most significant systemic issues that must be addressed to ensure health systems can exhibit greater resilience in the face of similar events in the future. The paper goes on to consider the current capacity of health systems research (HSR) to assist with the management of these issues and to suggest that critical systems thinking and practice could empower health systems researchers and practitioners in a manner that would give them much greater potency. The research has additional importance now that Covid‐19 has demonstrated that pandemics are not 'black swan' events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex system governance (CSG) is an emerging field focused on design, execution, and evolution of (meta)system functions that produce control, communications, coordination, and integration of a complex system. Ultimately, CSG explains system performance, prospects for continued system viability (existence), and future system sustainability. This paper explores three primary perspectives for CSG. First, following a brief introduction, a CSG overview is provided. Three underlying fields (systems theory, management cybernetics, and system governance), the derived model for CSG, and essential distinctions of CSG are developed. Second, the role and nature of CSG pathologies as aberrations from normal or healthy system conditions are developed. Pathologies are grounded in systems theory, and requisite variety is used to explain pathologies in complex system design, execution, or development impacting system performance. Third, challenges for balanced evolution of the CSG field are suggested. The paper concludes with suggestion for simultaneous development of science, engineering, and practice for CSG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) is a relatively new discipline within modelling and simulation that has gained wide attention over the past few years. The application of QSP models spans drug‐target identification and validation, through all drug development phases as well as clinical applications. Due to their detailed mechanistic nature, QSP models are capable of extrapolating knowledge to predict outcomes in scenarios that have not been tested experimentally, making them an important resource in experimental and clinical pharmacology. However, these models are complicated to work with due to their size and inherent complexity. This makes many applications of QSP models for simulation, parameter estimation and trial design computationally intractable. A number of techniques have been developed to simplify QSP models into smaller models that are more amenable to further analyses while retaining their accurate predictive capabilities. Different simplification techniques have different strengths and weaknesses and hence different utilities. Understanding the utilities of different methods is essential for selection of the best method for a particular situation. In this paper, we have created an overall framework for model simplification techniques that allows a natural categorisation of methods based on their utility. We provide a brief description of the concept underpinning the different methods and example applications. A summary of the utilities of methods is intended to provide a guide to modellers in their model endeavours to simplify these complicated models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems thinking is considered a much-needed competence to deal better with an increasingly interlinked and complex world. The many streams within systems science have diversified perspectives, theories and methods, but have also complicated the field as a whole. This makes it difficult to understand and master the field. Short introductions to fundamental questions of systems science are rare. This paper is divided into three parts and aims to do the following: (1) to provide a broad overview of the structure and purpose of systems science; (2) to present a set of key systems principles and relate them to theoretical streams; and (3) to describe aspects of systems-oriented methodologies within a general process cycle. Integrative visualizations have been included to highlight the relationships between concepts, perspectives and systems thinkers. Several new attempts have been made to define and organize system concepts and streams in order to provide greater overall coherence and easier understanding. © 2013 The Author. Systems Research and Behavioral Science published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper some new, conceptual ideas referred to as a complexity orientation are presented on the basis of systemic planning (SP), which has been developed as a proactive, multi-methodology approach for complex planning tasks. Specifically, the complexity orientation is compared to other systems science research orientations represented by the following labels: functionalist, interpretive, emancipatory and postmodern. After presentation and discussion of the research orientation framework, SP is compared to other current systems and management practice. Finally, the potential of a complexity orientation is treated more generally and also with a focus on its epistemological interpretation, which is carried out with a special emphasis on the work of Luhmann. General findings of the paper are that a complexity orientation ought to complement the other four research orientations to serve as a methodological platform for management practice and that Luhmann's theories ought to be addressed by the systems community as a potential for informing further development of systems science and thinking. