Managing Complexity

Abstract

All previous chapters point in the same direction: Social systems are insensitive to most managerial efforts to alter their behavior yet they do have a few sensitive influence points through which behavior can be changed. But even if behavior changes, such change is not necessarily the one managers and policymakers want to bring about. From the banal—“we need to increase revenues by 10% next year”—to the sophisticated, “we need to become more innovative” or “we need to stop climate change,” business and government lore is full of decisions that never materialize. Phil Rosenzweig (2007) analyzed how managers let themselves be deceived by simple recipes for success. Is the very idea that management and governance exists a myth? Are social systems really manageable?