Vom System Natur lernen

2020 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-89
Author(s):  
Roland Waibel ◽  
Thomas Metzger ◽  
Rigo Tietz
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Eine Hohe ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior ◽  
Complex Social Systems ◽  
Soziale Systeme

Abstract The Corona crises makes it obvious: Our world is VUCA, characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Since complex social systems such as firms show similar patterns of behavior as hypercomplex natural systems, we can learn from them. Survival is fostered through augmented resilience, which means higher robustness, agility as well as stability. Zusammenfassung Die Corona-Krise zeigt, dass wir in einer VUKA-Welt leben. Dies bedeutet, dass Unternehmen sich auf grössere Volatilität, Unsicherheit, Komplexität und Mehrdeutigkeit einstellen müssen. Die Umwelt wird noch dynamischer und unberechenbarer, die Existenzsicherung einer Firma noch anspruchsvoller. Hilfreich ist das Verständnis, dass komplexe soziale Systeme ähnliche Grundmuster zeigen wie superkomplexe natürliche Systeme. Gefordert ist ein Paradigmenwechsel: Überleben dank hoher Resilienzfähigkeiten (Robustheit sowie ausgeprägte Agilität durch zugrundeliegende Stabilität) wird wichtiger als die Gewinnmaximierung via Effizienzsteigerung. Wenn Firmen die Evolutions-Prinzipien der Variation, Selektion, Adaption und Heritabilität verstehen, deren Transfer auf komplexe soziale Systeme die Widerstandskraft stärken, kann das ihr Überleben sichern. Unternehmen wie der Schweizer Uhrenkonzern Swatch zeigen bereits heute eine hohe Resilienz und sind „enkelfähig“ unterwegs.

A missing link: a distributed cognitive perspective on fit

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gayanga Bandara Herath
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Cognitive Perspective ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Narrow Focus ◽  
Cognitive Framework ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Complex Social Systems

PurposeThis article presents a cognitive framework to study dynamic/adaptive aspects of a collection of popular fit measures used in organisation research, in an attempt to highlight what there is to be gained.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a distributed e-cognition (DEC) framework to examine the current organisational literature of fit measures.FindingsThis paper highlights that most measures have a rather narrow focus and do not address dynamic/adaptive aspects in complex social systems (e.g. organisations). To both provide a way to integrate fit measures and cover the cognition gap in this literature, this article highlights the need for a more sophisticated measure.Originality/valueThis paper provides a novel approach to examining organisational fit literature through a distributed (e)-cognitive framework.

scholarly journals Health inequality as a large-scale outcome of complex social systems: Lessons for action on the sustainable development goals

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Health Inequality ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Complex Social Systems

© 2020 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) needs to become real and impactful, taking a “whole systems” perspective on levers for systems change. This article reviews what we have learned over the past century about the large-scale outcome of health inequality, and what we know about the behaviour of complex social systems. This combined knowledge provides lessons on the nature of inequality and what effective action on our big goals, like the SDGs, might look like. It argues that economic theories and positivist social theories which have dominated the last 150 years have largely excluded the nature of human connections to each other, and the environment. This exclusion of intimacy has legitimatised arguments that only value-free economic processes matter for macro human systems, and only abstract measurement constitutes valuable social science. Theories of complex systems provide an alternative perspective. One where health inequality is viewed as emergent, and causes are systemic and compounding. Action therefore needs to be intensely local, with power relationships key to transformation. This requires conscious and difficult intervention on the intolerable accumulation of resources; improved reciprocity between social groups; and reversal of system flows, which at present ebb away from the local and those already disadvantaged.

Fuzzy Models for Complex Social Systems Using Distributed Agencies in Poverty Studies

2011 ◽  
pp. 391-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogart Yail Márquez ◽  
Manuel Castanon-Puga ◽  
Juan R. Castro ◽  
E. Dante Suarez ◽  
Sergio Magdaleno-Palencia
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Fuzzy Models ◽  
Complex Social Systems

Past and Present Farming: Changes in Terms of Engagement

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Armstrong Oma
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Husbandry Practices ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Impact

