Organisations, Innovation and Complexity: New Perspectives on the Knowledge Economy

University of Manchester
9-10th September 2004

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Innovation in Systems through the deliberate creation of Emergent Properties

A. Hiley , H.J. Kahn , D.J. Petty1, W.S. Truscott & J. Wilson

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences,
The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

Abstract

Innovative progress may seem radical, but closer study can show that much of an organisation is unaltered. Instead changes to one part can lead to the emergence of a new collective property, for example a new behaviour pattern. In contrast to the fortuitous changes to systems that are often seen as generators of new emergent properties, Systems Designers deliberately produce emergent properties that have to meet previously agreed specifications. This paper argues that the tools used for communication, analysis and debate in systems design are specific examples of a generic means to realise controlled innovation. The paper will look at the development of digital television as a case study.

Design is the process by which a system is taken from the sponsor’s original concept to the set of instructions that enable a satisfactory realisation. The first step is the generation of a system specification composed of words, numbers and diagrams that define, in outline, the target emergent properties for the system and the constraints to which it will be subject. Further steps in the design process add detail and choose a particular route towards the target emergent properties. Every decision is tested against these: if the choice still leads to them it is followed; if not, an alternative is sought. This process essentially divides a system into a hierarchy of sub-systems that collectively give the required behaviour.

Digital television was conceived as a method for greatly increasing the number of TV programmes available to viewers via means that are subject to government control and taxation. This needed an increase in the internal capacity of the sub-system that conveys the picture from the studio to the multitude of receivers. A non-technical outline of the top-down synthesis and analysis that led to the achievement of this goal will be presented. This will illustrate that overall emergent properties can be assigned to sub-systems and their interactions on a top-down basis. The various descriptions that will be used to explain different levels of the process show that the deliberate development of new emergent properties requires specific tools. In essence these are conventions within a particular field for communication, discussion and debate about the emergent properties expected from high-level representations of systems. We suggest that research into the area of communication in design could lead to the development of equivalent sets of conventions within the field of the behaviour of organisations and hence facilitate directed initiation and implementation of innovation within them.

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