Managing Complexity in Organizations: A View in Many Directions

Lissack and Gunz have gathered many of the leading practitioners from the science of complexity and its emerging applications to management--to give us an up-to-date, comprehensive understanding of this important new field and how it can change the way we think about the organizations. Complex systems, which consist of many interacting entities and exhibit properties such as self-organization, evolution, and constant novelty, exist in all domains of our world. The metaphors and models derived from complexity, say Lissack and Gunz, can be used to make sense of these systems and help managers shape them.

The three chapters in Part I introduce the topic of complexity science and how it relates to modern management practice, providing a context for the section on strategy, creativity, communications, and applications that follow. Part II examines strategy from a complexity perspective and complexity from a strategy perspective. In Part III the authors look at the intersection of complexity, creativity, and communication. Part IV on applications, examines how complexity-influenced theories of management actually affect routine management practice. Throughout, the book makes clear that what worked in a simpler, clearer world will not work today. State of the art yet basic enough to remain timely well into the future, this book will prove indispensable for organization decision makers everywhere and their academic colleagues.

Originally published in hardcover by Quorum in 1999

MICHAEL R. LISSACK is Director of Organization Science Related Programs at the New England Complex Systems Institute and Visiting Professor of Business Ethics at the Rotterdam School of Management./e He was a senior adviser to Tripod Inc., prior to its acquisition by Lycos, and served as chairman of the strategic advisory board and acting CFO of Intelligenesis Inc.

HUGH P. GUNZ is Associate Dean of the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto./e Co-developer and programmer of a career development software, he publishes widely on the topics of careers of managers and professionals, and on the management of technology professionals.