Characteristics Of Complex Adaptive Systems Research Articles

Redefining leadership within the NHS’ complex adaptive system

The NHS is continuously evolving and with it, traditional notions of leadership and management must be reimagined and redefined. In order to be effective leaders, however, we must first gain a deeper understanding of the context in which we lead and recognise how to navigate the system's intricacies. This article explores the characteristics of Complex Adaptive Systems and how we can understand the patterns of these systems through our experiences leading in the NHS. It then analyses leadership approaches both past and present and considers how future leaders can be effective in tomorrow's NHS. Finally, this article identifies potential barriers and challenges that leaders must overcome as they adapt and tailor their leadership approach to meet the needs of a dynamic health service.

Identifying key elements for evaluating organizations' complex adaptive leadership readiness (CAL-R framework): paving the way for a measurement tool development

PurposeTraditional management models are no longer viable in this complex era, with fast-pacing markets and various emergent properties affecting organizational success. The present study acknowledges the need for developing a coherent framework that leaders may use to evaluate their organizational adaptive ability.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses theoretical analysis.FindingsThis paper proposes the CAL-R framework, which identifies key characteristics of complex adaptive systems (CAS). These actionable elements, manifested in respective behaviors, will increase organizational adaptability. Adaptability is then suggested to be the mediating factor between complex adaptive leadership practice and organizational performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe suggested actionable elements are developed based on a theoretical, non-measurable approach; however, the need for statistical rigorousness is also acknowledged. Further research and a quantitative approach are also suggested for the development of a sound measurement scale.Practical implicationsApplying effective complex adaptive leadership will potentially provide organizations with a competitive advantage by making them more innovative, able to transform and adapt to environmental needs and changes and eventually meet their goals and reach their vision. Leaders may use the identified actionable elements as benchmarks against which they can evaluate their organizations' complex adaptive leadership readiness (CAL-R).Originality/valueThe CAL-R framework may be used by leaders in order to evaluate their organization’s current adaptive maturity level (ability) and identify the elements they need to focus on more and develop in order to become more adaptive and competitive.

Modeling organizational resilience in maritime business: an ISM and MICMAC approach

PurposeBusiness environments and global transportation system have become more complex than ever due to complexity drivers of industries which create uncertainty and unpredictability to organizations. Like other industries, the maritime business faces different and difficult problems which threaten organizational survival. The ability to cope with those uncertainties, threats and problems shows the resilience ability of organizations that help to survive and prosper. The organizational resilience concept arises as a requirement to deal with problems and uncertainties of business environments which are swiftly changing. This study aims to suggest an organizational framework to show how maritime business organizations as the sea leg of global transportation system can develop resilient organizations via complex adaptive systems (CAS) approach if adequate design features of CAS could be defined and included in organizational properties.Design/methodology/approachA total of 15 CAS features were identified as the enablers of organizational resilience throughout the literature. An interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach has been conducted to determine the mutual relation between the CAS features which constitute an organizational framework. These CAS features have been categorized by conducting MICMAC analysis.FindingsThis study proposes a framework that identifies CAS features as the enabler of resilient maritime business organizations. The CAS approach offers new managerial toolkit to realize current organizational situations and allows managers to understand that it is difficult to control their system in this dynamic environment where special management practices are required especially in volatile times rather than ordinary times. Also, organizations could not compete as a sole organization but as a web/system of organizations. CAS is more resilient than other systems because resilience is the emergent occurrence of the system formed from nonlinear, dynamic interactions with self-organized agents.Research limitations/implicationsThe research has some limitations, like organizational resilience studies are in the infant stage and further research into this area should be extended. This study uses the CAS approach to develop organizational resilience. Further studies could use different lenses and contemporary subjects in management field which should also be useful while developing resilience in organizations. This study uses ISM and MICMAC analysis where further studies could use quantitative design and methods like formal concept analysis or the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory to determine the relational weighs of CAS features while developing resilient organizations. Future studies may also focus on different maritime stakeholders like IMO or ILO, maritime agencies, freight forwarders or insurance underwriters regarding developing and enhancing resilience of the maritime system.Practical implicationsWorld trade and transportation systems are getting more uncertain and lean on complex relations where maritime transportation is a “vital backbone” of such operations. But becoming more complex structures leads to vulnerable systems and organizations. Most risk management applications are based on predicting the known risks where many of them are not enough to fight with unknowns. Coping with today's problems are difficult for organizations in any industry. But for maritime business stakeholders who work in such a global web of relations, it is much more challenging. So, stakeholders of the system like forwarders, ports or ship chandlers may easily apply those features to develop resilient organizations too. Legal authorities of the system and rule-makers like local Chambers of Shipping, IMO or Classification societies can benefit from this framework and provide supportive settings to develop system-wide resilient organizations.Social implicationsBy understanding environmental uncertainty and complexity better than others, organizations become resilient and cope with significant difficulties which make them more competitive as a substantial strategic advantage. Resilient management offers to break down points at the system and shows them ways to restore quickly while transporting goods while traditional risk assessments are not enough.Originality/valueThe originality of the study lies in two folds; first of all the key and most used features of CAS is linked to developing resilient maritime organizations and by maritime expert opinions, this study tries to determine which of these CAS features are the most effective to trigger other features to develop organizational resilience in the maritime business. And secondly, the concept of organizational resilience and the CAS approach are not analyzed in depth in the context of maritime business.

