http://complexitylabs.io

[Wow – can’t quite believe I’ve never linked to this before – but it seems even on https://syscoi.com/model.report/model.report/newest.html I didn’t pick this up. Got it thanks to the wonderful Human Current podcast: http://www.human-current.com/episode-089-nonlinear-systems-technology-with-complexity-labs]

Complexity Labs is an online platform for the research, education, analysis and design of complex systems.

This paper was prepared for Tamarack’s Community Change Festival held in
Toronto, Canada from October 1-4, 2018. Learn more or to register visit:
http://events.tamarackcommunity.ca/community-change-festival

COLLABORATION AND COMPLEX PROBLEMS THE COLLABORATIVE PREMISE
It starts with collaboration. This is the coming together of two or more organizations to work collectively, share authority, decision-making and accountability to influence or resolve community opportunities or challenges. Collaboration is viewed as an opportunity for partners to create something new or scale up an existing approach together that might be impossible for a single organization to do on its own.
Collaboration has dominated the horizon of organizing for at least the last thirty years and perhaps longer. Funders have been encouraging and investing in organizations to collaborate to address complex community challenges. There are many reasons for collaboration to happen…

Continued in source: 

https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/316071/Resources/Publications/2018%20CCF%20Paper%20Creating%20Containers%20and%20Co-Design%20Paper%20Liz%20Weaver.pdf

How system thinking is killing your creativity

an organization is not a system

The new open participatory organization (OPO) paradigm entails a move from thinking in terms of systems that can be “known” or “designed” or “intervened upon” by a person or persons who occupy a privileged position outside that system, to thinking in terms of complex responsive processes of human interaction. Since the 1940’s there have been different ways in which we came to think about organizations as systems. The early systems thinkers relied on cybernetic theories of regulatory feedback loops that were encountered or that could be designed inside the system to produce predictable outcomes. Today, cybernetics is still useful in creating operational frameworks where regulatory points function as reminders: what to measure, when to anticipate errors, when to test, how and when to review our work. Cybernetics works well inside closed operational systems that are simple and where results are reproducible.

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

However, whenever we are dealing with humans, complexity arises in the many many local interactions that take place between them in their ordinary everyday activities of organizational life. There is no “outside position” from which an individual or leader can take account of “the whole” and impose interventions on it. This is the meaning of the popular phrase Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Every attempt to control the complex responses of people in participation, only escalates complexity through other measures — adaptive push-back, gaming the system, deviant behavior, leveraging power, ranking and politicking strategies, obfuscations of all sorts, and the like.Furthermore, there is no way to align culture since culture is constituted by streams of values that are continuously shifting in every individual while simultaneously being negotiated among them. When people come together they spontaneously begin to accommodate, assimilate or reconcile power relationships that result from asymmetrical values, needs and skills. During this process, the field of participation continuously shifts from configuration to configuration, creating ever-more complex formulations of what it is to be an I,we, me or us. The notion of searching for fitness in a complex adaptive landscape readily comes to mind.

What “fitness” represents in this process of human interaction, is a coherence that is established when what it is to be I -me is generalized from the myriad particular instantiations that are possible within the context of individuals, into a imagined “whole” or “unity” that is experienced as we-us. This requires that both the autonomy of each individual — the felt sense of the I,accommodates a socially shared aspect — a role that functions as a me; and that this “me” is simultaneously assimilated by every other individual until the moment of reconciliation when the felt-sense of we-ness emerges as a shared reality. This we-ness can be further reified through shared narratives among the many, or rhetorical devices from the few, peer pressure and social anxiety, politics of exclusion and inclusion, and xenophobia and ethnocentric tendencies — to eventually construct a strong sense of an us which is dialectically opposed to a them. This is the point where group coherence — the lively, adaptive, responsive, creative and complex mode of collective participation — collapses into its invariant and pathological form, cohesion, an outcome of unconscious tendencies to concretize the I-me-we forming processes into abstract and invariant formulations of bounded wholes, with insides and outsides, strong delineations of inclusion and exclusion. It is at this point that the collective loses its capacity to authentically participate, and instead falls into paranoia, stasis, and group think that are key indicators of group cohesion. It is only in this state, where people begin to act more like programs than as authentic agents in a field of participation, that the manager can adopt the posture of “acting on” the collective from a privileged position where the manager is free to act, whereas everyone else is subject to interventions from “outside.” Except in extreme cases where either physical or psychological force is employed, the manager’s posture is merely an illusion, only made possible by the collusion of the collective, who, for reasons of their own, act along with the manager in sustaining a fiction that offers some convenience for everyone.

It is this convenience of human collusion, that we commonly call “the system.”

Source: How system thinking is killing your creativity – Our Future at Work – Medium

Meg’s most recent book

Meg is also the co-founder and President of the Berkana Institute

She will be teaching a leadership course at Cape Cod Institute July 23 – 27 2018. This course will be “a five-day exploration to discern the contributions we choose to offer as leaders of organizations, communities, and families — for this time.”