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the second of a series of papers on the stages of critical systems practice. Critical systems practice is a multimethodology that seeks to employ the ideas developed in critical systems thinking to intervene in and improve complex real‐world problem situations. It has four stages—Explore (the problem situation), Produce (an intervention strategy), Intervene (flexibly) and Check (on progress)—called to mind as EPIC. The aim is to set out where thinking has reached on the best way to carry out each of these stages and to invite comment on what more needs doing. This second stage, Produce, is concerned with the design of an appropriate multimethodological intervention strategy based on the outcomes of Explore. The first pass through the Produce stage concludes when it becomes possible to set objectives for the intervention and to structure and schedule its delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has found that a project manager's experience is a driver of project performance. However, whether specialist or generalist project managers are more effective remains an open question to date. In this paper, we examine how project managers' breadth of experience influences project completion time under different levels of project complexity. Using longitudinal data from 9,765 enterprise resource planning (ERP) system projects executed by a software services organization, we find that managers' breadth of experience has a U‐shaped impact on project completion time. We also find that while we can identify an optimal level of breadth of experience that minimizes project completion time on the U‐curve, this optimal level becomes lower (the U‐curve shifts to the left) as project complexity increases. As project complexity decreases, the U‐curve flattens and tends to become monotonically decreasing, signifying that diseconomies from project managers' breadth of experience are less apparent in simpler projects. From a practical standpoint, these findings suggest that project managers' breadth of experience is a critical driver of project performance that should be a key consideration in the selection of managers to lead knowledge work, especially for complex projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the extent to which the insights of what is called the New Sciences (Catastrophe, Chaos and Complexity Theory) for organizational life are novel, and to what extent they do not take managers much further forward than other theories which have questioned a classical or reductionist view of management. The link to the conference theme is provided by a new model which sets out to define four levels of complexity (sic), dependent on the system exclusivity (degree of complexity) and endurance (degree of change). The past ten years have seen a growth of interest in the insights which ‘management complexity’ claims to provide for modern management. This author has felt uncomfortable that many of these insights are in fact little different from insights of previous writers, and that the lack of evidence for their applicability in natural science systems, let alone organizational situations, means that they have little proven value beyond (in some cases powerful) metaphors. The paper takes a number of the characteristics of complex systems (the phrase will include catastrophic and chaotic systems), and the insights which are claimed for management complexity, and will relate these to other (non-complexity) writings, in some cases going back over decades. It uses a case study relating to the author's own experience in teaching on MBA programmes to demonstrate the value of complexity ideas, but will evaluate these against alternative insights, again demonstrating the relationships between complexity and change. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of a theory must adapt to the complexity of the corresponding reality. According to classical systems theory, it is the structure that characterizes the organizing status of an organization or a system. This paper discusses the complexity of social systems, especially from the perspective of China's transformation, and argues that the organizing status of social systems can be conceived at three levels: institutional tizhi, organizational structure and operational guifan. To meet the needs of tackling complex social system issues, the paper further proposes a three-phase design methodology which has made differences in the context of China's recent transition. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines public sector productivity policies as complexities between what is 'known' in policy principles and what is 'done' in everyday policy practice. Such complexities are explored in two productivity policy cases within Finnish local government: municipal amalgamations, and the low-threshold concept of healthcare service. Utilising quantitative and qualitative data from Finnish local government the paper demonstrates the tensions between productivity policy principles, interpretations for productivity improvement (' knowing') and final outcomes for actually applying (' doing') productivity policy. The paper argues in favour of a new understanding for the research and practice of public policy and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many claims have been made that new models of organization are emerging in the public and voluntary sector. These are partnerships, alliances, fora and consortia, to mention but a few, and they encompass both active participation of their members and/or users and the governance of their activities. The patterns of governance emerging, in my view, offer a different set of problems for the management sciences. Policy, strategy and accountability are now being developed within a complex network of different organizations drawn from the public and voluntary sector, aiming to govern or regulate the public sphere. This paper will explore how management scientists can address these patterns of governance. It will be argued that, if governance has supplanted management as an issue for the management sciences in this context, a new or different language is needed to ‘re-present’ the problems. In particular, it will be shown that management science can be employed to find a clear balance between good governance and effective management. This paper will also propose a framework that may be used to help the new organizational arrangements achieve effective governance. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the current literature on the global relevance of fish farming reveals the complexity and uncertainty arising from problem situations related to the management of fishery resources. Thus, the present paper is aimed to present an example of the application of the viable system model in the organizational context of the fisheries development policy. It describes the process that begins by clarifying the identity, purpose, and limits of the political organization in question, followed by the vertical and horizontal unfolding of its complexity. The results demonstrate that the recursive structures have much to contribute to the consistency of the political decision processes, besides reducing the social and organizational costs supported by many current policies. The model adopted can guide the leaders of public and private organizations to apply cybernetic concepts to improve the communication and actions of their strategic policies, establishing conditions for the development of fish farming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a framework for thinking about economic growth, trade, and capital flows viewed as transformations of current and vintage solar energy, stored in the form of natural resources, human capital, physical capital and technology described by the laws of thermodynamics. Recent developments in nonequilibrium thermodynamics (NET) show how efficient global capital markets and high-speed communications networks accelerate energy flow and growth but also create turbulence, financial crisis, protectionism and conflict. The paper discusses the role that NET can play in helping us understand stock market bubbles and financial crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the limitations (excluding funding) of the UK Dearing Report and likely influences of what might be considered ‘Dearingesque proposals’, increasingly invoked throughout the world as ‘solutions’ to the challenges of ‘the learning society’. It is concerned with emphases of the report on structural solutions to complex problems that are by no means structural in nature. The tendency is to ‘order the mess’, through increased standardisation, specification of outcomes and centralised control. Implementation of ‘Dearingesque proposals’ are likely to ossify traditional academic status hierarchies, subject boundaries, and the normative criteria by which teaching and learning quality and research tend to be judged. This trend will work against academics, and professional groups who recognise the need to build capacity for ‘second-order change’ and for new kinds of social learning in an essentially ‘unstable state’. It will also discourage the engagement of diversity.It is argued that innovation, development and partnership can only come from systemic learning and inquiry from ‘within the mess’. Working with, rather than controlling, this epistemological diversity and richness could lead to the visualisation and enactment of alternative epistemological and ethical positions by government, employers and academics, working in partnership. Systemic learning and inquiry could lead to new understandings of ‘responsiveness’ and quality in higher education for the millennium, that could enhance the capacity of society to work with and learn from challenges of complexity, change and systemicity. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Placing the issue of interdisciplinarity within a complexity framework, the current paper aims to explore different facets of interdisciplinary research (IDR). The theoretical and empirical analysis revolves around the main factors influencing IDR abilities and achievements, that is, the propelling context, attitude and further awareness of thinking and acting across boundaries in order to reach viable solutions to complex problems. On purpose to test the inferred relationships, the study relies on a questionnaire‐based survey conducted with 214 early‐career researchers from interdisciplinary departments or enrolled in interdisciplinary projects. The findings revealed that both attitude and context are important for rising researchers' awareness, in forming their abilities and reporting interdisciplinary achievements, the structural model explaining 51.9% in the variation of interdisciplinary research abilities and 17.1% in the variation of the researchers' interdisciplinary outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the way the idea of sustainability is linked to categories traditionally examined by the general systems theory-the categories of system, environment, and complexity. Toward this end, the paper builds upon the social systems theory of Niklas Luhmann to explain the nature of the trade-off between complexity and sustainability. Exemplified by Luhmann's theory of ecological communication, the trade-off emerges because the growing systemic complexity entails the increasing risk that systems develop insensitivity to those environmental conditions on which they critically depend. The key implication of the trade-off is that it may be rational for social systems to withdraw their internal complexity to maintain their sustainability in a given environment. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the multifarious nature of the long-term evolution (LTE) scheme and that of the modified LTE scheme for symbol timing synchronization (STS). This investigation allows us to propose a new replica correlation-based STS scheme to overcome the inherent weaknesses of the other two schemes. The proposed STS signal combines a gold sequence and a half sine wave in the time domain, whereas conventional STS signals specify either binary sequences or complex sequences in the time domain or in the frequency domain. In the proposed scheme, a sufficient correlation property is realized by the gold sequence, and robustness against the frequency offset (FO) is achieved through the sine wave. Compared to the existing LTE-related schemes, the proposed scheme can better achieve immunity to FO and reduction in detector complexity, as well as a low peak-toaverage power ratio