A constructive crisis: complex system adaptability during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the response by a multi-campus private higher education provider to a major crisis. This study examined what elements of complex adaptive systems (CAS) were activated and/or developed within the organization during the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, through a retrospective analysis of organizational responses.Design/methodology/approachA retrospective qualitative approach has been used. The theory of CAS has been used as the theoretical lens to explore the organizational context, responses and behaviours during the first year of the COVID-19 crisis. A series of semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 senior leaders across the major functions of the organization spread over multiple campuses.FindingsFindings point to coverage of the main CAS characteristics in the organizational responses to the pandemic, however, in varying degrees. There was strong evidence for the application of guiding principles, for self-organizing, for micro-diversity coupled with independent actors and new generative relationships, all brought about by the chaos the pandemic generated. This study concludes that the global pandemic presented this organization with the impetus for rapid and agile responses to what ultimately has become a constructive crisis, paving the way for key elements of CAS theory to be enacted. This study recommend embedding the conscious creation of an adaptive space within ongoing strategic organizational transformation initiatives.Originality/valueThere is scant literature on CAS as applied to crises from organizations in the higher education sector and notably from outside of the health/medical fields. As a result, this study offers a novel and original approach to applying CAS theory during a major crisis. In addition to the findings above, this study also found an emergent characteristic, that of agility, which could be further tested as a potential theoretical addition to CAS theory.

Shared understanding of resilient practices in the context of inpatient suicide prevention: a narrative synthesis

BackgroundThe prevailing patient safety strategies in suicide prevention are suicide risk assessments and retrospective reviews, with emphasis on minimising risk and preventing adverse events. Resilient healthcare focuses on how everyday clinical practice succeeds and emphasises learning from practice, not from adverse events. Yet, little is known about resilient practices for suicidal inpatients. The aim of the study is to draw upon the perspectives of patients and healthcare professionals to inform the conceptual development of resilient practices in inpatient suicide prevention.MethodsA narrative synthesis was conducted of findings across patients and healthcare professionals derived from a qualitative case study based on interviews with patients and healthcare professionals in addition to a systematic literature review.ResultsThree sub-themes categorise resilient practices for healthcare professionals and for patients hospitalised with suicidal behaviour: 1) interactions capturing non-verbal cues; 2) protection through dignity and watchfulness; and 3) personalised approaches to alleviate emotional pressure. The main theme, the establishment of relationships of trust in resilient practices for patients in suicidal crisis, is the foundation of their communication and caring.ConclusionClinical practice for patients hospitalised with suicidal behaviour has characteristics of complex adaptive systems in terms of dynamic interactions, decision-making under uncertainty, tensions between goals solved through trade-offs, and adaptations to patient variability and interpersonal needs. To improve the safety of patients hospitalised with suicidal behaviour, variability in clinical practice should be embraced.Trial registrationhttps://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012874

The Yin-Yang Dynamics in Cardiovascular Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine.