Source: Episode 090 Reclaiming Leadership for the Human Spirit with Margaret Wheatley — HumanCurrent

A friend of a friend is facing some push-back on the status of systems thinking as compared e.g. to managemen, psychology, other organisational thinking. This could potentially have impacts on her immediate career prospects.

So we are looking to create a collection of high profile organizations who have stated that we need more systems/holistic/joined-up/integrated/etc. thinkers to solve world problems.

Ellen Lewis contributed three stonking examples:

1. 2017, UN Chief Executives’ Board for Coordination described systems thinking as a “key way of working” and an essential “leadership characteristic” needed to respond to the “interconnectedness and indivisibility” of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

United Nations Chief Executives Board for Coordination, 2017
First regular session of 2017, summary of deliberations
Added to Library: 30 Jun 2018Last Updated: 02 Jul 2018

2. In 2018, the Governance Directorship of the OECD declared that “the time for piecemeal solutions in the public sector is over” and they recommended the use of systems thinking to instigate innovative solutions to cross-cutting and complex issues.
Governance Directorate of the OECD
Embracing Innovation in Government
Global Trends 2018

Click to access embracing-innovation-in-government-2018.pdf

3. The International Council for Science (ICSU), which reports to the UN, has released a report saying that a massive shift towards systems thinking for coordinating the SDGs is needed. This report is more systems-focused than any I have seen before, and ICSU are putting their money where their mouths are: they are integrating themselves with the Social Science equivalent body, to have a more systemic approach themselves.

Click to access Science-and-Technology-Major-Group-Position-paper-HLPF-2018.pdf

And I came up with (clearly linked to (2) above):
4. OECD-OPSI (Observatory of Public Sector Innovation) said this strongly:

Click to access SystemsApproachesDraft.pdf

https://oecd-opsi.org/scotland-improves-national-performance-with-systems-approach/
https://oecd-opsi.org/good-news-systems-change-in-the-public-sector-is-possible-2/
https://oecd-opsi.org/taking-the-systems-work-forward-workshop-for-senior-slovenian-officials/

5. Paulibe Roberts (who has featured here more than once as www.systemspractitioner.com) adds the World Health Organisation: www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/resources/9789241563895/en/

Any more for any more?

What is North Camden Zone?

See more in source: About Us – North Camden Zone for Children & Young People

---

---

---

Vermont Complex Systems Center

at the University of Vermont

---

Who we are:

A postdisciplinary team of faculty and students working at the University of Vermont on real-world, data-rich, and meaningful complex systems problems of all kinds.

---

What we do:

Describe, Explain, Create, Share

Our ethos: Play

---

Our mission:

To help people and their communities flourish at all scales through research and education about complex systems.

---

---

---

Research into Interesting Things

---

---

We work on many interesting things. And we’ll list them here. But not yet.

---

---

---

---

---

Scales of Learning

---

---

Events and Programs

Learn more about complex systems and data science by attending one of our awesome new programs or events! 

---

Undergraduate Degree in Data Science

Obtain squirrel mind. Learn more about the joint program of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Computer Science 

---

Five-course Graduate Certificate in Complex Systems

For curious platypuses. Learn more about our broadest educational program at the graduate level 

---

MS in Complex Systems and Data Science

Become the fox. Learn more about our newest educational program 

---

Coming soon: PhD in Complex Systems and Data Science

Earn crow-level cleverness. Learn more about our plans 

---

---

---

Source: The Vermont Complex Systems Center

[Cor – this looks serious!]

Working With Complexity – The EMK Method

Key Info:

• Learn how to address a complex problem that appears to be intractable and not susceptible to other approaches
• Conduct in-depth interviews to elicit deep reflection on the challenges the organisation is facing
• Analyse data generated from interviews, using a method unique to the EMK Complexity Methodology, which identifies the multi-dimensional problem space

Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly

Join Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly from the London School of Economics (LSE) and Cambridge University, for this two-week training in addressing complex organisational, societal and global issues. Eve has worked for over 20 years in both the public and private sectors, advised the United Nations, European Commission, five government administrations and many organisations in the EMK Complexity Methodology for working with complex problems. This is a rare residential opportunity to train with her.

 29th Oct to 09th Nov 2018

Fee:

£ 1 495.00

Includes private and simple accommodation with shared bathroom, all meals, field trips, materials and teaching sessions from the first lunchtime you arrive through until the lunchtime before your departure.

…

Expand

Login/Register then Book

Complex problems, whether organisational, societal or global, often appear not only difficult but intractable, and seem not to have an effective solution. The main reason is that the approach used is often inappropriate.

Complex problems have many aspects and multiple interacting causalities, yet we often focus on a few or even a single cause. We also insist on finding a ‘solution’ when such a solution would only be applicable within a certain set of circumstances and may no longer be relevant when those circumstances change.

Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly has worked with the sciences of complexity for over 20 years to address practical problems in both the private and public sectors. She has worked with the UN, the European Commission, advised five government administrations and many organisations. In the process she has developed the EMK Complexity Methodology to address these problems.

