Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Complexity Theory and Management Practice

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
This is another item I could have used as I was writing my latest post. It's also a little old, dating from 1998, but is a nice analysis of how complexity undercuts management. In particular, in a complex environment:
- analysis loses its primacy
- contingency (cause and effect) loses its meaning
- long-term planning becomes impossible
- visions become illusions
- consensus and strong cultures become dangerous
- statistical relationships become dubious.
Of course, these are six pillars of institutional decision-making, meaning that in a complex environment, the institution becomes dysfunctional.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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