Studies of genetic variants and systems biology have indicated that Yin-Yang dynamics are especially meaningful for cardiovascular pharmacogenomics and personalized therapeutic strategies. The comprehensive concepts of Yin-Yang can be used to characterize the dynamical factors in the adaptive microenvironments of the complex cardiovascular systems. The Yin-Yang imbalances in the complex adaptive systems (CAS) at different levels and stages are essential for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including atherosclerosis, hypertension, and heart failure (HF). At the molecular and cellular levels, Yin-Yang interconnections have been considered critical for genetic variants and various pathways, mitophagy, cell death, and cholesterol homeostasis. The significance of the adaptive and spatiotemporal factors in the nonlinear Yin-Yang interactions has been identified in different pathophysiological processes such as fibrosis. The Yin-Yang dynamical balances between proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines have vital roles in the complex reactions to stress and impairments to the heart. Procoagulant and anticoagulant lipids and lipoproteins in plasma have the Yin-Yang roles that increase or decrease thrombin productions and thrombosis. At the systems level, the Yin-Yang type of relationships has been suggested between atrial fibrillation (AF), diastolic dysfunction (DD), and HF. Based on such perceptions, systemic and personalized cardiovascular profiles can be constructed by embracing the features of CAS, especially the microenvironments and the adaptative pathophysiological stages. These features can be integrated into the comprehensive Yin-Yang dynamics framework to identify more accurate biomarkers for better prevention and treatments. The goal of reestablishing ubiquitous Yin-Yang dynamical balances may become the central theme for personalized and systems medicine for cardiovascular diseases.

Simple Physical Interactions Yield Social Self-Organization in Honeybees

Social insect colonies show all characteristics of complex adaptive systems (CAS). Their complex behavioral patterns arise from social interactions that are based on the individuals’ reactions to and interactions with environmental stimuli. We study here how social and environmental factors modulate and bias the collective thermotaxis of young honeybees. Therefore, we record their collective decision-making in a series of laboratory experiments and derived a mathematical model of the collective decision-making in young bees from our empirical observations. This model uses only one free parameter that combines the ultimate effects of several aspects of the microscopic individual behavioral mechanisms, such as motion behavior, sensory range, or contact detection, into one single coefficient. We call this coefficient the “social factor.” Our model is capable of capturing the observed aggregation patterns from our empiric experiments with static environments and of predicting the emergent swarm-intelligent behavior of the system in dynamic environments. Besides the fundamental research aspect in studying CAS, our model enables us to predict the effects of a physical stimulus onto the macroscopic collective decision-making that affects several crucial prerequisites for efficient and effective brood production and population growth in honeybee colonies.

A framework to guide planetary health education

A framework to guide planetary health education

Validating the coevolutionary principles of business and IS alignment via agent-based modeling

ABSTRACT This paper provides theoretical and practical implications for the application of agent-based models (ABMs) to address the issue of coevolutionary business-IS alignment. The implications stem from the following arguments: (a) the alignment issue can be modelled by an ABM to describe the features of complex adaptive systems (CAS); (b) the coevolutionary principles of business and IS alignment stipulate individual behaviours and guide organisational order; (c) ABM development and experimentation offer guidance to better explain how organisations control the alignment trajectory with coevolutionary principles. To extend the extant coevolutionary research on alignment, this paper develops an ABM for a hierarchical organisational structure and validates three coevolutionary principles.

Linking Sustainable Business Models to Socio-Ecological Resilience Through Cross-Sector Partnerships: A Complex Adaptive Systems View

A flourishing literature assesses how sustainable business models create and capture value in socio-ecological systems. Nevertheless, we still know relatively little about how the organization of sustainable business models—of which cross-sector partnerships represent a core and distinctive mechanism—can support socio-ecological resilience. We address this knowledge gap by taking a complex adaptive systems (CAS) perspective. We develop a framework that identifies the key strategic, institutional, and learning elements of partnerships that sustainable business models rely on to support socio-ecological resilience. With our analytical framework, we underpin the importance of assessing sustainable business initiatives in terms of their impact on resilience at the level of socio-ecological systems, not just of organizations. Therefore, we reveal how cross-sector partnerships provide the organizational support for sustainable business models to support socio-ecological resilience. By combining the key features of CAS and the key elements of partnerships, we provide insight into the formidable task of designing cross-sector partnerships so that they support socio-ecological resilience and avoid unintended consequences.

Review of complex adaptive systems in nursing practice

This article describes the most typical characteristics of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory and how it works in healthcare organizations and nursing practice. Complexity science belongs to newest systems thinking, which explore complex systems by focusing on the system components, relationships and interconnections rather than on the individual components themselves. The nurse must therefore always keep in mind the larger picture when caring for the individual patient and expect to be disturbed by unexpected possibilities. The incorporation of complexity science concepts into the practice of nursing leadership encourages new ways of thinking about organizations and is a natural model for the ideals and expected results of skilled nursing. CAS theory will take a permanent place in the healthcare organizations activities, improve nursing processes and create a better work environment for nursing and job satisfaction.