In archaeology, changes in human–animal relationships are rarely considered beyond the moment of domestication. This is influenced by Ingold’s idea that domestication led to a shift in the human engagement with animals (Ingold 2000: 61–76; see Armstrong Oma 2007: 62–4, 2010 for critique). I do not question the validity of such a claim; however, I argue that changes in terms of engagement also happened beyond domestication, and that various configurations of human–animal relationships have existed throughout history. Further, I argue that such changes also have consequences for the environment, by choice of land use strategies and husbandry regimes. A twofold purpose is pursued: first, to investigate how changes in social systems, in my case changes in terms of engagement between humans and animals, affect land use in such a way as to impinge upon natural systems and ecosystems. Second, I wish to grasp the political underpinnings of the models that are employed by archaeologists and, by doing so, to deconstruct the political use of the past (see also Stump, Chapter 10 this volume). Alternative models regarding economic strategies are sought, and the implications of these are discussed. Human–environment studies frequently deal with the impact of human intrusive land use strategies on ecosystems. Awareness has been created around these processes regarding land use techniques and practices (for example Denham and White 2007; Mazoyer and Roudart 2006). However, in European archaeology the impact of husbandry practices upon ecosystems has received considerably less, if any, attention. People in past societies from the Neolithic onwards made the conscious decision to live with animals as herders or as farmers, blending together social and economic choices that had repercussions for landscape developments and ecosystems. Investigations into the relationship between environmental changes caused by husbandry practices and the social systems that instigated those changes are an important contribution to research on past environmental development. These changes are identifiable in the archaeological record.

Whole Systems/Holistic Approaches in Individual and Collective Levels

2010 ◽  
pp. 57-74
Author(s):  
Murako Saito
Keyword(s):  
Business Performance ◽  
Organizational Transformation ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Human Society ◽  
Conceptual Frameworks ◽  
Collective Levels ◽  
Complex Social Systems ◽  
Action Coupling ◽  
Whole Systems

In managing complexity and ambiguity, we need holistic or whole systems approaches. Complementary systemic approaches to integrate some separate systems are needed for fostering organizational adaptability or organizational flexibility in the changing social environment. It is not sufficient simply to keep in line with the standards established in the past by a particular discipline, but it is important to encourage the participants to progress for coping with the changes in society. Cognitive misfits between individual and organizational levels result in a decrement of quality of service which actually leads to the decrement of business performance. Conceptual frameworks of whole systems of human society, namely conceptual frameworks of human cognition and action in individual and collective levels are introduced for discussing the alignment of cognitive misfits and transformation of organizational culture. Classifications and categorizations are also introduced for further analysis of human cognition-action coupling process in individual and collective levels. Typology of the methodologies for intervening into complex social systems is discussed in the latter part of this chapter for pursuing the assessment and control of various method biases and also for determining the axes in mapping cognition-action in the actual fields. Continuous inquiry into the good and intervention to complex social systems play crucial roles in the approaches toward effective organizational transformation.

scholarly journals Describing and Visualizing a Water–Energy–Food Nexus System

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aiko Endo ◽  
Terukazu Kumazawa ◽  
Michinori Kimura ◽  
Makoto Yamada ◽  
Takaaki Kato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Domain Ontology ◽  
Food Resources ◽  
Ontology Engineering ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Future Challenges

The objective of this study is to describe a target water–energy–food (WEF) nexus domain world including causal linkages and trade-off relationships between WEF resources and their stakeholders, and to develop a WEF nexus system map as an interdisciplinary tool used for understanding the subsequent complexity of WEF nexus systems. An ontology engineering method, which is a qualitative method, was applied for the replicability of the WEF nexus domain ontology and the map, because ontology engineering is a method of semantic web development for enhancing the compatibility of qualitative descriptions logically or objectively. The WEF nexus system map has three underlying concepts: (1) systems thinking, (2) holistic thinking, and (3) an integrated approach at an operational level, according to the hypothesis that the chains of changes in linkages between water, energy, and food resources holistically and systemically affect the WEF nexus system, including natural and social systems, both temporally and spatially. This study is significant because it allows us to (1) develop the WEF nexus domain ontology database, including defining the concepts and sub-concepts of trade-offs relating to WEF for the replicability of this study; (2) integrate the qualitative ontology method and quantitative network analysis method to identify key concepts serving as linkage hubs in the WEF nexus domain ontology; and (3) visualize human–nature interactions such as linkages between water, energy, and food resources and their stakeholders in social and natural systems. This paper also discusses future challenges in the application of the map for a science–policy–society interface.

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