Concept Of Complex Adaptive Systems Research Articles

Introduction to the complex intervention concept and the research perspectives

Abstract Few interventions are truly simple; complexity can arise from various sources, e.g.: Aspects of the intervention itself, such as the number of intervention components, the number of groups targeted, how dynamic the intervention is permitted to be. The context in which the intervention is developed and delivered, such as the social, political, economic, and geographical context. Complex intervention research should be approached with an awareness of these sources of complexity. Systems thinking can be helpful to understanding the dynamic interaction between interventions and their context. This presentation will introduce concepts of complex adaptive systems, e.g. feedback loops, adaptation, emergence, that should be considered when developing and evaluating complex interventions. It will then introduce participants to the research perspectives set out in the new framework: efficacy, effectiveness, theory-based, and systems perspectives. Each perspective is associated with a different type of research question, and therefore appropriate in different circumstances. The presentation will provide information to support participants to consider the research perspective(s) most suited to the research challenge that they are aiming to address. Main messages There are multiple sources of complexity, each of which can affect how the intervention works or contributes to change. Complex intervention research can take an efficacy, effectiveness, theory-based, or systems perspective, the choice of which is based on what is known already and what further evidence would be most useful.

Using Data Mining for Rapid Complex Case Study Descriptions: Example of Public Health Briefings During the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The methodological purpose of this article is to demonstrate how data mining contributes to rapid complex case study descriptions. Our complexity-informed design draws on freely accessible datasets reporting the public health response surrounding the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta (Canada) and involves the cross analysis of integrated findings across six periods of fluctuation identified in the initial quantitative phase of a convergent sequential approach. We discuss how our case meta-inferences, informing how public health briefings can build credibility and trust, were derived by attending to three key concepts of complex adaptive systems: emergence, interdependence, and adaptation. This article serves as an essential reference for using data mining within a case study–mixed methods design for studying complex phenomena.

A systems perspective as a tool to understand disruption in travel and tourism

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of systems thinking and its value for strategic foresight and scenario planning to address disruptive forces from the outside, with the outbreak of COVID19 as a case study. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper concisely discusses the notion of systems thinking and the concept of complex adaptive systems and puts this in the context of contemporary society in general and travel and tourism in particular. Strategic foresight and scenario planning are introduced as an approach to anticipate disruptions in the complex adaptive travel and tourism system. Findings As COVID-19 has demonstrated, travel and tourism is sensitive for disruptions from the outside. To ensure long-term resilience and sustainability, a systems approach embedded in strategic foresight and scenario planning is emphasised. Practical implications Strategic foresight and scenario planning is a competence that can be learned. Originality/value Given the present status of COVID-19 and other disruptors on travel and tourism, a resilient approach to the future is necessary; thus, the value of this viewpoint paper is the proposition of an adaptive capacity system. This paper offers advice to understand and manage complexity and adaptive systems.

Language change and language evolution: Cousins, siblings, twins?

AbstractThe relationship between “language change” and “language evolution” has recently become subject to some debate regarding the scope of both concepts. It has been claimed that while the latter used to refer to the language origins in the first place, both terms can now, to a certain extent, be used synonymously. In this paper, I argue that this can partly be explained by parallel developments both in historical linguistics and in the field of language evolution research that have led to a considerable amount of convergence between both fields. Both have adopted usage-based approaches and data-driven methods, which entails similar research questions and similar perspectives on the phenomena under investigation. This has ramifications for current models and theories of language change (or evolution). Two approaches in particular, the concept of complex adaptive systems and construction grammar, have been combined in integrated approaches that seek to explain both language emergence and language change over historical time. I discuss the potential and limitations of this integrated approach, and I argue that there is still some unexplored potential for cross-fertilization.

