Call for Abstracts

CASMOS2021 is co-located with the Conference on Complex Systems CCS2021, Lyon, France, 25-29 October, 2021 https://ccs2021.univ-lyon1.fr

Background

Management and Organization Science has a long-standing tradition in dealing with complexity. However, at the same time, this research often follows the long-held paradigm of mechanistic systems that are driven mainly by efficiency. Complexity is only described in general terms, and models of systems, such as organizations or markets, are simplistic, with mostly homogeneous decision-makers, linear relationships, and almost no adaptive behavior. Since complex real-world systems are often incompressible due to highly non-linear interactions within the system, analytical methods or highly simplified models are often incapable of explaining the innate dynamics.

More recently, a line of research in Management and Organization Science emerges that builds bridges to complexity theory. The interest in complex adaptive systems increases, and the related body of literature is growing. Transferring the concept of complex adaptive systems to Management and Organization Science can contribute to more realism regarding the applied models and can also provide more understanding of the highly complex nature of today’s organizations and markets. The latter might be particularly important when it comes to managing and controlling real-world complex systems. In particular, this emergent paradigm of Management and Organization Science considers systems that are, amongst others, characterized by:

• Heterogeneous agents and a diversity of behaviors: Unlike more traditional research in Management and Organization Science, that often draws upon the assumption of the representative agent, complex adaptive system approaches allow to capture systems comprising a variety of agents and behaviors. This not only allows researchers to make more realistic assumptions in modeling but also enables them to produce significantly new insights into the understanding, management and controlling of complex real-world systems.
• System memory, history, and adaptivity: Complex adaptive systems often have memory at both the micro- and the macro-level that builds over time. The emergence of memory from past actions allows us to investigate new questions, such as the emergence of norms, culture, personal opinions, or world views. Complex adaptive systems approaches, in addition, allow for capturing adaptivity, which not only includes the characteristics of agents but also the interactions among them.
• Chaos and self-organization: Complexity theory has well recognized that the evolution of a complex adaptive system may be sensitive to small interferences (i.e., deterministic chaos). At the same time, such systems could be highly robust to external influence, which is often a result of self-organization. The application of complex adaptive system approaches to Management and Organization Science allows for a better understanding, what makes a system, such as an organization or a market, robust (or resilient) to factors such as unexpected environmental turbulence.

Objectives

This workshop is co-located with the Conference of Complex Systems and is interested in novel and innovative applications of complex adaptive system approaches to rising questions in the field of Management and Organization Science. The aim of the workshop is to facilitate the meeting of people who work in the field of Management and Organization Science (as well as adjacent areas) and who employ complex adaptive system approaches. We aim at providing a multidisciplinary forum for the presentation and discussion of recent research findings. The workshop has the ultimate objectives to bridge the gap between Management and Organization Science and Complexity Science, and to promote thereby the further development of Management and Organization Science with a specific emphasis to dynamics and emergent behaviors.

Topics

Topics of interest are (but are not limited to):

• Determinants of complexity in organizations and markets
• Diversity of organizations and markets
• Resilient organizations and markets and coping with unexpected events
• Emergence of robust organizational and market structures
• Efficient mechanisms to control complex organizations and markets
• Emergence of norms, cultures, and opinions
• Learning in organizations and markets
• Information dynamics in organizations and markets
• Zero and minimal intelligence agents in organizations and markets
• Emergence of collective intelligence in organizations and teams
• Control and complexity in organizations
• Network structures and resilience of organizations and teams
• Collective search behavior to solve complex problems

Important Dates

• Abstract submission: June 30, 2021
• Author notifications: July 10, 2021
• Early bird registration: July 15, 2021
• Workshop: October 27 or 28, 2021