A complex adaptive system has many parts that interact with or affect other systems, such as a company’s manufacturing process. Small changes can have significant effects, and feedback may not be related to a single department. Owners and managers are responsible for managing change and unintended consequences.
A complex adaptive system is one that has many different types of parts, with components that can interact with or affect many other systems. Although a complex system may be considered a process that an individual does not understand, this is not true. A complex adaptive system usually defines a system with a large number of elements; element interactions affect many other systems in a business; and intermediate stages exist between each stage and interaction in a process. An example of such a system would be the manufacturing process of a company that produces many types of goods. This complex system can affect many parts of a company.
Generally, there is not a defined number of elements that can compose a complex adaptive system, although some individuals may define a minimum amount. These individual elements or actions can span across many different types of departments in a company. For example, a company’s production department has a complex system that affects receiving, production, accounting, and sales, among others. Each activity within these departments can be a set of activities that make up at least one or more complex adaptive systems. Many people are often involved in completing individual tasks in the system.
Relationships within a complex adaptive system can be non-linear, meaning that a small change can have large effects on the overall system. In some cases, a company may make a small system change without considering all the intended and unintended consequences. The result is a major change or effect imposed on the complex system that may not be for the better. Owners and managers are usually the individuals responsible for managing the change associated with decisions related to the complex system. Unintended consequences can have significant negative effects on a company’s business processes.
The feedback obtained from a complex adaptive system may not be related to a single department or environment. The result is information collected from the system that pertains to more than one activity department within the process. In some cases, this can make remediation activities a little difficult as there is no simple fix for a system problem. Other times, the feedback you get may not really be related to the initial problem for which the information was wanted in the first place. This continues the process of a complex adaptive system and its difficulty in assigning boundaries.
Asset Smart.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
