Chaos, Complexity and Resilience: A Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

The objectives of this paper are (a) to purposively review recent literature based on chaos, complexity and resilience theories and (b) to indicate the applicability of these theories to wider business and social contexts. We believe that the pandemic of Covid-19 has introduced an additional dimension to various decision making process in different forms of social and business organisations. At the least, the concepts of social distancing and its practice is the delta change of the theory of chaos with wider and meaningful repercussions. Secondly, as postulated by the theory of chaos and complexity, the path traversed from one state to another is not exactly reversible. The pandemic related changes may not be reversible in future. There is a need for discussion on various possibilities of outcomes, finding patterns in chaos and complexity. During the Covid-19 pandemic many individuals have undergone the trauma of personal suffering, loss of near and dear ones. The delay in access to medical supervision due to capacity mismatch, inadequate knowledge, confusion regarding the policy response, and public response to rules are some of the additional dimensions of complexities experienced. At the same time, individuals and organisations have demonstrated resilience to overcome adversities. There is a contextual necessity and opportunity to extend our knowledge base. This review discusses illustrative but non-exhaustive researches conducted so far in different social science and business organisations to help conceptualisation of future researches. The structure of the paper includes a brief introduction, the theories, application and conclusion.