Please distribute to anyone who may be interested...
PhD defense Petter
Braathen
"Paradox in Organizations
seen as Complex Social Systems"
Time: Friday, June 14, 14:00-16:00
Place: Promotiezaal D2.01 "Aloïs Gerlo", Vrije
Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Etterbeek
Petter Braathen will publicly present the interdisciplinary PhD
research he did in the Center Leo Apostel at the VUB, and answer
questions from the jury and public.
The topic is how organizations can be understood as complex
adaptive systems by seeing them as networks of actions rather than
people or objects. The difficulties these organizations experience in
adapting to changing circumstances have been conceived as paradoxes of
learning, control and belonging. Petter proposes strategies to cope
with such paradoxes, inspired both by the resolution of paradoxes in
the history of science, and his personal observations while working
for large oil companies.
The PhD defense is followed by a reception with snacks and
drinks. Everybody welcome!
Facebook page of the event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/873834749648120/
Facebook page of the Center Leo Apostel:
https://www.facebook.com/centerleoapostel/
THESIS ABSTRACT: Paradox may be the ground zero for disciplined
speculation that forces individuals, organizations and societies to
challenge normality and existing mental frames. Paradox can be a
threat, and paradox can be a source for new insight, innovation and
development. This research examines how a paradox emerges and develops
in organizations. I argue that the organization may be seen as a
complex adaptive social system, and that the paradox arises as the
system faces increased complexity in its environment, while equipped
with an information processing architecture that reduces the
complexity in an inadequate way.
An interdisciplinary approach is needed in order to describe and understand the complexity of modern problems. An action ontology based in process philosophy is presented as a transcending ontology, consistent and coherent across the interdisciplinary axis. Further, an integrative and transdisciplinary epistemology based in theory of complex adaptive systems is proposed. With a transdisciplinary ontology and epistemology, a novel model is presented of an organization with a micro-foundational description of routines, capabilities and dynamic capabilities as a nested hierarchy of systems of action. A novel theory is put forward of how dynamic capabilities can be seen as meta-system transitions emerging among co-evolving capabilities, inherent and distributed in the organization.
The research investigates three social paradoxes that may emerge in the organization (Lewis, 2000); i.e. the paradox of belonging, the paradox of learning, and the paradox of organizing. The analysis presents insights in the dynamic nature of paradox in the organization. First, building on theories of distinctions, combined with the model of the organization seen as a complex adaptive system of actions, a theory is provided for how the paradox of belonging emerge. Second, the paradox of learning is described through a historic sociological research into the history of science, where a number of famous paradoxes have been solved in the social system that we may call the scientific community. The findings create a novel framework of principles that can guide the resolution of social paradox in organization. The framework is applied in a case study of a real-life organization in the oil and gas industry, and findings from the transitional resolution of the paradox are presented.
Finally, special attention is devoted to the paradox of control. The results from an in-depth investigation of case studies in the oil and gas industry are presented. The findings indicate that the paradox of control originates in our fundamental belief system underlying our design of control models. This introduces unwanted complexity in the structural interfaces of the organization, leading to complicated decision-making processes and long response times with following time delays. Yet, on the other hand, underestimates the need for complexity in organizational processes by applying control models that are too simplistic to cope with a dynamic environment. Five, propositions are proposed that may be applied when trying to avoid the paradox of control in large complex projects.
--
Francis Heylighen
Evolution, Complexity and Cognition group
Center Leo Apostel
Free University of Brussels (VUB)
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/HEYL.html
