The last hundred years has seen numerous management theories and business practices come in and out of vogue. From the rigid structuralism and hierarchical approach of Taylorism in the opening decades of the twentieth century, to the infatuation with 'downsizing for efficiency', that was the Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) mantra at the twentieth century's close. Over time, these ideas and others have been modified and built on, to accommodate changing conditions and sensibilities.
However, in todays world, the traditional approaches to resource management and decision making increasingly fail to address the new dynamics of the times. They offer neither the opportunity nor the flexibility for radical and progressive change, as is demanded by the increasingly fast pace of events that sweep society.
Complexity theory, dealing with systems that are inherently uncertain and unpredictable, is emerging as a radical new way to keep pace with change, while delivering the dividend of greater resource efficiency, enhanced social relevance, and the resilience to withstand change.
Cognia's approach draws on the scientific understanding of the behaviour of complex systems, (complex adaptive systems theory) and applies that understanding, together with principles from the humanist and cognitive sciences, to build resilience into the organisational decision making process..
However, in todays world, the traditional approaches to resource management and decision making increasingly fail to address the new dynamics of the times. They offer neither the opportunity nor the flexibility for radical and progressive change, as is demanded by the increasingly fast pace of events that sweep society.
Complexity theory, dealing with systems that are inherently uncertain and unpredictable, is emerging as a radical new way to keep pace with change, while delivering the dividend of greater resource efficiency, enhanced social relevance, and the resilience to withstand change.
Cognia's approach draws on the scientific understanding of the behaviour of complex systems, (complex adaptive systems theory) and applies that understanding, together with principles from the humanist and cognitive sciences, to build resilience into the organisational decision making process..
A new approach to decision-making
Doing more with less
We know that complex systems are made of countless parts or 'agents', and that the interactions between agents and the system at any point in time creates the ground conditions from which future system conditions "emerge".
We also know that cycles of interaction between the agents and the system modify the system's ecology in surprising ways, with very minor changes in the starting conditions having potentially large consequence.
And we know that unlike ordered systems, with their predictable cause and effect relationships, the behaviours within complex systems result in outcomes that can not be predicted in advance, making many organisational planning models both unproductive and risky.
We promote a naturalistic sensemaking approach to decision making in complex situations. In gathering narrative fragments from across the stakeholder community, we can gain a shared description of the ground conditions within the system of interest.
Harnessing the power of the distributed intelligence of the stakeholder group, we filter the narrative fragments to understand the nature of the 'attractors' around which beliefs and attitude form, and the weak signals of emerging patterns that are forming.
We then create a series of "safe-fail experiments", designed as a series of exploratory probes which can fail without consequence, but which can teach us about the conditions within the system.
We also know that cycles of interaction between the agents and the system modify the system's ecology in surprising ways, with very minor changes in the starting conditions having potentially large consequence.
And we know that unlike ordered systems, with their predictable cause and effect relationships, the behaviours within complex systems result in outcomes that can not be predicted in advance, making many organisational planning models both unproductive and risky.
We promote a naturalistic sensemaking approach to decision making in complex situations. In gathering narrative fragments from across the stakeholder community, we can gain a shared description of the ground conditions within the system of interest.
Harnessing the power of the distributed intelligence of the stakeholder group, we filter the narrative fragments to understand the nature of the 'attractors' around which beliefs and attitude form, and the weak signals of emerging patterns that are forming.
We then create a series of "safe-fail experiments", designed as a series of exploratory probes which can fail without consequence, but which can teach us about the conditions within the system.
Resilience:
In complex situations, predictability breaks down, resulting in the high costs of frustrated expectation and missed opportunity. In such conditions, Cognia promotes a naturalistic approach to decision making that creates resilience, placing the organisation within a dynamic ecology that includes its staff, stakeholders and the public.
Why resilience?Through observing systems in nature, and as promoted by complexity science and complex adaptive systems theory, it can be argued that resilience is more important than stability for an organisation's sustainability.
In nature, resilient organisms don't close themselves off from the environment around them, but rather, their very survival depends on their engagement with it.
Through continual dialogue with their environment, resilient organisms are able to observe or 'learn' about the changes that are happening within the system and adjust their behaviour to suit. By responding adaptively, they survive.
Being open to adaptation, resilient organisms have no concept of absolutes, nor do they suffer the high overhead associated with maintaining stability. And as a consequence, resilient organisms are always evolutionarily selected.
Organisations working in increasingly complex human social systems would do well to engage with a strategy of resilience.
In times of uncertainty, novelty or change, successful organisational leaders eschew insistence on a one size fits all solution to problem solving, in favour of a flexible approach to each circumstance.
In constant conversation with their stakeholders, they play an active role in the social ecology of their organisation, observing, understanding and responding to the nuances of change.
Cognia are accredited
practitioners of the
methods