This two-week course is for academics, business-people, policy-makers, overseas development professionals or anyone looking to effectively address complex problems in their work or lives.

Week 1 – Key Concepts, Interviewing Technique and Individual Analysis

This week will introduce participants to some key concepts in complexity science that underpin the EMK Complexity Methodology. Participants will be trained on how to conduct in-depth interviews in small groups and how to analyse the findings individually before experiencing a group analysis process the following week. The key feature of the approach is to identify the ‘critical co-evolving clusters’ in the problem space, i.e. those issues which are not only closely linked, but which influence each other and change the behaviour of the interacting entities. Using those clusters the participants will be shown how to help set up ‘enabling environments’ that address the critical clusters sustainably. Participants will conduct a series of interviews to enable them to use real data for the analysis and this will significantly increase the benefit they will derive from the course.

Week 2 – Group Analysis, Enabling Environments and Reflect-Back Workshop

Working on a common theme (e.g. leadership or sustainability) all participants will be taken through a group analysis process to (a) identify the multiple dimensions (social, cultural, political, economic, technical, physical, etc.) in the problem space; (b) identify the critical co-evolving clusters; (c) prepare for the enabling environment by addressing key critical co-evolving clusters at multiple scales (individual, group, organisational); (d) prepare and present findings and recommendations at a Reflect Back Workshop to be presented to the interviewees and others. The Group Analysis and the setting up of the Enabling Environment will be the main feature of Week 2.

Login/Register then Book

• Teachers(active tab)
• How to apply
• You might also like
• Bursaries

Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly

Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly

Professor Eve Mitleton-Kelly is a Fellow in the Engineering Department at Cambridge University (2017-); was Founder and Director of the Complexity Research Programme at the London School of Economics (1995-2017); visiting Professor at the Open University; member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Complex Systems (2012-2014); SAB member of the ‘Next Generation Infrastructures Foundation’, TU Delft; on Editorial Board  of ‘Emergence: Complexity & Organisations’; Policy Advisor to European and USA organisations, the European Commission, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the UN OCHA and UNEP, several UK Government Departments; an Indonesian Government Agency on deforestation; Scientific Advisor to the Governments of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Netherlands, Singapore and UK.

Eve’s research has concentrated on addressing apparently intractable problems at organisational, national and global levels and the creation of enabling environments based on complexity science. She has led, and participated in 45 research projects funded by the EPSRC, ESRC, AHRC, the European Commission, business and government to address complex problems. She has developed a theory of Complex Social Systems and a methodology to address complex problems. She has edited, co-edited and co-authored 5 books and has written extensively on the application of complexity theory to address complex problems. Her latest edited volum, the “Handbook of Research Methods in Complexity Science: Theory and Applications” includes 26 chapters written by over 50 international authors and was published by Edward Elgar in January 2018.

Source: Working With Complexity – The EMK Method | Schumacher College

The cybernetics community owes a great debt of thanks to the editors of Routledge Library Editions: Philosophy of Mind series, for bringing to light a neglected classic of the field in 2015.  It was then that their reprint of Kenneth M. Sayre’s Cybernetics and the Philosophy of Mindappeared.  Originally published in 1976, Sayre’s book proffers cybernetics as nothing less than a solution to the mind/body problem through a kind of “informational monism” reminiscent of the thought of Gregory Bateson.  As such, it provides as fulsomely developed a cybernetic theory as one is likely to find anywhere; one that most certainly deserves a place in the canon of the field’s most substantial works.  In my in-depth conversation with Dr. Sayre, now Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Notre Dame University, we explore the relationship between the “two entropies” of information theory and thermodynamics, parse the notion of feedback into even more fine-grained categories of homeostatic, heterotelic, sentient, and anticipatory, and trace the role of these various types of feedback in processes of evolutionary adaptation, behavioral conditioning and consciousness as well as the development of social structures, language and reasoning leading to the maximization of “negentropic flexibility.”  The result is a deeply thought-provoking glimpse of a rigorously argued cybernetic framework deserving of considerable attention within and beyond the field.

Podcast link in source:  Kenneth Sayre, “Cybernetics and the Philosophy of Mind” (Routledge, 2015) |

Systemantics

Continues in source: Systemantics – Wikipedia

an interactive guide to human networks

Source: The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds

Via Ivo Velitchkov

The march of self-reference
Felix Geyer
Honorary President, Research Committee on Sociocybernetics,
International Sociological Association

Keywords Cybernetics, Individual behavior, Social systems Abstract Focuses on the issue of increasing environmental and societal complexity, and its effects on the individual, especially visible in the increase of self-reference (the commonalities between man, animals and machines). Distinguishes three meanings of self-reference and discusses the interrelationships between self-reference, alienation, and growing societal complexity: states that, especially in the last few decades of this secular age, there has been increasing incidence of self- reference. Also discusses the relationship between self-reference, constructivism, and modern brain research. Asserts that the march of self-reference is likely to continue, but that it will change in character.

Link (pdf): https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/75d4/bb694865222f7e5b1d09576215a3fb21656f.pdf