On Complexity: How to Measure It?

Raul Espejo () and Alfonso Reyes ()
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Raul Espejo: Syncho Ltd.
Alfonso Reyes: Universidad de Ibague

Chapter Chapter 3 in Organizational Systems, 2011, pp 33-47 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract During the past couple of decades the study of complexity has grown as one of the most fashionable themes of research. A cursory review shows that thousands of books have been published on the topic during this period and several journals are continuously addressing different aspects related to it. The work by the Santa Fe Research Institute is perhaps one of the most famous recent efforts to approach the topic in an interdisciplinary way. Yet, despite the different particular applications of these works or perhaps because of this, there is no single generally agreed definition of complexity, let alone one practical measurement of complexity. However, in this chapter inspired by Ross Ashby’s concept of variety we attempt a precise definition of the concept of complexity. This definition is necessary to approach the kind of issues that interest us throughout this book, such as self-regulation, self-organization and variety engineering.

Keywords: Criminal Justice System; Operational Domain; Structural Coupling; Mutual Adjustment; Individual Complexity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-19109-1_3

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-19109-1_3

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