Effective assimilation of technological innovation in an organization characterized ?as a Complex Adaptive System

Purpose: Most organizations seek for innovative solutions to address tabulate changes and competition. However, each organization is required for rapid and effective processes of assimilating technological innovation into its operational activities. Consistent with previous studies, the aim of this study was to understand whether an organization characterized as CAS (Complex Adaptive System) could positively affect the process of assimilating technological innovation through supporting the development of knowledge workers. Such workers deal mostly with changes. Hence, they possess the ability to combine personal benefits with organizational goals, they are sensible to changes in the environment, they understand the integration of information required for such a process, and they need the ability to socialize among themselves.
 Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 300 employees in organizations of different sectors responded to an online questionnaire, which examined their attitude towards technological innovation in correlation with the level of organization's CAS characteristics. Pearson and regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between the functioning of the workers as CAS fractals[1] and their attitudes toward the process of assimilation of technological innovation.
 Findings: Workers who function as “fractals”, namely as knowledge-worker in organizations having the characteristics of CAS, were able to combine personal benefits with organizational goals. They had sensitivity to changes in the environment, integration of the information required for the process and the ability to socialize among themselves. These abilities of knowledge workers have significantly influenced the development of positive attitudes towards the process of assimilation of technological innovation, a better understanding of the technology and the advantages they gain from it, which make them ready to be involved in the process.
 Practical implications: The practical contribution of this study is the ability to best portray the characteristics of an optimal work environment in an organization that wishes to undergo assimilation processes, technological innovation, management and dissemination of relevant knowledge for the organization's use. Such an organization is required to provide its employees with a degree of operational autonomy enabling them to interweave personal interests and organizational goals, and to be involved and to influence the processes of assimilating technological innovation in the organization. The organization should also maintain a high level of updating, transparency, and transfer of knowledge from outside into the organization. In addition, investment in information systems for the information integration provides the employees with the possibility of social networking during their work.

A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach to Real-Life Team Interaction Patterns, Task Context, Information Sharing, and Effectiveness

Interaction dynamics are considered to be key characteristics of complex adaptive systems (CAS). Taking a CAS approach, this study examines how three team interaction patterns affect team effectiveness. Specifically, we analyze recurring, heterogeneous, and participative patterns of team interaction in routine and nonroutine team-task contexts. Fine-grained coding of video-based footage plus nonlinear dynamical systems (NDS) statistics are used to identify the interaction patterns in a sample of 96 real-life teams, comprising 1,395 team members. We establish that recurring patterns of team interaction reduce perceived team information sharing and, in turn, team effectiveness and that these harmful effects are more pronounced in teams doing nonroutine work than in those engaged in routine work. Participative team interaction was found to be positively related to a high level of perceived team information sharing and effectiveness. Heterogeneous team interaction was not associated with perceived team information sharing and effectiveness. Post hoc analyses, in which the behavioral content of the interaction patterns of the 15 most effective and least effective teams is compared, revealed primarily task-directed patterns in the most effective teams. We offer practical recommendations for team development and call for more CAS research on the communicative behaviors within teams of knowledge workers.

Psychometrics of the Violence Nonlinear Dynamics Scale.

The trajectory of daily partner violence generally demonstrates nonlinear dynamics, and this nonlinearity is important to patient outcomes, as it is sometimes a stronger predictor of outcomes than violence frequency or severity. However, measurement of such dynamics is difficult, requiring complete time series data of sufficient length to yield stable measures. The purpose of this study was to develop a pencil-and-paper instrument to estimate violence nonlinearity and assess its psychometrics. Adult women (N = 143) who experienced violence in the previous month were enrolled from 6 primary care clinics. Baseline surveys assessed factors known to correlate with nonlinearity (partner's control strategies, violence appraisal, hope, social support, coping style) and violence dynamics using a 30-item instrument based on traditional characteristics of complex adaptive systems. Participants completed daily assessments of the previous day's violence using interactive voice response via telephone for 8 weeks, with data collection occurring between August 2013 and March 2015. Three different measures of nonlinearity were computed: LZ complexity (algorithmic complexity), approximate entropy (lack of regularity), and Lyapunov exponent (sensitivity to initial conditions). Using factor analysis and reliability measures, the final 10-item Violence Nonlinearity Dynamics Scale (VNDS) was identified. The VNDS was found to have both internal consistency (0.817) and split-half reliability (0.796). In addition, the instrument demonstrated concurrent (correlating with both the combined nonlinearity factor score [r = 0.267] and Grassberger-Procaccia entropy [r = 0.338]) and construct (correlating with 9 of 13 previously identified nonlinearity correlates) validity. The VNDS has both reliability and validity and could facilitate the inclusion of nonlinearity assessment in both intimate partner violence research and clinical work.

