Information Technology Governance through the Complex System Governance Lens

Abstract

As the field of complex system governance (CSG) continues to emerge, definition of organizations that reflect the principles of complex system governments can be imagined. We briefly review the progression of research on complex system governance, beginning with the conundrum posed by Rittel and Weber for current research in the field. A high level over view of the Complex System Governance Reference Model (Keating and Bradley (2015)) is provided to ground the following analysis. We next apply principles of CSG identified by Keating and Bradley (2015) to an exemplar Information Technology (IT) system of systems (a complex system) that is part of a larger industrial enterprise. This application of the Reference Model continues with a discussion of gaps in the espoused governance model of the US Navy system for software acquisition and maintenance. The paper concludes with suggestions for further research. This paper is part of a sequence on the development, design and maturation of Complex System Governance.