Is complexity the new framework
for management and public policy in
the 21st century?

Complexity Society Workshop,
Manchester Institute of Innovation Research,
Manchester Business School,
Manchester, UK.
Thursday 26th June 2008, 10am – 3pm
Followed by AGM

The established mechanistic paradigm of management and public policy-making, based on the reduction of complex problems into separate, rationally manageable components, is demonstrably not working adequately in today’s environment. This workshop will explore several perspectives on how complexity thinking can help in a pragmatic way to achieve real-world improvements.

Each speaker will give a 20-minute presentation to be followed by 20 minutes of mediated interaction.

Programme | Paper Abstracts & Downloads

Paper Abstracts & Downloads

Dr. Lorraine Warren, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship & Innovation School of Management, University of Southampton
http://www.management.soton.ac.uk/people/details.php
?Name=LorraineWarren&PHPSESSID=
dd7d3b6d0b33ecd9eb7a34ae866895d9
‘The dynamic between policy and entrepreneurial opportunity: a complexity perspective’
Public policy can be highly significant in influencing industry change. During periods of dynamic change, such as the Single Market in Air Transport and the new Open Skies initiative, entrepreneurial managers must act by reinventing their firms and consequentially, their industries to shape the outcome of policy initiatives, not merely react to them.    In linking changes at the macro level (policy) to the actions of individuals (entrepreneurship), complexity can provide a coherent framework for understanding the processes of emergence, as new patterns of behaviour arise.  This presentation illustrates these concepts with examples from a range of ongoing research projects.

[MS PowerPoint version - 2.9Mb]
[PDF version - 225Kb]

Dr. David Kernick, Lead Research General Practitioner, St Thomas Medical Unit Research Unit; founder member of the Complexity in Primary Care Group and editor of “Complexity and Healthcare Organisation: a view from the street”.
‘Holding the NHS at the Edge of Chaos’
A brief history of the NHS will be presented based on a model that relates the mode of organisational delivery to how well outputs can be measured and the transparency of the transfer function that relates inputs to outputs.  I will argue that the best model for the NHS is one of a complex adaptive system.

Traditionally the NHS has operated at least in part as a complex adaptive system.  Despite attempts to engineer the system, the organisation has held itself in its most efficient and adaptable state of self organised criticality by the interplay of top-down policy directives and bottom-up gaming of the system.  All players have acquiesced to this behaviour and as a result, the paradoxes and ambiguity that are inherent in the NHS have been contained.  My suggestion is that with the current policy agenda of patient choice, competition and micro management there is a real danger of dysfunctional consequences to the system.

[MS PowerPoint version - 6Mb]
[PDF version - 2.9Mb]

Prof David S. Byrne, Director of Postgraduate Studies; Professor in the School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University http://www.dur.ac.uk/sass/staff/profile/?id=645
‘How to manage complex public systems, with reference to Local Strategic Partnerships’

[MS PowerPoint version - 82Kb]
[PDF version - 47Kb]

Dr. Jennifer Wilby, Director of the Centre for Systems Studies, University of Hull    http://www.hull.ac.uk/hubs/people/staff/wilby_j.html
‘Harnessing complexity in managing international public health policy in 21st century’
Complexity as a framework for managing complex systems provides an enriched description for both policy development and its implementation, whether in international health (the subject of this talk) or in any other public policy arena. The integration of complexity research with reviews of current emerging infectious disease (EID) policies shows that there are contributing risk factors in EID that are not addressed in current health policy making, and that this is a direct result of failing to recognise the complexity of the interrelationships in such systems. Joshua Lederburg of the CDC said: “...pitted against microbial genes, we have mainly our wits.” (CDC, 1997) However, we have additional strategies available, such as the developments of complexity sciences, which can and should be employed as a supplement to simply using our wits. Complexity can be a framework to inform and guide the design of public policy making in the 21st century so that more informed (although never perfect) policy can be developed.

[MS PowerPoint version - 105Kb]
[PDF version - 81Kb]

Dr. Paul Thomas, Senior Lecturer University of Glamorgan; Director of DNA Wales
http://people.glam.ac.uk/view/94/
‘Sustainable Thinking: A Welsh Advantage’
Dr Paul Thomas, Glamorgan University Business School presents DNA Wales, a critical thinking unit, with applied research and education programmes tailored to each context and organisation. Its purpose is to research under the generic theme of sustainable intervention and Complexity thinking a direct link, and impact on Leadership mindsets in Wales, UK and Global organisations. Paul will present a snapshot of current research and intervention from the unit, which is grounded in the reality of business and Complexity Theory in Wales.

[MS PowerPoint version - 13Mb]
[PDF version - 1.3Mb]

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