Please distribute to others who may be interested...
You are hereby invited to a seminar in our sixth
interdisciplinary
<http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108>series on
Evolution, Complexity and Cognition (ECCO)
Time: Thursday, Nov. 12, 2-4 pm.
Place: Room B 0.036
(building B, level 0, close to the human sciences
computer rooms), on the
<http://www.vub.ac.be/english/infoabout/campuses/index.html>VUB
Campus Etterbeek (Brussels, Belgium), in
collaboration with MOSI. Coffee and drinks are
available. Free entrance: everybody welcome!
How do social systems relate to and resolve a paradox?
<http://www.memetix.eu/braathen>Petter Braathen
(Memetix, Oslo)
Many of the problems facing organizations contain
paradoxes or the experience of a paradox.
Managers, for example, are asked to increase
efficiency and foster creativity, build
individualistic teams, and think globally while
acting locally. "It's a paradox," however, is
rapidly becoming the management cliche of our
time--overused and underspecified.
The experience of a paradox can lead to confusion
and apathy, and limits the individual and/or the
organization from acting upon the situation.
Concurrently, a paradox is the source of
tremendous power for substantial change and
learning.
Most often, researchers in organization theory
use paradox to describe conflicting demands,
opposing perspectives, or seemingly illogical
findings. Yet, labeling paradox does not
necessarily foster understanding, and few explore
them at greater depths.
My objective is to bring insight from complex
systems theory, evolutionary theory and theory on
semiotics/pragmatism to understand how paradoxes
emerge and can be resolved in social systems.
Further, I will present a framework and a tool to
be applied for practical organization.
Upcoming Seminars
19 Nov.
Hector Zenil (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne):
Is algorithmic the nature of Nature?
26 Nov. (to be confirmed)
Mehmet Tezcan (IES, VUB):
Autopoiesis in the EU: 'Governance by committee'
Dec. 2 (Wed.)
Solomon Marcus (Romanian Academy of Sciences):
Mistakes and failures as a source of creativity
More info about the ECCO seminar program: http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108
--
Francis Heylighen
Evolution, Complexity and Cognition group
Free University of Brussels
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
"... a wealth of information creates a
poverty of attention" - Herbert A. Simon
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Simon>
