Complex Messy Systems

Vincent P. Barabba and Ian I. Mitroff
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Vincent P. Barabba: Market Insight Corporation
Ian I. Mitroff: University of Southern California

Chapter 5 in Business Strategies for a Messy World: Tools for Systemic Problem-Solving, 2014, pp 44-58 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter talks about two of the other key concepts and tools that are needed if we are to have any hope of managing today’s enormous challenges and daunting problems: (1) systems, and (2) messes. In brief, a “mess” is a complex, dynamic system of problems that are so interconnected such that no problem even exits apart from the mess with which it is associated. Thus, taking any problem out of a mess and studying it on its own distorts the very nature of the problem and the entire mess. The interactions between problems as well as the problems themselves are the key objects of study. The chapter also shows that: Information is more valuable than data; knowledge more valuable than information; understanding more valuable than knowledge; and wisdom more valuable than understanding. The chapter also presents heuristics for coping with complex, messy problems and systems.

Keywords: Organizational Learning; Business Strategy; Synthetic Thinking; Wicked Problem; Jigsaw Puzzle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-38640-3_5

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137386403_5

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