Complexity : A Key Idea for Business and Society.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mowles, Chris.

Series:

Key Ideas in Business and Management

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Organizational change.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (201 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Milton : Taylor & Francis Group, 2021.

Summary:

This book interprets insights from the complexity sciences to explore seven types of complexity better to understand the predictable unpredictability of social life.

Contents:

Cover

Endorsement

Half Title

Series Information

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

1 Introduction: The Predictable Unpredictability of the World

Overview of the Book

Chapter 2 - Complex Models

Chapter 3 - Complex Action

Chapter 4 - the Complex Self

Chapter 5 - Complex Communication

Chapter 6 - Complex Knowledge, Complex Knowing

Chapter 7 - Complex Authority

Chapter 8 - Complex Ethics

Seven Types of Complexity - Combining Natural and Social Sciences

Thinking Without a Bannister: the Importance of Reflection and Reflexivity

Notes

References

2 Complex Models: Radical Challenge to Management Orthodoxy

How Might Any of this Be Helpful to Managers in Organizations?

Thinking About the Model Again

Varieties of Complexity Models and How They Are Constructed

Simplifying by Assuming Stability of the Elements and Average Behaviour Between Them

Simplifying by Assuming Structural Stability

Simplifying by Assuming the Most Probable Events

Advantages and Disadvantages of Drawing on Complexity Models

Taking the Insights Further

Summary of the Argument and Key Implications for Managers

3 Complex Action: The Uncertain Outcomes of Individuals Negotiating in Groups

Magico-mystical Thinking

Disaggregating and Recombining

Transaction and Transformation

Game Analogies

Negotiating Constraints in Organizations

Power in the Organizational Literature

Hannah Arendt of Power, Politics and Human Plurality

Summing Up for Managers - Why the Experience of Organizing Always Leads to Unexpected Outcomes

4 The Complex Self: The 'I,' 'Me' and 'We'

The Social Self - a Reprise

Making the Individual Prior

The Entrepreneurial Self - the Current Phase of Individualization.

Complex Selves in Organizations

Summing Up for Managers - Why Our Sense of Self is Complex and Sometimes Indeterminate

5 Complex Communication: Persuading and Being Persuaded

The Unpredictability of Communicating

Imposing a View to Settle the Uncertainty

Managerialist Ways of Imposing Order

Organizational Development Interventions

Dwelling in Uncertain Speech - Rhetoric and Judgement

The Importance of Rhetoric

Summing Up - Why Speech Will Always Be Complex: Implications for Managers

6 Complex Knowledge, Complex Knowing

Hierarchies of Knowledge

Some Similarities and Differences Between Critical Theory, Pragmatism and Process Theories

Knowing Involves Dialogue, Dialectic, Politics and Ethics

Dialogic Knowledge

Dialectical Knowledge

Political Knowledge

Ethical Knowledge

Developing Reflexive Criticality - the Importance of Groups

Summing Up for Managers - Why Finding Out About Our Lives is a Complex Undertaking

7 Complex Authority: The Leader in the Group and the Group in the Leader

Thinking About Leadership as a Longer Term Social Trend

Uncertainty, Authority and Group Dynamics

Summing up the Importance of Group Process in Thinking About Leadership

Recognizing and Being Recognized - the Leader and the Group, the Group and the Leader

Summary of Complex Authority - Implications for Managers

8 Complex Ethics: Widening Our Circle of Concern

Ethics in the Concrete and the Minute Particulars

Thinking Sociologically About Ethics

On Deliberation in Groups - Revealing Competing Goods and Becoming Visible to Each Other

The Complex Characteristics of Narrative as a Medium for Exploring Ethics

Concluding Thoughts on Complex Ethics and the Implications for Managers

References.

9 Conclusions: Towards Greater Humility and Humane Ways of Working

On the Strengths and Limitations of Models

Complex Action

Complex Selves

Complex Communication

Complex Knowledge, Complex Knowing

Complex Authority

Complex Ethics

So What Does it Mean for Managers to Take Complexity Seriously?

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781003002840

1003002846

9781000505689

1000505685

OCLC:

1273978564