Call For Participants

Each "Managing the Complex" is a unique event -- 3 full days of discussions and problem solving focused on the relationships between managing organizations and the science of complex systems.  Our aim is to be learning together with a focus on solving problems not merely intellectual chat.  We will focus on the problems of specific organizations (InstantKnowledge.com in the e-commerce track, MAGI and a unit of Siemens in the knowledge management track, and LaunchCyte in the health care track)  Each organization sends a team of people and a problem to be solved.  The problems will have been flushed out in advance with the help of facilitators from Wild Water International, and we will be using their "landscape" methodology during the program.

In addition we will have presentations from several invited speakers [see schedule below].  The bulk of our time will be spent in  discussion sessions in working groups focusing on one of the organizational problems. Using the lessons from the speakers and the interactions with each other the groups will strive to solve their designated problem.This focus on interaction around solving problems is a direct result of the learning experience of our last three conferences.

The breakout groups will meet  for 2 hours after hearing each invited speaker.  The groups will each have an assigned facilitator to help focus the discussion on what was just heard and how this perspective might help in dealing with the problem at hand.  At the end of the conference, each of the groups will report outcomes, so that the participants can learn from one another.

"Managing the Complex" will attract managers, academics, consultants, and others interested in the possibility of applying the insights of the science of complex systems to day-to-day management problems. At our last three meetings the discussion was both deep and broad.  Attendance will be limited to 100 in order to keep the size of groups at the level optimal for discussion.

Notes of our October 1998 meeting

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Call for Papers and Posters

Attendees are encouraged to present papers or posters to the assembled group.  Suggested topics include: 

• Understanding complexity and complex adaptive systems, such as the economy, business, and the marketplace.
• Developing techniques for organizations to examine their models, metaphors, and beliefs, and to adapt new ones as conditions change.
• Creating strategies for  businesses to interact with the unexpected, accidental, and ambiguous in their environments.
• Resolving the needs for both stability and creativity, and the institutional tensions between "authorized" and "innovative."
• Applications of psychology, philosophy, semiotics, or cognitive science to the management of organizations.
• Complex systems implications for business process and strategy.
• The development of new organizational forms.
• The development of new patterns of work.
• Managerial cognition.
• Knowledge management.
• Organizational learning.

Paper submissions should be sent to lissack@lissack.com with an additional copy to kurt@kurtrichardson.com not later than May 10, 2000.   Poster submissions should be brought to the symposium.  Papers will be refereed for inclusion in Emergence.

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Attendance:

If you desire to attend the symposium please send an email to Jane Sharkey (JMSSupport@aol.com) with the following information:  Name, academic affiliation and status if any, address, phone, fax, and email.  Jane will contact you for further information re hotel confirmation and payment.

Participants submitting papers should notify Jane that a paper has or will be submitted.  Please include the title and a brief description of the paper.

Notes:    Conference Fee:  Regular $500 Academics $250 Students $100. Breakfast, Lunch and Snacks are included and will be taken at the hotel. Conference rate at Hotel $125 single.All sessions will be transcribed.  Attendance constitutes agreement for remarks to be reproduced.

Payment can be accomplished by the link below or by sending a check payable to The Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence to JMS Support Services, PO Box 6568, Boston MA 02114.  (Jane can be reached at 617-227-2994)

Please note that we only can accept checks at the event.  All credit card registrations must be done through the link below:
 

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Hotel Information and Directions

Sheraton Four Points, Norwood Mass. (outside of Boston on Route 1) Rooms have been reserved from Wednesday 30.05.00 to Sunday 3.06.0. All room reservations should be altered/confirmed with Michael Lissack NOT with the hotel.  1151 Boston-Providence Turnpike, Norwood, Massachusetts 02062, Phone: 781-255-4626, Fax: 781-551-3552 -- Auto rental recommended. 

From Logan Airport
Exit airport, follow signs through Sumner tunnel ($3.00 toll) to I-93 South
Follow I-93 South about 7 miles bearing right to I-93 South which becomes
Rt 95N/128N at the 95 junction.  Proceed to exit 15B Rt. 1 Norwood.  Travel
Rt. 1 south 4.5 miles to the Four Points Norwood Hotel & Conference Center
located on your right after the Staples Plaza.
From Green Airport (Providence) and from the South
Exit airport and follow signs to I-95 north.
Take I-95 north to exit 11B, Neponset Street, Norwood.  Drive 7/10 of a mile and turn left onto
Dean Street.  At traffic light, turn left onto
Route 1, heading south.  Travel past Staples Plaza
To the Four Points Norwood Hotel and Conference
Center.

From the North
Interstates 95, 93 or Route 3 south to Route
128. Take exit 15B, Route 1, Norwood. Travel
4.5 miles and 2 traffic lights south on Route 1 to
the Four Points Norwood Hotel and Conference Center, on your right after Staples Plaza.

From the West
Follow Mass. Turnpike, (I-90), east to exit 14,
I-95/Route 128 south.  (Note: From the west, this
Exit is number 14, from the east, it is number 15.)
Continue south to exit 15B.  Route 1, Norwood,
And proceed as above.

Limo Services:
U.S. SHUTTLE 617-894-3100 or Outside 617 Area – 800-449-4240
FROM LOGAN AIRPORT  $19.00 per person for shared ride service.
HOME SAFE - COACH SERVICE  1-800-298-6629
FROM LOGAN $53.00 per car
TO LOGAN $56.00 per car
FROM GREEN $86.25 per car
IMAGE LIMOUSINE SERVICE, INC.  1-800-479-2119 or 508-337-6053
FROM LOGAN  - Sedan:  $64.30 per car (up to 3 people), Limo:  $89.30 per car (up to 5 people max).
FROM  GREEN  - Sedan:  $72.45 per car (up to 3 people), Limo:  $97.45 per car (up to 5 people max).

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Schedule 

Wednesday, May 31:

Welcome reception at the Sheraton 7 pm   8 pm

Thursday, June 1:

Breakfast at Hotel
9:00 Welcome, Introduction, Goal setting
9:30 Ken Baskin
10:30 Breakout session 1
1:00 Lunch
1:45 Douwe van Houten and David Williamson Schaffer
2:30 Breakout Session II
5:30 Jack Cohen
6:00 Beer Break
Evening on Your Own

Friday, June 2:

Breakfast at Hotel
9:15 Paul Cilliers, Alicia Juarrero, Hugo Letiche
11:00 Breakout Session III
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Breakout Session IV
5:00 dt ogilvie
6:30 Bus departs for evening excursion includes dinner
11:00 Bus returns

Saturday, June 3:

Breakfast at Hotel
9:30 Robin Wood
10:45 Breakout Session V
1:00 Lunch
1:45 Duska Rosenberg and Max Boisot
3:00 Breakout Session VI
7:30 Cocktails and Dinner at the Sheraton

Sunday, June 4:

Coffee at Hotel
10:00 Group Feedback
11:00 Brunch and discussions
2:00 departure

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Managing the Complex is presented by: ISCE and Emergence: A Journal of Complexity Issues in Organizations and Management.