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ICoSS
Project
(Integration
of
Complex
Social
Systems)
| Project
Director and Principal Investigator: |
Eve Mitleton-Kelly |
|
|
Founder
and Director of the Complexity Research Programme, LSE; Visiting
Professor, Open University; Coordinator of Links with Industry &
Government, in the European Network of Excellence called "Exystence"
;
Executive Co-ordinator and Director of SOL-UK (London), the London-based
group of the global network Society for Organisational Learning. |
| Co-investigators:
|
Prof.
Ian Angell |
|
Professor
of Information Systems, LSE, and |
|
Prof.
Frank Land |
|
Visiting
Professor of Information Management, LSE and
Leeds Metropolitan University |
|
Dr.
Janis Kallinikos |
|
Department
of Information Systems, LSE;
Expert in organization theory, cognition and
technology |
|
Professor
Gerard de Zeeuw |
|
Professor
at the University of Lincoln (area: research in business and law; since
1994); Professor Emeritus of the University of Amsterdam (area: complex
social systems, in particular the mathematical modelling of innovation;
since 1973)
Address: University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Faculty of Business and
Law, Bridge House, Rm 3212. Private telephone: 01522 738257
Nationality: Dutch
Date of birth: March 11, 1936
Contribution to the
project:
Support to data analysis. General methodological information. Theories of
interaction and complexity
Publishing activity:
Co-editor (with Nolas, Garcia-Lorenzo and Sell-Trujillo) of a
special issue of the World Futures Journal on Complexity and Innovation
Zeeuw,
G. de
(2004), Self-organisation as quality control in inquiry. Kybernetes,
33-9/10, p. 1411-1418
Knowledge is defined as the
result of successful attempts to transfer expected effort in the future to
effort spent in the present. The less effort remains to be spent in the
future, the more knowledge is exhaustive and complete. It is shown that
some efforts remain necessary in the future for accidental reasons, e.g.
to correct mistakes, to estimate parameters, to act. Some efforts will
also be required for fundamental reasons. They are needed to compensate as
and when testing for exhaustiveness proves ineffective. It is argued that
the need for such additional effort may be met by starting collectives as
a form of pre-containment. Such collectives may include non-ordered
experiences. They will maintain themselves by striving to serve as
equivalents to knowledge. They help in two ways: they indicate what is
needed to create which knowledge. The design of collectives serving as
knowledge is linked to second order cybernetics. |
| Research
Officers:
|
Urooj
Quezon Amjad
|
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Nationality:
American
Date of birth: 10 May 1975
Contribution to the project:
Interviewed and analyzed various management levels_ dynamics in private
and public organizations in the following key research areas:complexity,
organizational change, political knowledge management, strategy,
post-merger integration. Maintained strong relationships with contacts in
these organizations to ensure the quality and dissemination of the
research. During the project work, I independently contributed to project
planning in the forms of methodological design, data gathering and
analysis, and writing of academic papers as products of the project. As
part of a four-person research team, and peripheries of associates, in our
group and the university, I extensively coordinated my work with
colleagues from various backgrounds (e.g. management, social psychology,
economics, physics). One example of the inter-disciplinary collaboration
is the ABM modelling questionnaire. Public presentation of our findings
and work in progress were presented to both academic and business
audiences, therefore tailoring the work to the needs of particular
audiences.
Any qualifications gained as a result of the project: Attended Flash MX
website design course at Hoxton Bibliotech, London, approximately from
September 2003--January 2004.
Subsequent employment: Continuation of PhD at SOAS.
Time spent on project: 2 yrs and 3 mos. (31 May 2002 -- 31 August 2004) |
 |
Sevasti-Melissa Nolas
|
|
|
Contribution to the
project:
I supported the project in all aspects of the research process, from data
collection & analysis to theory development and knowledge
dissemination via conference presentations and journal publications, as
well as relationship development with research partners and presentations
at research seminars.
Aside from the general and expected support and contribution to the ICoSS
project I was responsible for:
(a) proposing a feedback/evaluation dimension to the existing research
design, and carrying out said evaluation. This evaluation was carried out
with the research partner I had been working with and involved 14
semi-structured interviews with the group of managers who had participated
in the collaborative action research with us. The evaluation was important
for two reasons: firstly, it gave us a greater insight into the action
research process from the point of view of the participating members and
secondly, it allowed me to begin a theoretical exploration of some of the
processes and implications involved in carrying out action research,
processes and implications which often receive little, or no, attention
(see Nolas (forthcoming-2005) 'Learning as support for organizational
innovation: possibilities and limitations' in World Futures Journal:
Special Issue on Complexity and Innovation).