How can a municipal government continue operations during megadisasters? An analysis of preparedness using complex adaptive systems

PurposeThis paper aims to examine how government continuity planning contributes to strengthening the public sector's emergency preparedness, resulting in enhanced resilience of the public sector. Government continuity plans (GCPs) are a recently focused concept in disaster preparedness, compared to business continuity plans (BCPs) in the private sector. The need for BCPs was widely recognized after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE) and the 2011 Thailand Floods. However, recent disasters, such as the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake in Japan, have revealed that local governments without effective GCPs were severely affected by disasters, preventing them from quickly responding to or recovering from disasters. When the GEJE occurred in 2011, only 11% of municipal governments in Japan had GCPs.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyzes basic principles of government continuity planning using complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory while summarizing recent developments in theory and practice of government continuity planning.FindingsThis research investigates the Japanese experience of GCPs using self-organization, one of the concepts of CAS. A GCP will complement regional disaster plans, which often focus on what governments should do to protect citizens during emergencies but fail to outline how governments should prepare for an emergency operation. The study concludes that GCPs contribute to increased resilience among the public sector in terms of robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness and rapidity.Practical implicationsThis paper includes implications for the development and improvement of a GCP's operational guideline.Originality/valueThis research fulfills an identified need to investigate the effectiveness of a GCP for resilience in the public sector and how to improve its operation using concepts of CAS.

Formal approach to model complex adaptive computing systems

Complex adaptive systems provide a significant number of concepts such as reaction, interaction, adaptation, and evolution. In general, these concepts are modelled employing different techniques which give an inexplicit vision on the system. Therefore, all concepts must be carefully modelled using the same approach to avoid contradiction and guarantee system homogeneity and correctness. However, developing a computing system that includes all these concepts using the same approach is not an easy task and requires a perfect understanding of the system’s behaviour. In this paper, we contribute as stepwise towards proposing an approach to model the most important concepts of complex adaptive systems while ensuring homogeneity and the correctness of models. For this aim, we present five standard agent-based models formalizing agent properties, reaction, interaction, adaptation, and evolution. These models are adapted to all cases of complex adaptive systems since they include an abstract description of these concepts. To implement our approach formally, we choose the Event-B method due to the strong assurance of bugs’ absence that it guarantees. Besides, it supports horizontal and vertical refinement which facilitates the specification process. Furthermore, the approach of this paper addresses the very abstract level of modelling which expand the use of this approach to other formal methods and tools.

Effectual Networks as Complex Adaptive Systems: Exploring Dynamic and Structural Factors of Emergence

The notion of effectual networks is one of the central concepts in the effectuation research. However, there has been little conceptual and empirical work on how they emerge and what structures they have. This article incorporates the concept of complex adaptive systems from complexity theory to understand both their dynamic and structural elements. We examine the effectual networks and networking of 10 startups from Finland and offer a process-system model of effectual networks. We derive propositions that connect dynamic and structural entrepreneur-related factors of their emergence and outline directions for future research at the intersection of effectuation and complexity theory.

Re-examining Political Risk Assessments in Volatile Regions

Conventional country risk and political risk indexes, to formalize the process, have attempted to standardize and generalize assessment models for factors that are highly context specific. Hence, the value derived from traditional political risk indexes lack precision and are therefore less reliable. This paper re-examines political risk analysis and explains how understanding the topology and nature of political risk in emerging and developing markets is a crucial advancement in developing political risk analysis for the private sector and government agencies. Particular focus is given to develop political risk characterization as a risk analysis category. To bridge the conceptual gap between risk assessment and risk management, this paper proposes the concept of complex adaptive systems as the backdrop for emerging political risk scenarios.

Realizing the integrative capacity of educational mixed methods research teams: using a complexity-sensitive strategy to boost innovation

ABSTRACTEducational research teams are increasingly recognized as an optimal configuration for addressing more complex mixed methods research problems; however, their development is often approached as a conventional research collaboration rather than an integrative one. An approach informed by complexity theory provides the practical guidance for studying mixed methods research teams as complex adaptive systems with the capacity for generating novel educational research outcomes greater than the sum of individual contributions alone. In this paper, I advance a complexity-sensitive strategy through which to realize the integrative capacity of educational mixed methods research teams comprising of four interrelated elements: membership, contributions, interactions, and performance. These elements embody amalgamations from a decade of my readings of the literature and real-life professional experience. Each element is examined in light of the three key concepts of complex adaptive systems to describe the necessary conditions for emergence, influential challenges illustrating interdependency, and desirable individual and team adaptations. The study’s theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Complexity Leadership Theory and its contribution to decentralized water management analysis and practice

