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To What Degree Can Complexity and/or Emergence be Effectively Managed? Using Which Indices or Indexicals? Using which Inquiries? Is Traditional Command and Control Management Incommensurable with Complexity and Emergence? If So, What Managerial Skills are Sensitive to Complexity and Emergence?

Sponsored by:

The Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence
Washington Evolutionary Systems Society
Cranfield University's Complex Systems Management Centre
Research Program in Social and Organizational Learning at The George Washington University

September 18-19, 2004
The George Washington University, Washington, DC

Incommensurable, incomparable - the relations between complexity, emergence, management, measurement (metrics), sustainability and evolution have been labeled with these words for much of the final decade of the twentieth century. Approached through different fields of research, these topics and ways of thought, at times, seem incapable of converging in dialogue - never mind in conclusions. Yet, the very fields of complexity, emergence, and sustainability suggest that such dialogue occurs all the time - even when outsiders label it as incommensurable.

Call for Papers and Participants

Recent advances in the managerial sciences created a wealth of novel indexicals and indices (or indicators) of organizational performance. With modern technology, the collection of virtually innumerable classes of indices covering major human and economic variables has become an easy task: one that is both reliable and affordable. Modern data mining theory seeks to identify the principle components of indexical classes in order to create new descriptions for managers to use in classifying and communicating. These new descriptions allow for the generation or revelation of new options for managerial action. In effect, the goal is to create a specific description or ontology for the local dynamical structure of the firm, a structure that is metaphorically similar to the metabolic relations within an organism.

To generate such an ontology requires a meaningful classification of indexicals and indices into commensurate and incommensurate classes -- those that can engage in dialogue and those that cannot. One or more classifiers are needed to separate the indices into semantically related categories that capture the relevant description/ontology. If the goal of managers is to create conditions allowing for the emergence of desired (predetermined) structures, recognition of the commensurable semantic and semiotic content of the relevant organizational experience seems to be a desirable precondition. Such recognition can also allow for meaningful organizational learning. By contrast, the misclassification of metrics, indexicals, and indices could result in costly mistakes, which may disrupt existing or desired organizational structures. The risks of unrecognized or unforeseen strategic and tactical moves by the many other stakeholders in an organization's environment cannot be ignored if long-range managerial objectives are to be sustained.

The complexity of these tasks raises acute problems at the many disciplinary interfaces within a firm. Without dialogue, the meaning of indexicals and indices will be interpreted differently in various segments of management. Without dialogue, various segments of management may introduce local policies that are dynamically oppositional rather than appositional (neutrally co-existent) or symbiotic. Without dialogue, opportunities to acquire competitive advantages may be missed.

The emergence of novel indices and indexicals creates an opportunity for a qualitative step forward in constructing managerial ontologies - the set of descriptions the manager uses to cognize and communicate about the world. We call for an international interdisciplinary meeting of specialists in management, complexity, and emergence to explore such opportunities. A select group of scholars and practitioners will meet to discuss how such dialogue can truly happen - and its ramifications. Innovative scholars working in organizational sciences, complex systems, biological sciences, chemistry, sociology, psychology, computer science, philosophy and related disciplines are invited to participate. We seek contributed papers from both theoreticians and practitioners. We seek to provide an environment for a well grounded interdisciplinary dialogue within our community.

The format calls for speakers, papers, and significant time for discussions.

Papers will be considered for publication in ECO: Emergence, Complexity, and Organization published by ISCE, the Complexity Society of the UK, and IBM's Cynefin Centre.

Applications should be sent to Barbara Mueller, Emergence and Complexity in Human Organizations (ECHO), 2338 Immokalee Road, Number 109, Naples, Florida, 34110. phone: 1-239-597-7001, e-mail: bmueller@echo-conferences.com

Abstracts for (submitted) papers are due by August 1, 2004. Abstract of 500 words or less should be submitted simultaneously to BOTH Prof Peter Allen (p.m.allen@cranfield.ac.uk) and Dr Kurt Richardson (kurt@isce.edu). All abstracts will be reviewed by a trans-disciplinary committee. Authors of acceptable abstracts will be notified by August 15, 2004.

Technical contact: Kurt Richardson kurt@isce.edu.

Cost of Attendance: $195 which includes lunch both days, a welcome reception (Friday evening the 17th), and a dinner. Special pricing for WESS members $125.

Accommodations will be available nearby. Additional information re the locale and accommodations will be posted at http://isce.edu/site/I3_2004.html and at http://echo-conferences.com/I3_conference_2004.html by July 1.

Invited speakers: Max Boisot (ESADE), Jerry Chandler (WESS), Paul Cilliers (Stellenbosch), Jeff Goldstein (SCTLS), Michael Lissack (ISCE), Jeff Long (WESS), Dave Snowden (IBM).

Advisory Board: Peter Allen, Alicia Juarrero, Hugo Letiche, Kurt Richardson, Bob Ulanowitz, Stuart Umpleby.