Complexity and Complication

With this brief foray into flocking, feedback and system delay, we are ready to introduce a key feature of complex adaptive systems that helps us understand the unique features of these systems, This feature involves a distinction that Miller and Page (2007, p. 9) draw between systems that are complicated and those that are complex:

“Complexity is a deep property of a system, whereas complication is not. A complex system dies when an element is removed, but complicated one continue to live on, albeit slightly compromised. Removing a seat from a car makes it less complicated; removing the timing belt makes it less complex (and useless). Complicated worlds are reducible, whereas complex ones are not.”

While a complex system would seem to be less robust than a complicated system, Miller and Page (2007, p. 9) that this is not the case – and in making the case for the adaptive capacity of complex systems they point the way to the two factors we are focusing on in this essay: emergence and teamwork:

“While complex systems can be fragile, they can also exhibit an unusual degree of robustness to less radical changes in their component parts The behavior of many complex systems emerges from the activities of lower-level components. Typically, this emergence is the result of a very powerful organizing force that can overcome a variety of changes to the lower level components.”

It is in the dramatic and often unanticipated emergence of new forms when separate parts are brought together that complexity gains its adaptive reliance. Furthermore, it is through the dynamic and constructive interaction of people as members of a team, that the separate parts are brought together and effectively integrated in the newly emerging form of this social system.

The Snowden Cynefin Framework

David Snowden (2023 ) offers a model that provides a further distinction among various kinds of complex adaptive systems. Snowden’s Cynefin Framework consists of four fluid and inter-related states. In his framework, an organization is challenged to recognize and adapt whether addressing a clear, tightly constrained organizational environment or when shifting into a highly complex and ultimately chaotic state:

Individually, we prefer comfort, predictability, and safety. As a result, we find ourselves in constant pursuit of the state that Snowden labels Clear.

Clear Systems

In this state, rules are clear, roles are clear, there are severe constraints on degrees of freedom. Feedback is close and immediate—proximal in nature. We often create this organizational environment. Sports & games likely present the clearest example of a Clear system or organizational environment, especially games involving only 2 people, such as chess.