Interventions to reduce readmissions: can complex adaptive system theory explain the heterogeneity in effectiveness? A systematic review

BackgroundSuccessfully transitioning patients from hospital to home is a complex, often uncertain task. Despite significant efforts to improve the effectiveness of care transitions, they remain a challenge across health care systems. The lens of complex adaptive systems (CAS) provides a theoretical approach for studying care transition interventions, with potential implications for intervention effectiveness. The aim of this study is to examine whether care transition interventions that are congruent with the complexity of the processes and conditions they are trying to improve will have better outcomes.MethodsWe identified a convenience sample of high-quality care transition intervention studies included in a care transition synthesis report by Kansagara and colleagues. After excluding studies that did not meet our criteria, we scored each study based on (1) the presence or absence of 5 CAS characteristics (learning, interconnections, self-organization, co-evolution, and emergence), as well as system-level interdependencies (resources and processes) in the intervention design, and (2) scored study readmission-related outcomes for effectiveness.ResultsForty-four of the 154 reviewed articles met our inclusion criteria; these studies reported on 46 interventions. Nearly all the interventions involved a change in interconnections between people compared with care as usual (96% of interventions), and added resources (98%) and processes (98%). Most contained elements impacting learning (67%) and self-organization (69%). No intervention reflected either co-evolution or emergence. Almost 40% of interventions were rated as effective in terms of impact on hospital readmissions. Chi square testing for an association between outcomes and CAS characteristics was not significant for learning or self-organization, however interventions rated as effective were significantly more likely to have both of these characteristics (78%) than interventions rated as having no effect (32%, p = 0.005).ConclusionsInterventions with components that influenced learning and self-organization were associated with a significant improvement in hospital readmissions-related outcomes. Learning alone might be necessary but not be sufficient for improving transitions. However, building self-organization into the intervention might help people effectively respond to problems and adapt in uncertain situations to reduce the likelihood of readmission.

Implementation of Integrated Care in Singapore: A Complex Adaptive System Perspective.

Background:Integrated care that focuses on organising healthcare services around people and their communities rather than their diseases is promoted as the strategy to overcome the challenges associated with growing complexity in healthcare needs, demand for healthcare services and inadequate supply of services due to fragmentation in the provision of services. While conceptually appears to be simple, integrated care is made up of multicomponent delivery strategies targeting various levels of the healthcare system while engaging various stakeholders in their execution.Methods:We applied the complex adaptive system (CAS) perspective to two different initiatives that exemplify approaches towards integrating care in Singapore: the Regional Health System (RHS) model, implemented across healthcare institutions at the national level, and CARITAS Integrated Dementia Care implemented in the northern region of Singapore. We adopted an inductive approach in our analysis in which we studied the RHS and CARITAS Integrated Dementia Care according to the components of the CAS. We applied the typical characteristics of CAS: (i) diverse, interdependent and semi-autonomous actors (ii) self-organizing capacity and simple rules (iii) relationship with the bigger system, emergent behaviour and non-linearity in our analysis of key drivers behind the implementation of both the RHS and CARITAS integrated dementia care.Results:By considering the RHS and CARITAS as whole networks each comprising of interacting and adaptive components instead of separate entities within a bigger system, the CAS provided a new mind-set in surfacing issues associated to the implementation of these integrated care networks. In addition to important actors, systems, it informed understanding of relationships and dependencies between different parts of the network – revealing the lack of homogeneity, conformity and difficulties in designing any optimal system in advance given the many moving parts.Conclusions:Drawing on the two examples of integrated care networks, this paper highlights the significance of effective collaboration built on a common focus, responsiveness to emergent behaviours, simple rules, the ability to self-organize and adapt in response to unexpected situations in further development of integrated care in the Singapore context and beyond.

