Purpose: The collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market parallels several earlier failures within the financial services sector, begging the question why the lessons of past failures were not learned. Throughout history from the tulip bulb crisis of the 1600s to the most recent economic crisis, decision-makers keep making the same mistakes. This…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assist an organization to restructure as a bi-modal organization in order to achieve sustainability in today's highly complex business world. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is conceptual and is based on relevant literature and the authors' research and practice. Findings: Although fluid…

Purpose: The aim of this contribution is to describe a new complexity-science-based approach for improving safety, quality and efficiency and the way it was implemented by TenarisDalmine. Design/methodology/approach: This methodology is called "a safety-building community". It consists of a safety-behaviour social self-construction process…

Purpose: The aim of this contribution is to describe a new methodology for designing strategic plans and how it was implemented by ATM, a public transportation agency based in Milan, Italy. Design/methodology/approach: This methodology is founded on a new system theory, called "quantum systemics". It is based on models and metaphors both of…

Purpose: In the stream of works studying complexity from an organizational viewpoint, literature is focused mainly on describing new organizational forms (holonic organization, circular organization, virtual corporation, ...) and on conceptual works identifying new managerial principles to manage emergence (job enrichment, de-regulation, ...). But…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to make evident the inadequateness of concepts and language based on industrial knowledge still used in current practices by managers to cope with problems of the post-industrial societies characterised by non-linear process of emergence and acquisition of properties. The purpose is to allow management to…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to expound the view that knowledge of a special kind, which the author terms open knowledge, has a central place in the conduct of human activities at the global level. Design/methodology/approach: The author advances the concept of open knowledge in a global context by examining key constructs in the field,…

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore core contributions from two different approaches to complexity management in organisations aiming to improve their sustainability,: the Viable Systems Model (VSM), and the Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). It is proposed to perform this by summarising the main insights each approach offers to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer an application of a system model for Senge's five disciplines in higher education (HE) institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper utilizes a conceptual framework for the analysis of antecedents and outcomes of Senge's five disciplines, focusing on specific factors unique to the HE sector.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical contribution to explicate the various factors and aspects that influence Senge's five disciplines and their outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: The paper develops a conceptual framework for the analysis of antecedents and outcomes of Senge's five disciplines, and offers moderators to…

Purpose: Recent advances in the interactive technologies have transformed the way today's organizations and their different stakeholders learn. Now, because of the increasing learning requirements, neither these organizations nor their stakeholders can afford to be too self-focused while learning; instead, they collaborate and learn together.…

Purpose: Canada's Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Research and Technology Initiative (CRTI) uses an operating model that is unusual in government. It is created to enable cross-boundary capability and capacity building and learning. Some consider it a model for other federal science initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergent nature of leadership in a university-based learning network of mature-aged practitioner-scholars. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on previously published work, interviews, and current research. Findings: The paper finds that once initial structures have been established,…

Purpose: Organizations as complex networks aim to survive. The purpose of this paper is to provide an alternative perspective to current organizational challenges by considering team learning as key factor for surviving this turbulent environment. Design/methodology/approach: The dominating approach in this paper comes from the complexity…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to survey the various measurement instruments of the learning organization on offer, leading to the adoption of a tool that was considered most suitable for gauging progress towards the learning organization in two sectors of the Lebanese economy, namely banking and information technology (IT).…