Water management systems in the world have evolved considreably in the last three decades from the traditional "prediction and control"(Phl-Wostl, 2006. p49) approach to more integrative approaches.(Biswas,2004,@004, p24). Practioners in the discipline may find inspiration from a number of leadership approaches in the literature that include transformational, intgrative, collabroative and entrepreneurial leadership, inter alia(Meijerink, S.2011). Another recent and interesting addition to leaadership literature is found in Complexity Leadership Theory(CLT) as developed by UHl-Bien, Marion and Bill McKelvey(@007). It is premised on on seeking understanding on how organisations respond to pressures in the modern knowledge era, in the contemporary and current work environment as well as in evolving circumstances. The model draws from complexity science, which is the " study of the behaviour of large collections of ....simple, interacting units endowed with the potential to evolve with time"(Coveney, 2003, p.1058 cited in Uhl-Bien et al 2007, p.299). In this respect the central tenet behind Complexity leadership theory is the use of the concept of complex adaptive systems(CAS) where issues of leadership , which is understood as the capacity to influence others, are seen as not as positions of authority but roles, are entangled between members of an organisation and "can be enacted within everyinteraction between members"(Lichenstein and Plowman 2009, p.618). In unpacking the conceptual framework behind CLT, there a reflection on the dynamic relationship between the bureacratic, administrative functions of the organisations and the emergent, informal dynamics of complex adaptive systems(CAS).The current state of water management, given the competing demands of the biosphere and the socio-sphere are amenable to be relooked at using the CLT lens. The concept of adaptive water management of water resources(Pahl-Wostl, 2006,p.49) is reviewed in realtion to CLT.
 Key words: complexity theory, complex adaptive systems, creativity, learning and adaptive water management
 

The viable decision maker for CAS survival: how to change and adapt through fitting process

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the decision-making process in the management of the complex adaptive systems (CAS), particularly focusing on the dimensions that affect the individual decision maker (DM) when passing from decision to behavior in fitting processes. Although the importance of the general process of fitting in terms of organizational design has been highlighted in earlier studies, a closer focus on the DM perspective is required.Design/methodology/approachStarting from the theoretical frameworks of viable systems approach (vSa) and addressing the evolving concepts of change and adaptation in CAS, the work takes the DM perspective and investigates the dimensions involved in the paths that lead complex decisions into behaviors, when referring to fitting processes. The paper reviews the vSa and the concept of CAS, deepening the decision making in fitting processes. Then, the paper proceeds to discuss the schemes and the categories that affect, at different levels, the decision and behavioral choices by proposing an interpretative framework.FindingsThe paper proposes a general framework useful to recognize/identify which are the elements/dimensions that have to be considered when organizations change in pursuing survival. The findings of the paper also show how adopting a vSa as a meta-model can be insightful to the understanding of service systems and useful in fully comprehending decision-making processes and behavior in complex adaptive system.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper lies in exploring the decision making process in CAS, adopting a closer perspective on the single DM through the lens of the vSa.

Organisational culture and its role in developing a sustainable science communication platform

ABSTRACTThere is an ongoing tension for scientists when deciding to engage with the public about their research as many scientists view direct participation as peripheral to their role. Pressures of time, lack of support by management and a lack of communicative skills are identified by scientists as reasons for not committing to communicative initiatives. We aimed to explore and explain the organizational culture of a research community that activity communicates with the public and has an international research culture. The Centre for Brain Research (CBR) was identified as a model and was analyzed using the concept of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). Twelve participants (scientists (8), clinicians (1), community liaison people (2)) and an identified director of the organization were interviewed. Direct quotes from interview were used to provide examples of the characteristics of CAS for example a variety of agents interacting, adapting the learning within the organization, non-linear dynamic behavior that is a result of aggregates of groups with actions emerging from self-organizing behavior and the development of an emergent culture. This analysis showed that complexity theory was a suitable framework for analyzing the sustainable communicative organization within CBR.