The development of the mammalian dentition as a complex adaptive system

General characteristics of Complex Adaptive Systems include self-adaptation and or-ganisation, emergence, multitasking, robustness, critical phases, diversity and compatibility with such statistical models as Thresholds and Scale Free Networks. The aim was to investigate wheth-er dental development exhibits the general and statistical characteristics of a Complex Adaptive System, by examining data on normal and abnormal dental development. The findings were that self-adaptation and organisation occur while interactions between genes, epigenetic and environmental factors lead to the emergence of cells, tooth germs and mineralised teeth. Multitasking occurs as signalling pathways act simultaneously and reiteratively during initiation and morphogenesis. Tooth germs that do not attain a critical threshold during development may undergo apoptosis. Diversity is evident in tooth number, size, shape and mineralisation. Statistical investigation shows that males have significantly larger teeth and higher prevalences of megadontia and supernumerary teeth (p<0.05), supporting Brook’s Threshold Model which is further developed here to include shape. Image Analysis of tooth dimensions showed they followed a Power Law distribution, with the first 8 of 34 factors in upper lateral inci-sors accounting for 94.4% of the total variation. In conclusion, the development of the dentition shows the general and statistical characteristics of a Complex Adaptive System.

Functional diversity in Keihanshin Metropolitan Area

ABSTRACTDiversity is one of the defining characteristics of complex adaptive systems – systems made up of heterogeneous agents whose interactions form a dynamic network resulting in emergent behaviour. Recent research shows that various types of diversity increase with the scale of the system. This paper uses ideas and methods from community ecology to define business types as functional traits and to calculate functional diversity as a measure of the economic diversification in an urban system. It asks how functional diversity changes with the size of the city within an urban region. Using Keihanshin Metropolitan Area in Japan as an example, the paper concludes that while functional diversity scales with city size, it reaches saturation due to the limitations of the business types classification systems. It argues that regardless of the observed saturation, the method can reveal the structural complexity of the city, showing what types of industries form its economy. It also discovers functions common to all cities in the region, and calls for further development of the method by introducing the multidimensional analysis and additional measures of diversity.

Marine Ecosystems as Complex Adaptive Systems: Emergent Patterns, Critical Transitions, and Public Goods

Complex adaptive systems provide a unified framework for explaining ecosystem phenomena. In the past 20 years, complex adaptive systems have been sharpened from an abstract concept into a series of tools that can be used to solve concrete problems. These advances have been led by the development of new techniques for coupling ecological and evolutionary dynamics, for integrating dynamics across multiple scales of organization, and for using data to infer the complex interactions among different components of ecological systems. Focusing on the development and usage of these new methods, we discuss how they have led to an improved understanding of three universal features of complex adaptive systems, emergent patterns; tipping points and critical phenomena; and cooperative behavior. We restrict our attention primarily to marine ecosystems, which provide numerous successful examples of the application of complex adaptive systems. Many of these are currently undergoing dramatic changes due to anthropogenic perturbations, and we take the opportunity to discuss how complex adaptive systems can be used to improve the management of public goods and to better preserve critical ecosystem services.

Complex systems in human development: sexual dimorphism in teeth and fingerprints of Australian twins

Human teeth and fingerprints have similar embryological origin from epithelial-mesenchymal interactions. This study aims to determine the nature and extent of sexual dimorphism in fingerprints and teeth of twins; investigate the influences of genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors on observed variation; identify possible developmental associations between the phenotypes; and explore whether both systems display the features of complex adaptive systems. Mesiodistal (MD) measurements from both primary and permanent teeth and ridge density (RD) from three different finger areas, namely ulnar (U), radial (R), and proximal (P), from fingerprints of the same set of monozygotic and dizygotic Australian twins (28 males and 31 females aged 8 to 10 years, and aged 13 to 16 years, respectively) were collected and analysed. Sexual dimorphism was observed in both the primary and permanent dentitions, with the latter showing greater magnitude of differences than the former. There was no observed sexual dimorphism in the fingerprints of the 8 to 10 year cohort, but a few finger areas (left index U, right index R, left little R, and left little P) of the 13- to 16-year cohort exhibited significant differences, showing that friction ridges expand over time. It was concluded that both dentition and dermatoglyphics display characteristics of complex adaptive systems.