(b) designing (with the contribution of my colleague Urooj Amjad) the
questionnaire for the project's Agent Based Modelling. I subsequently took
responsibility for commissioning and overseeing the design of the online
survey, the administration of the online survey and the collection of
responses to be forwarded to the project's Agent Based Modeller. This
contribution was vital for providing the necessary information for
building the ABM.
Any qualifications gained
as a result of the project: no formal qualifications gained. During the
second year of the project I registered on an MPhil/PhD programme in the
Institute of Social Psychology
Subsequent employment: Research Officer on a action research project in
the Institute of Social Psychology . Details www.londonmultimedia.org
Time spent on project: 2 years (Oct, 1st 2002 - Aug, 31st 2004) |
| Administrative
Co-ordinator:
|
Slavica
Savic
|
|
|
Part
of my contribution was to maintain strong relationships with contacts in
Business and the LSE, to ensure the dissemination of the research
findings. I have initiated and explored different ways of communicating
and exchanging knowledge within the group and with our supporting
community through websites, filming and workshops and seminars. I
contributed to the project planning in various forms of team building,
ensured and supported delivering of the objectives. I have initiated and
chaired the monthly Plan Meetings where we regularly updated on the
research outputs and objectives, developing the project's network and team
support. During the last two years worked as a part time Project Manager
covering the administrative side of that role.
Subsequent employment:
Research Officer at the London Multimedia Lab, Institute of Social
Psychology, LSE
Time spent on project: From March 2000 to December 2004. |
| Business
Liaison Co-ordinator &
Conceptual
Architect: |
Kate
Hopkinson |
|
Director
of Inner Skills, helps partners identify their conceptual
architectures and develop their enabling infrastructures. Kate also
provides a strong link between the business and academic partners |
| Modelling
Expert: |
Dr. Ugur Bilge |
|
Building the agent-based models and simulators |
| NetMap
Expert: |
Prof.
John Galloway |
|
Australia,
mapping Internet connectivity |
| Artist:
|
Julian
Burton |
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Provides visual facilitation through art |
| Associate
Researcher: |
Nazreen
A. Subhan |
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Associate
Researcher, Facilitator and Change Agent:
Nazreen has worked in association with the project throughout its
existence, from 2000 to 2004. She has an independent practice as a Change
Agent working with individual, group, organisational change along with
large scale social change. Her company is Phoenix Associates.
Address: 30, Goodge Street, London W1T 2QH
Contact number: 020 7631 0446
Contribution to the
project: Nazreen's focus was primarily on the qualitative aspects of the
research process including:· data collection via semi-structured
interviews and analysis;· ongoing development of the methodology;
facilitating Reflect-Back workshops along with other types of workshops
for partners, ICoSS and Complexity Group/ Programme; representing ICoSS
and the work of the Complexity Group/ Programme at a variety of events.
|
| Visiting
Researchers: |
Eduardo
Castellano |
|
Visiting
Researcher (JAN 2003 - SEPT 2003): . Superior Industrial Engineer from the
University of Navarra (TECNUN), Spain; MSc in Complex Systems from the
University of the Basque Country, Spain; MSc in Logistic from ICL, Spain;
PhD Candidate in Supply Networks as Complex Systems from the University of
the Basque Country, Spain. Researcher at IKERLAN Technological Research
Centre at MCC (Industrial Organization and Production Systems Management
1998-2000; Intelligent Programming Technologies 2001-2002; Strategic
Innovation Management 2003-2005), developing related research projects for
the Basque Country, Spanish Science and Technology Ministry, and European
Research Projects, and also consulting projects for MCC-Corporation
industrial firms. Collaborator of the System Dynamics Area of the UNESCO
Chair at the University Politecnica of Catalunya, Spain. Programme
Committee Member in the International Agent Technology Conference HoloMAS
2003. Main expertise: System Thinking, Complexity, and Network Theory
applied to the fields of Firms and Corporate Management (New
Organizational Forms) and Modelling (Strategic Decision Support Learning
Laboratories - system dynamics and agent-based-modelling).
