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Models of complex adaptive systems in strategy and organization research

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Abstract

The development of new theory is often spurred by novel techniques that provide better answers to existing questions, or that allow asking new ones. In the field of strategy and organization science, models of complex adaptive systems have renewed theoretical work on a fundamental question: how organizations can adapt effectively to their environments. This article has three objectives: (1) to highlight some areas where models of organizations as complex adaptive systems have made substantial contributions: the search for solutions to sets of interdependent choices, the challenge of balancing processes of exploration and exploitation, and the organization of imperfect decision makers; (2) to point to several challenges and tradeoffs which can limit the explanatory power and eventual impact of the modeling enterprise; and (3) to sketch out possible future directions of research that would do further justice to the notion of organizations as complex adaptive systems.

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Notes

  1. See Allen et al. (2011) for a broader treatment of complexity-based ideas in management research more broadly, and Miller and Page (2007), Epstein (2007), or Tesfatsion and Judd (2006) for a broader treatment of CAS modeling and simulation in the social sciences and economics.

  2. This definition of adaptation includes both planned and emergent changes, and both positive and negative consequences for the organization’s probability of survival.

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Acknowledgments

The author is indebted to Itzhak “Gingi” Aharon, members of the Strategic Organization Design unit, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and discussions.

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  1. Strategic Organization Design Unit, Department of Marketing and Management, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230, Odense M, Denmark

    Oliver Baumann

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  1. Oliver Baumann
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Correspondence to Oliver Baumann.

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Baumann, O. Models of complex adaptive systems in strategy and organization research. Mind Soc 14, 169–183 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11299-015-0168-x

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