Granularity Instead of Entity-Centricity in the Financial Regulatory Data Architecture

The concepts of comprehensive regulation, financial networks, linkages, contagion risk and complexity have become the everyday reference in discussions about financial regulation. Most of these concepts of complex adaptive systems have been developed and originally deployed in quantitative fields such as biology and information theory. But while financial economists have adopted many high level principles and concepts of network theory, less attention has been devoted to defining the data requirements to support effective analysis of complex systems and networks. This conceptual framework of the financial system as a complex, adaptive system leads to the conclusion that one of the key, if not primary, inputs for the assessment of systemic risks and the successful analysis of the propagation of shocks through the tightly interlinked financial system is proper data, or to be specific-granular data. The regulatory community needs to make a conscious decision to walk away from the categorization of financial companies and products into out-moded and ill-defined ‘buckets’ and rather to view modern financial markets through the prism of four fundamental, foundational, elements: entity identification, relationship information, product elements, and transaction tracking from which all required regulatory financial data can be readily constructed. The paper discusses policy considerations with respect to the modern financial data framework and offers a transition plan to convert the current regulatory data approaches to that new framework.

Insights into the development of strategy from a complexity perspective

This paper provides an account of an ongoing project with an independent school in the UK. The project focuses on a strategy development intervention which, from the start, was systemic in orientation. The intention was to integrate simple systems concepts and approaches into the strategy development process to: address power relations in actively engaging a wide range of stakeholders with the school’s strategy-making process; generate a range of good ideas; and make the strategy-making process transparent in order to inspire stakeholder confidence in, and commitment to, it and its outcomes. This paper describes how seeking to meet these aims entailed a series of workshops during the course of which an awareness of the relevance, in our interpretation, of Complex Adaptive Systems concepts grew.

Multiple exclusion homelessness: is simplicity the answer to this complexity?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore integration and complexity through the evaluation of a case study service which supports multiply excluded homeless people. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed methods theory based evaluation. Data gathering included semi-structured interviews with external stakeholders, analysis of referral and outcome data, focus groups with frontline staff members and managers, and interviews with people living in the service. Findings – The service was highly rated by its stakeholders due to its ability to meet the immediate needs of many individuals and to facilitate access and engagement with community and specialist resources. However, not every individual responded to the support that was an offer, and a number were unable to access the service due to the nature of their needs or a lack of capacity in the service. Whilst the service was able to engage community and specialist services this often appeared to be within the parameters set by these services rather than flexibly around the needs of the individual. Research limitations/implications – The research is based in one case study service and findings may not be transferable to different local contexts and providers. However, the findings are consistent with previous studies. Practical implications – It is possible for commissioners to intervene in the complexities that multiply excluded homeless people experiences through the introduction of a new service. However, this is unlikely to address all of the gaps and fragmentation that people in these circumstances face. It is therefore important that partners are sensitive to such limitations and have a shared willingness to respond to continuing gaps and shortfalls. Social implications – Despite specific national policies people continue to experience multiple exclusion homelessness which suggest that more still needs to be done to prevent people from this extremely disadvantaged social circumstance. Whilst specialist services can provide excellent support the response is still fragmented for some people meaning that work to better integrate their responses must continue. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the evidence base of support models for multiple excluded homeless people and the factors that can enable a housing support service to respond to such needs. It also provides comment on the relevance of the concept of complex adaptive systems to the study of integration.

Local Solutions for National Challenges? Exploring Local Solutions Through the Case of a National Succession Planning Strategy

The notion of localism and decentralization in national policy has come increasingly to the fore in recent years. The national succession planning strategy for headteachers in England introduced by the National College for School Leadership promoted ‘local solutions for a national challenge’. This article deals with some aspects of the tensions inherent in seeking to achieve large-scale policy goals by taking a localizing approach. The concepts of complex adaptive systems are used as a framework within which to analyse and interpret the design and impact of the strategy. An insight offered is that responses to any strategy or initiative are always local. Some propositions are made about the circumstances in which desired results might be expected to emerge, the distinctive behaviours that may be required of leaders and some reflections on the nature of the succession planning challenge.

What is Leading the Leaders: Contextuality as a Perspective to Leadership

In this article our objective is to advance the use of contextual theoretical perspectives for studying leadership. As a means for contextual research, we utilize Complexity Leadership Theory (CLT) to study the leadership evolution of first-line managers (FLMs). CLT incorporates the concept of Complex Adaptive Systems, which presents a novel way of studying dynamic interaction in networks composed of heterogeneous actors. We use the concept of heterogeneous actors to refer to humans as well as other salient non-human elements present in the organization. Our case organization is a Finnish beverage industry organization’s production unit, with 15 FLMs acting as leaders for approximately 200 employees. The unit included three different production lines, which we observed as three distinct CAS. The organization executed an organizational development (OD) program aiming to ‘better’ the work done by the FLMs. Our research group participated in the study of the OD program using qualitative methods during 2009-2012. Our findings suggest that leadership is highly contextual: the FLMs we observed were seen to adapt their leadership style according to the contexts (i.e. the three CAS) they operated in. Contextual factors, such as the production technology, were also seen to influence the overall behavior of the three CAS. We show how organization development actions affected the CAS and the leadership behavior of the FLMs.