Address: IKERLAN
Technological Research Centre, Pº Arizmendiarrieta, Mondragón, Basque
Country, Spain. Telephone: 00-34-943.712400 (ext. 341). Email: ECastellano@ikerlan.es
Nationality: Spanish
Contribution to the
project: Shell FSTO Case Analysis from the Perspective of the Complexity
Sciences and the Exploration-Exploitation Cycle Framework. Prepare Shell
FSTO company specific framework of enabling infrastructures as a flexible
organisation able to co-evolve in sympathy with its changing environment
in order to avoid constant future restructuring due to
centralisation-decentralisation dynamics. Linking Complexity and New
Organizational Forms & Networks.
Activities:
ICoSS Project Presentations and Publications
Presentations…
Castellano, E. 2003. "Applying Complexity Principles and the
Exploration vs. Exploitation Cycle Framework to the Analysis of FSTO
Organizational Dilemmas". LSE Complexity Research Programme Workshop,
18th June. London School of Economics (UK)
Castellano, E. 2003. New Organizational Forms and Networks Literature
Review. LSE Complexity Research Programme Working Paper
Castellano, E. 2003. CONNECTIVITY. LSE Complexity Research Programme
Workshop, 15th July. London School of Economics (UK)
Castellano, E. 2003. Linking SNA and ABM. LSE Complexity Research
Programme Workshop, 3rd April. London School of Economics (UK)
Expected Publications for
2005…
"Applying Complexity
Principles and the Exploration vs. Exploitation Cycle Framework to the
Analysis of Centralisation-Decentralisation Organizational Dilemmas"
"Social Network
Mapping, and Organizational Unbalanced Profiles, as Validation Tools to
Predict Unexpected Behavioral Exaptations in Agent Based Models"
Organization of Complexity
Seminars
Exystence Complexity
Seminar. Bilbao, Oct. 2003: "COMPLEXITY AS AN ENABLER OF INTRA AND
INTER ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORK DEVELOPMENT"
Exystence: www.complexityscience.org
Presentations: www.lse.ac.uk/complexity
Development of a Complexity
Research Programme at Mondragón (MCC), named as the Mondragón Complexity
Node
Partners:
LSE: www.lse.ac.uk/complexity
IKERLAN: www.ikerlan.es (MCC: www.mcc.es)
MIK: www.mik.es (MCC: www.mcc.es)
Complexity Node (C-Node) Goal:
"This C-Node works from an action research approach. Therefore, from
the academic towards practical perspective, we study how complexity,
system thinking and network theory help us to understand, design and
manage the dynamic organizational structures, the intra-inter
organizational network relationships and their enabling frameworks. And,
on the other hand, the C-Node uses these experiences as case studies, from
a practical towards academic perspective, in order to extend these
theories due to the feedback from real organizational practices."
Projects Launched:
(Approved…)
TITTLE: Computational Lab for the Design and Development of Complex Supply
Networks
FUNDED BY: Spanish R&D National Council
DURATION: 2004-2007
PARTNERS: CIGIP-UPV, IKERLAN, London School of Economics, Universidad de
Barcelona, IIIA-CSIC
(In process of evaluation…)
TITTLE: Innovative co-evolutionary framework for SMEs to facilitate
continuous restructuring
FUNDED BY: European Social Fund - Call VP/2003/021: Innovative Approaches
to the Management of Change
DURATION: 2005-2007
PARTNERS: AiZabala, MIK, IKERLAN, London School of Economics, ESTIA,
Chambers of Commerce (SP: Navarra, Cantabria, Alava. FR: Baione. Czech
Republic) |
|
Ruben
Bauer |
|
D.Sc.
(Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2005)
Nationality: Brazilian
Date of birth: 24 July 1962
Contribution to the project:
Paper "Organizations, Knowledge, Complexity" (submitted for
publication). Authors: BAUER, Ruben, VALLE, Rogerio, MITLETON-KELLY, Eve.
Abstract: In a recursive progression, this article pursues three themes:
the ways in which external and internal complexities are addressed in
organizations; the different kinds of knowledge and their relevance to
organizations; and the validity of applying, in organizations, concepts
originating in what is called complexity theory. It then outlines how to
go beyond traditional organization theories, which are directed to
resolving or reducing complexity, on an approach that both welcomes and
benefits from it.
Any qualifications gained as a result of the project: The case study of my
D.Sc. thesis was one of the ICoSS business partners, thus the project had
been a crucial source for my doctorate program.
Subsequent employment: Ministry of Public Administration and Planning,
Brazilian Government.
Time spent on project: From April, 1st 2003 to June, 30st 2004)
Contact details: ruben.bauer@planejamento.gov.br; 55-61-4294906 |
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