Managing complexity
Featured in the Knowledge Management training manual
By Mike Bagshaw & Paul Phillips
Category: Management
Credit price: 3 download credits (Single user)
Our working lives are getting more complex. Every day we are challenged to do things which seem beyond the scope of the existing system. Everything interacts with everything else in many different ways. We have to do things more quickly, and in more difficult circumstances. The teams we work with come from a wider range of backgrounds, making conflict more likely. Systems in which a great many independent agents are interacting with each other in a myriad of ways are explored by complexity theory. Knowledge creation is enmeshed in the way we communicate, including our use of models, analogies and metaphors. Complexity theory supplies new models and metaphors which can help us to think differently about what we perceive as useful knowledge. This training activity gets the participants thinking about the management of complexity. In particular, the idea that we can work with complexity by discerning simplicity, is explored.
You begin this training activity by asking the participants to consider how today’s organisations differ from those of 10 years ago. This leads to a discussion about the main forces of change that we need to work with. You introduce the basic ideas of complexity theory and how these apply to modern organisations, particularly the concept of complex adaptive systems. Flocking behaviour is looked at as a metaphor for describing organisational behaviour, and you then conduct an exercise based on simple rules to hold the flock together. You explore the construction of simple interaction principles as a way of navigating complexity.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to introduce participants to the complexity theory; there is also an exercise on discerning simplicity out of complexity, enabling us to make meaningful decisions when faced with large amounts of information.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 12 |
| Typical Duration: | 02:35:00 |
| No of Pages: | 19 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers on change management, strategic thinking, leadership and visioning programmes.
Download the training activity, Managing complexity as featured in the Fenman training manual; Knowledge Management