and a low detection error rate. Performance evaluations through analysis and simulation are provided in the paper to demonstrate these attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first of a series of papers on the stages of critical systems practice. Critical systems practice is a multimethodology that seeks to employ the ideas developed in critical systems thinking to intervene in and improve complex real‐world problem situations. It has four stages—Explore (the problem situation), Produce (an intervention strategy), Intervene (flexibly) and Check (on progress)—called to mind as EPIC. The aim is to set out where thinking has reached on the best way to carry out each of these stages and to invite comment on what more needs doing. The first stage, Explore, is concerned with how to start a multimethodological study. If this is done well, it can bring to the fore opportunities for a full and in‐depth systems intervention. If done badly, it can lead to practice that makes the problem situation worse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how some well-documented deficiencies of mental models make it difficult to create effective policies, and suggests that systems modelling can begin to address this issue. To illustrate the argument, three short cases are presented. These relate to specific domains but demonstrate how systems modelling can illuminate different general phenomena: effects on labour costs (unintended consequences and feedback), fishery management (accumulation and non-linearity) and child protection (worldviews and sense-making). Six levers for increasing the use of systems modelling in the policy arena are then discussed. The paper closes by emphasising the opportunities for systems modellers in the Anthropocene Era. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important properties of systems is complexity. In a simple way, we can define the complexity of a system in terms of the number of elements that it contains, the nature and number of interrelations and the number of levels of embeddedness. When a high level of complexity exists in a system, it is considered a complex system. Complex systems can be soft systems and hard systems. In hard systems, when their elements are interrelated in a non-linear way, they are considered complex systems when they contain a great number of elements interacting in a non-linear way. To try to understand the behaviour of this type of system diverse mathematical tools have been developed. A new scientific discipline with great impact in the analysis of the complex systems has been developed in recent years, called fractal analysis. The study of the complex systems in the framework of fractal theory has been recognized as a new scientific discipline, being sustained by advances that have been made in diverse fields ranging from physics to economics. In this paper the history and the basic concepts of the fractal analysis of complex systems are discussed briefly and an oil crude price volatility fractal analysis is provided. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1968, Garrett Hardin identified a class of common goods that suffer under traditional market mechanisms. This paper describes the results of an agent-based computer simulation used to study how institutional forces shape consumption patterns. Overall, when populations generally act in the common interest, the commons, the population and individuals all experience higher quality outcomes than when they act in generally or exclusively self-interested ways. The results suggest common-interested behaviours support a greater population at a higher quality of living; however, exclusively common-interested behaviours result in underutilized commons, and the whole is generally less well off. The paper frames further applications in terms of managing growth for long-term sustainability. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper argues that urban systems issues are design problems on a grand scale and that various disciplines aiming to address them can have only a partial view of the problem. It is necessary to draw boundaries around the detailed analyses of specific issues, but a way to map the wider system, to contextualize and more deeply understand how they are interrelated, is still lacking. Four complexity obstacles related to reasoning about complex systems are in our way, and to our knowledge no existing approach navigates them effectively. We propose a tool called the Abstraction Hierarchy as a way to do just this, in order to frame complex issues on a large scale, in a way accessible to all disciplines. To demonstrate the power of this systems model, the Abstraction Hierarchy is applied to an urban area. Through its application we demonstrate its capability to navigate all four obstacles and investigate previously unexplored space in urban systems research. Plain Language Summary: One of the main barriers to combating climate change is unpicking the complexity of the problem and avoiding solutions that work in one way and create problems in another. This is because scientists sometimes fail to acknowledge we are human beings, and human beings reason about complex problems in a certain way. The discipline of human factors is centered on this fact and offers a well‐tested design tool which follows the natural line of human reasoning. This tool—the Abstraction Hierarchy—could be applied in a new way, and at a much larger scale, to understand climate impacts on entire cities. Key Points: Systems thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration are needed, but the way humans reason about complex systems is often unacknowledgedThe Abstraction Hierarchy was developed to complement the natural line of human reasoning and overcome complexity "obstacles"The potential of this approach is demonstrated through an example Urban Systems Abstraction Hierarchy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a considerable growth in interest in Health Systems Research over the last 25 years. It is only recently, however, that health systems