Making sense in a complex landscape: how the Cynefin Framework from Complex Adaptive Systems Theory can inform health promotion practice

Health promotion addresses issues from the simple (with well-known cause/effect links) to the highly complex (webs and loops of cause/effect with unpredictable, emergent properties). Yet there is no conceptual framework within its theory base to help identify approaches appropriate to the level of complexity. The default approach favours reductionism--the assumption that reducing a system to its parts will inform whole system behaviour. Such an approach can yield useful knowledge, yet is inadequate where issues have multiple interacting causes, such as social determinants of health. To address complex issues, there is a need for a conceptual framework that helps choose action that is appropriate to context. This paper presents the Cynefin Framework, informed by complexity science--the study of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). It introduces key CAS concepts and reviews the emergence and implications of 'complex' approaches within health promotion. It explains the framework and its use with examples from contemporary practice, and sets it within the context of related bodies of health promotion theory. The Cynefin Framework, especially when used as a sense-making tool, can help practitioners understand the complexity of issues, identify appropriate strategies and avoid the pitfalls of applying reductionist approaches to complex situations. The urgency to address critical issues such as climate change and the social determinants of health calls for us to engage with complexity science. The Cynefin Framework helps practitioners make the shift, and enables those already engaged in complex approaches to communicate the value and meaning of their work in a system that privileges reductionist approaches.

Integrated care in the emergency department: A complex adaptive systems perspective

Emergency clinicians undertake boundary-work as they facilitate patient trajectories through the Emergency Department (ED). Emergency clinicians must manage the constantly-changing dynamics at the boundaries of the ED and other hospital departments and organizations whose services emergency clinicians seek to integrate. Integrating the care that differing clinical groups provide, the services EDs offer, and patients' needs across this journey is challenging. The journey is usually accounted for in a linear way - as a "continuity of care" problem. In this paper, we instead conceptualize integrated care in the ED using a complex adaptive systems (CAS) perspective. A CAS perspective accounts for the degree to which other departments and units outside of the ED are integrated, and appropriately described, using CAS concepts and language. One year of ethnographic research was conducted, combining observation and semi-structured interviews, in the EDs of two tertiary referral hospitals in Sydney, Australia. We found the CAS approach to be salient to analyzing integrated care in the ED because the processes of categorization, diagnosis and discharge are primarily about the linkages between services, and the communication and negotiation required to enact those linkages, however imperfectly they occur in practice. Emergency clinicians rapidly process large numbers of high-need patients, in a relatively efficient system of care inadequately explained by linear models. A CAS perspective exposes integrated care as management of the patient trajectory within porous, shifting and negotiable boundaries.

Complex adaptive systems as metaphors for organizational management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of complex adaptive systems (CAS) from the perspective of managing organizations, to describe and explore the management principles in a case study of an organization with unconventional ways of management and to present a tentative model for managing organizations as CAS – system management. There is a need for the development of knowledge, metaphors and language for management of the new forms of organizing, for example, value networks, which are evolving as a response to the increased demand for efficiency, flexibility and innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe frame of reference is based on a literature review of the area of CAS and an inductive and interactive approach is used to identify the management principles in the case study.FindingsA classification of the components of a CAS is suggested and described as properties of, and approaches for, managing CAS. The identified management principles in the case study are: a clearly formulated mission, delegation of responsibility and authority, diversity and competition, and follow‐up and feedback. As a result of analyzing the frame of reference and the case study, a tentative, conceptual model for managing organizations as CAS – system management – is presented including; metaphor, components and approaches.Originality/valueThe case study contributes to the empirical body of knowledge of organizing and management. The tentative model is a contribution to the ongoing discussion about managing organizations as CAS.