Managing the Complex IV
Conference on Complex Systems and the Management of Organizations

Final Calling Notice

 7-10 December 2002, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL

with Key Note presentations by:

 Prof. Max Boisot
Author of Knowledge Assets: Securing Competitive Advantage in the Information Economy

Dr. Jack Cohen
Author of Figments of Reality: The Evolution of the Curious Mind and
The Collapse of Chaos: Discovering Simplicity in a Complex World

 Dr. Roger Lewin
Author of Weaving Complexity and Business: Engaging the Soul at Work and
Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos

Dr. Michael R. Lissack and Prof. Hugo Letiche
Authors of Converging on Coherence (forthcoming)

Mark McElroy
Author of The New Knowledge Management: Complexity, Learning, and Sustainable Innovation

 Dr. Gerald Midgley
Author of Systemic Intervention: Philosophy, Methodology and Practice

 Dr. Kirpal Singh
Author of Thinking Hats & Coloured Turbans: Creativity Across Cultures (forthcoming)

Call for Participants

I am writing to you today to inform you about the upcoming four-day Managing the Complex IV conference to be held this coming winter in Fort Myers, FL and hosted by the Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence in conjunction with the College of Business at Florida Gulf Coast University.  The aim of this event is to further explore the implications of complex systems thinking for the management of organizations of all shapes and forms.

The emerging theory of complex systems research has sparked a growing movement to reinvigorate management. Theory, research, practice, and education can all benefit by adopting a more dynamic, systemic, cognitive, and holistic approach to the management process. As interest in the study of complex systems has grown, a new vocabulary is emerging to describe discoveries about wide-ranging and fundamental phenomena. Complexity theory research has brought new insights and new ways of discussing the many issues related to management and organization science.

A shared language based on the insights of complexity can have an important role in a management context. The use of complexity metaphors can change the way managers think about the problems they face. For example, instead of competing in a game or a war, managers of a complexity thinking enterprise are trying to find their way on an ever changing, ever turbulent landscape. Such a conception of their organizations' basic task can, in turn, change the day-to-day decisions made by management.

The most productive applications of complexity insights have to do with new possibilities for innovation in organizations. These new possibilities require new ways of thinking, but old models of thinking persist long after they are productive. New ways of thinking don't just happen; they require new models which have to be learned. The primary aim of Managing the Complex IV is to helping both practicing managers and academics acquire, understand and examine these new mental models.

Call for Papers and Posters

Although the date for paper submission has now passed, attendees were encouraged to submit papers covering the following subjects::

• 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 relationship between linear and non-linear management practices.
• The development of new organizational forms.
• The development of new patterns of work.
• Managerial cognition.
• Knowledge management.
• Organizational learning.

Workshops

There will be an opportunity to attend workshops offered by experienced 'complexologists'.  Attendance to these workshops will be limited to 30 participants each.  If you are keen to attend one of these workshops then please make that clear on your completed registration form.  Attendance will be determined on a first come first served basis.  The two workshops will occur on the afternoon of the last day (10th December).

Workshop One:  The “Other” Purpose of Organizations (details)
Ken Baskin

Workshop Two:  Reducing Complexity in Conceptual Thinking Using Challenge Mapping (details)
Min Basadur, Basadur Applied Creativity

Attendance:

Please complete the registration form and send it to Caroline Richardson (I.S.C.E., 127 Plymouth Drive, Suite 2B, Norwood, MA 02062, USA) or fax it to (1)781-634 0357.

Notes:

Conference Fee:  $350 for each participant (this will increase to $400 after 15th November).

The conference fee will be reduced to $250 for each participant that submits a full paper (this reduction is only applicable to one author per paper).

Lunch and snacks throughout the four days of the conference are included in the conference fee.

Hotel room, and dinner are the responsibility of the each participant, except for the conference dinner that will be held at the end of the second day.

The number of participants will be limited in order facilitate an ongoing dialogue between participants during the conference.  Preference will be given to those who submit papers for consideration.

Preferred Conference Hotels

Homewood Suites by Hilton - Great for Families
5247 Big Pine Way
Fort Myers, FL 33907
(239) 275-6000    1-800-Call-Home
Rate $ 99.00
Suite

Holiday Inn Select - Great Location
13051 Bell Tower Drive
Fort Myers, FL 33907
(239) 482-2900   1-800-Holiday
Rate $69.00
Double Beds

Best Western - Shuttle to FGCU
8955 Daniels Parkway
Fort Myers, FL 33912
(239) 561-7000   1-800-528-1234
Rate $69.00
Double Beds

 The nearest airport to FGCU is RSW (Regional South West - Fort Myers) and Atlanta is a convenient changeover.

See you there!