researchers have started to examine the key conceptual tool in their armoury – the notion of 'system'; – and only then in a sporadic fashion. This paper argues that the failure to undertake this challenge has held back the field both theoretically and in terms of practice. Critical systems thinkers have, by contrast, spent the last 30 years conducting a second‐order analysis of different systems and complexity approaches, the way they employ the concept of 'system';, and the difference this makes to the theories espoused and the modes of intervention endorsed. They have also explored how different systems approaches can be used in combination to bring about improvement by addressing the multi‐dimensional complexity thrown up by wicked problems. What critical systems thinkers have failed to do is get their hands dirty and demonstrate, through practical application, that their approach is useful in the health systems domain. Given the significance of health systems for public well‐being, and their inherent complexity, this is something that needs rectifying. If Critical Systems Thinking can support Health Systems Research with appropriate theories and methodologies, and health systems researchers are willing to involve critical systems thinkers in tackling the major issues they face, then a fruitful partnership can be forged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research note is a rejoinder to Steve Wallis' commentary on our paper "The limits of transparency: a systems theory view" (Valentinov, Verschraegen, van Assche, 2019) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 49th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences had, as its theme, ‘the potential impacts of systemics on society’. As my contribution to this, I want to discuss why I think a critical systems approach called ‘creative holism’ can help managers address complex problem situations. As is frequently stated, managers today face increasing complexity, change and diversity. Furthermore, the solutions they are offered to help them cope in this situation rarely seem to work. In this paper, it is argued that those solutions fail because they are not holistic or creative enough. The benefits to be gained from holism and creativity (in a systemic sense) are outlined, and a practical approach, ‘creative holism’, is specified which aims to better equip managers to deal with complex problem situations. If the argument is right then systemics has the potential to have both a significant and a beneficial impact upon society in the years to come. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on theory evolution from the perspective of considering the role that complexity science might have in social theorizing and research. We assume that just as human society is complex, dynamic, interdependent, and with future states emerging with reference to complex histories, so too are human explanations and theories. With reference to a complexity approach to postmodern ethnography, that of vortical postmodern ethnography, we make manifest the dynamic and interdependent nature of theory building, with human actor/observers and discourse evolution. We suggest that a complexity perspective on social research and theorizing may be most valuable for its role in bringing about alternative descriptions, rather than promoting certain interventions. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that that systemic methodologies rooted in the learning paradigm and, in particular, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) are well-suited to tackle the complexity of family business organisational processes. We report on the way in which SSM has been incorporated into the training programme of the 'Institute for Social and Organizational Innovation' (INNOVA), towards equipping family business managers with tools for better understanding of complexity surrounding family business processes. We suggest that an SSM application can be enhanced by awareness of interpretative-driven concepts such as: 'map/territory', 'revelation/demarcation' and 'positive/negative capabilities'. This set of systemic concepts can act as a useful backdrop to an SSM application. We illustrate this by reporting on the deployment of SSM concepts during two workshops with family business managers in Barcelona, The paper should be of interest to systems practitioners, consultants and managers concerned about using systemic tools to make sense of businesses in complex environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Simon's concept of nested hierarchies, this paper advances a new synthesis for understanding how and why the discontinuous change processes of punctuated equilibrium may occur in socio-economic settings. A key concept is the nested, multi-level organization of ‘deep structure’, the order in a system. This includes culture, technology, operating routines, control systems, organizational structure, resources and distributions of power. Using a modified evolutionary process, change is triggered when a disturbance disconfigures one or more levels of the system's deep structure. New variations of deep structure, constrained by more fundamental levels, emerge as deep structure reconfigures. The variations are sorted through competitive selection and other non-competitive processes. The variations are retained as part of the reconfigured deep structure. The concept of a nested, multi-level deep structure explains a continuum of change. Incremental change occurs when only the more marginal levels of deep structure are affected. Revolutionary change occurs when the fundamental levels of deep structure reconfigure, as do all more marginal levels nested within them. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread use of renewable energies around the world has generated the need for new tools and resources to allow them to be properly integrated into current power systems. Power system operators need new dynamic generic models of wind turbines and wind farms adaptable to any vendor topology and which permit transient stability analysis of their networks with the required accuracy. Under this framework, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) have developed their own generic dynamic models of wind turbines for stability analysis. Although these entities work in conjunction, the focus of each is slightly different. The WECC models attempt to minimise the complexity and number of parameters needed, while the IEC approach aims to optimise comparison with real turbine measurements. This study presents a detailed comparison between these two different approaches for modeling a Type 3 (i.e., DFIG) wind turbine in MATLAB/Simulink. Finally, several simulations are conducted, with which the consequences of the different approaches are evaluated. The results of this paper are of interest to power system operators as well as wind turbine manufacturers who require further assistance in adapting their specific models to the simplified versions provided by the International Committees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance Management is the challenge confronting public service managers. However, the enduring research focus on performance measurement in public services, without resolution, does not offer neat solutions to performance management in public services. This drawback of measurement difficulties has not abated interest in performance management. But there are significant adverse outcomes associated with the clumsy use of performance management systems in public services, particularly negative effects on staff morale. The lack of ready-made answers to performance management makes this task complex and demanding for public service managers. This paper identifies critical dimensions of effectiveness in performance management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation biology and applied ecology increasingly recognize that natural resource management is both an outcome and a driver of social, economic, and ecological dynamics. Protected areas offer a fundamental approach to conserving ecosystems, but they are also social-ecological systems whose ecological management and sustainability are heavily influenced by people. This editorial, and the papers in the invited feature that it introduces, discuss three emerging themes in social-ecological systems approaches to understanding protected areas: (1) the resilience and sustainability of protected areas, including analyses of their internal dynamics, their effectiveness, and the resilience of the landscapes within which they occur; (2) the relevance of spatial context and scale for protected areas, including such factors as geographic connectivity, context, exchanges between protected areas and their surrounding landscapes, and scale dependency in the provision of ecosystem services; and (3) efforts to reframe what protected areas are and how they both define and are defined by the relationships of people and nature. These emerging themes have the potential to transform management and policy approaches for protected areas and have important implications for conservation, in both theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many of the global challenges that confront humanity are interlinked in a dynamic complex network, with multiple feedback loops, nonlinear interactions and interdependencies that make it difficult, if not impossible, to consider individual threats in isolation.These challenges are mainly dealt with, however, by considering individual threats in isolation (at least in political terms). The mitigation of dual climate and biodiversity threats, for example, is linked to a univariate 1.5°C global warming boundary and a global area conservation target of 30% by 2030.The situation has been somewhat improved by efforts to account for interactions through multidimensional target setting, adaptive and open management and market‐based decision pathways.But the fundamental problem still remains—that complex systems such as those formed by the network of global threats have emergent properties that are more than the sum of their parts. We must learn how to deal with or live with these properties if we are to find effective ways to cope with the threats, individually and collectively.Here, we argue that recent progresses in complex systems research and related fields have enhanced our ability to analyse and model such entwined systems to the extent that it offers the promise of a new approach to sustainability. We discuss how this may be achieved, both in theory and in practice, and how human cultural factors play an important but neglected role that could prove vital to achieving success. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines an approach to socially sustainable work organizations. Socially sustainable work organizations have a dynamic ability to function both by repeating accustomed and by devising innovative solutions, and they maintain this operational viability by promoting the functional capabilities of their stakeholders. The organizational and stakeholder functional capabilities are founded on complexity stemming from the simultaneous uniqueness and integration of resources. It is argued that traditional socio- technical systems (STSs) approaches do not offer optimal foundations for achieving sustainability. Instead, a migration into chaordic systems thinking (ChST) is proposed. It is concluded that to promote social sustainability, a work organization has to be understood as a holon system in which development can only take place when also its members grow in their interior and exterior complexities. Complexity development is outlined as an emergent process; the importance of ‘un-learning’ or dissipation is also explored. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robert Rosen claimed that life, as a property of a living system (an organism), is not caused by the physical nature of what it is composed of but, rather, is a consequence of complex organization of a certain type in a material system. In other words, the causal basis of life is a matter of relational causality rather than physical, material causality. Living systems are characterized by a unique set of behaviors and capabilities. Among these is the ability to employ information encoded into the organization itself as a means of maintaining system stability in an ever changing environment. This encoded information can allow organisms to act in a way that Rosen described as characteristically model-based behavior. He theorized that the encoded information can act as a set of internal predictive models which pertain to both the internal environment of the system and the external environment, as well as to the relational interactions between the two, and which actually guide system behavior. Collectively, such guidance amounts to an anticipatory mode of system control. Rosen concluded that encoded information is an integral aspect of any living system's organization and, based on the relation of this information to organismic behavior, he categorized all living organisms as anticipatory systems. In this paper, we review Robert Rosen's seminal ideas about complexity, causality, and life in biological systems. Because anticipatory behavior, by definition, involves multiple encodings of time, we concentrate our focus on exploring the nature of anticipatory systems and examine the new information these ideas reveal about time and evolution. We discuss the consequences of these ideas on science as a whole and argue that a change in scientific perspective and approach is a necessity for understanding biological systems. This, of course, includes the nature and physiology of human beings, as well. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An attempt to critically analyse the claims of the theory of self-organization of complex systems (synergetics) to the interdisciplinary generalizations and the universal efficacy of its models is made in the paper. The grounds for transfer of synergetic models to different disciplinary fields are under discussion. It is argued that synergetics is a mental scheme or a heuristic approach to exploring the complex behaviour of systems, rather than a universal key to solving concrete scientific problems. The prospects for development and the possible future of synergetics in the coming decades are estimated. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The five commitments of critical systems thinking can be treated as criteria to be fulfilled by any methodology for societal problem solving. However, since present-day societal problems are complex, in establishing a set of criteria to be satisfied by any methodology proposed for complex societal problem solving reference needs to be made to the theory of complex systems. Together with the five commitments of critical systems thinking, this will form the criteria set to be satisfied by any methodology or inquiry system designed for complex societal problem solving. The definition of such a set of criteria is attempted in this paper using the extensive literature on the science of complexity. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We experimentally study how people form predictive models of simple data generating processes (DGPs), by showing subjects data sets and asking them to predict future outputs. We find that subjects: (i) often fail to predict in this task, indicating a failure to form a model, (ii) often cannot explicitly describe the model they have formed even when successful, and (iii) tend to be attracted to the same, simple models when multiple models fit the data. Examining a number of formal complexity metrics, we find that all three patterns are well organized by metrics suggested by Lipman (1995) and Gabaix (2014) that describe the information processing required to deploy models in prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue and show how system dynamics modelling can be combined with exploratory modelling and analysis in order to address grand societal challenges, which are almost without exception characterized by dynamic complexity and deep uncertainty. Addressing such issues requires the systematic exploration of different hypotheses related to model formulation and model parametrization and their effect on the kinds of behavioral dynamics that can occur. Through two cases, we illustrate the combination of system dynamics and exploratory modelling. The first case illustrates its use for discovering different types of dynamics related tometal and mineral scarcity. The second case illustrates its use for worst-case discovery in water scarcity. We conclude that exploratory system dynamics modelling represents a promising approach for addressing deeply uncertain dynamically complex societal challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from a critical analysis of the US intervention in Afghanistan in response to the 11 September 2001 events, this paper seeks to propose a different approach to terrorism/counterterrorism analysis consisting in putting at the forefront the discursive dimension of the phenomenon through the lens of critical discourse analysis and in grounding it in a system thinking approach. The main argument is that 'terrorism' cannot be understood outside a context, language and culture, and that to be fully grasped as a dynamic phenomenon, it has to be framed in a systems perspective. Among the key elements of system thinking that can enhance the understanding of terrorism are boundary definition, casual loops and feedbacks, delays, emergent properties and overshoot-and-collapse. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues US manufacturers still fail to identify metrics that predict performance results despite two decades of intensive investment in data-mining applications because indicators with the power to predict complex results must have high information content as well as a high impact on those results. But data mining cannot substitute for experimental hypothesis testing in the search for predictive metrics with high information content-not even in the aggregate-because the low-information metrics it provides require improbably complex theories to explain complex results. So theories should always be simple but predictive factors may need to be complex. This means the widespread belief that data mining can help managers find prescriptions for success is a fantasy. Instead of trying to substitute data mining for experimental hypothesis testing, managers confronted with complex results should lay out specific strategies, test them, adapt them-and repeat the process. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The smart specialisation (SS) concept requires a thorough assessment of regional capabilities and strengths to be able to define region‐specific policies to reach innovation‐led growth. The present study proposes a framework that is based on regional workplace knowledge and skills which are good proxies of regional capabilities. In this regard, it evaluates the SS priorities of regions with respect to their industry spaces built upon regional skill bases characterised by skill relatedness and skill complexity measures. By doing so, it analyses to what extent SS strategies are built on regional capabilities and strengths. It shows that regional heterogeneity plays an important role in the SS policy design. High‐income regions tend to prioritise industries in which they have enough capabilities, while low‐income regions opt for new production paths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Understanding and dealing with the unknown is a major challenge in project management. An extensive body of knowledge—theory and technique—exists on the “known unknowns,” i.e., uncertainties which can be described probabilistically and addressed through the conventional techniques of risk management. Although some recent studies have addressed projects where the existence of unknown unknowns (unk unks) is readily apparent or may be assumed given the type of project—e.g., new product development or new process implementation—very little work has been reported with respect to projects in general on how a project manager might assess its vulnerability to unk unks. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework to deal with (i.e., recognize and reduce) knowable unk unks in project management. The framework is supported by insights from a variety of theories, case analyses, and experiences. In this framework, we first present a model of the key factors—relating to both project design and behavioral issues—that increase the likelihood of unk unks and a set of propositions linking these factors to unk unks. We then present a set of design and behavioral approaches that project managers could adopt to reduce knowable unk unks. Our framework fills a gap in the project management literature and makes a significant practical contribution: it helps project managers diagnose a project to recognize and reduce the likelihood of unk unks and thus deal more effectively with the otherwise unrecognized risks and opportunities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Life is a relationship among various kinds of agents interacting at different scales in ways that are multifarious, complex, and emergent. Life is always a part of an ecological embedding in communities of interaction, which in turn structure and influence how life evolves. Evolution is essential for understanding life and biodiversity. Henri Bergson's Creative Evolution suggests a way of examining 'tendencies' without 'teleology.' In this paper I reexamine that work in light of recent concepts in evolutionary ecology, and explore how agential aspects of life are essential for understanding how emergence provides a basis for a process-based metaphysics of life. In support of this project, I will explore how the major transitions of life on Earth have proceeded through increasing levels of cooperation among agents (e.g., mitochondria in animal cells forming a mutualistic relationship), which have allowed further emergences and complexity to evolve. This complexity always, however, emerges in the context of ecological relationships and a nonteleological evolutionary process. Yet, while nonteleological, the progression of life thus far on this planet seems to hold the promise of certain tendencies that seem inherent in life itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy makers, managers and leaders in organizations, governments and business institutions are under increasing pressure to make the right management decisions in the face of a continually changing political and socio-economic landscape. To make matters more challenging, the complex environmental, socio-economic, business-financial issues that decision makers need to deal with tend to transcend the jurisdictions and capacities of any single organization. There is a multitude of difficult, long-term global challenges ahead, almost all of which are coupled with the most pressing concerns of different countries at national and local levels. Despite many efforts to deal with these complex issues facing our society, the solutions so far have seldom been long lasting, because 'treating the symptoms' and 'quick fixes', using traditional linear thinking, are the easiest way out, but do not deliver the solutions. This paper describes the processes for unravelling complexity through participatory systems analysis and the interpretation of systems structures to identify leverage points for systemic interventions. It further demonstrates the promotion of effective change and the enhancement of cross-sectoral communication and collaborative learning. This learning focuses on finding solutions to complex issues by applying an iterative, systems-based approach, both locally-Evolutionary Learning Laboratory (ELLab)-and globally-Global Evolutionary Learning Laboratory (GELL). A generic framework and processes for implementing and institutionalizing ELLabs are described, and how these become part of the GELL for managing complex issues is explained. Four case studies are used to demonstrate diverse examples of the application and implementation of the ELLab approach. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]