Complexity, Ethics and Creativity Conference
at the London School of Economics, UK
17 & 18 September 2003
Can businesses be more creative and ethical? The first aim of any business is to survive - but can creative and ethical thinking actually improve their chances of survival?
The Complexity, Ethics and Creativity Conference at the London School of Economics on 17 and 18 September 2003 aims to give businesses a new perspective on organisational development, based on complexity theory.
This theory, which originated in the natural sciences by, among others, Nobel Prize winners Murray Gell Mann and Ilya Prigogine and developed by various academics over the last 40 years, is being used by organisations to create the conditions for innovation and creativity and to support an ethical triple bottom line. This approach stems from the idea that organisations themselves are complex natural organisms, adapting and co-evolving to survive within a constantly changing social ecosystem.
The conference aims to bring together academics, artists and business people to explore and understand how complexity thinking can be applied in organisations to boost creative and ethical thinking.
The Complexity, Ethics and Creativity Conference has two distinct but related foci. On 17th September the focus will be on Ethics and Organisations and this part has been organised jointly with the Instituto Tecnológico Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico. On the 18th September the focus will shift to Creativity and this part has been organised jointly with the Complexity Society, UK. The hosts and main organisers are the Complexity Group at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.
The Conference objective is to explore the concepts of ethics as related to organisations, and of creativity, innovation, creation of new order, art, etc within the context of social complex systems. Has the meaning of 'ethics', 'innovation' and 'creativity' changed by our understanding of complexity? Furthermore, the conference will seek to explore some fundamental theoretical developments on the nature of emergence and on the processes by which new order is created.
Complexity, Ethics and Creativity Conference
at the London School of Economics, UK
17 & 18 September 2003
Conference Programme
17 September 2003
9.00 Registration & coffee
9.30 Welcome and Introduction
9.45 Peter Corning 'The Basic Problem is Still Survival, and an Evolutionary Ethics is Indispensable' Institute for the Study of Complex Systems, Palo Alto, USA
10.45 Coffee & poster session
11.15 Alfredo Capote 'E-transformation - a Threat or an Opportunity for Human Beings?' ITESM Mexico & vice-president of Strategic Initiatives for IBM Latin-America
12.15 1st Parallel Session (3 groups)
13.00 Lunch & poster session
Invitations for emergent parallel session in afternoon
14.00 Roland Kupers "Sustainability, Innovation and Complexity: the dynamics of implementing sustainable development objectives in a company" Vice President Sustainable Development Royal Dutch/Shell
15.00 Paul Cilliers 'Do modest positions have to be weak? Complexity, Knowledge and Responsibility' University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.
16.00 Tea & poster session
16.30 2nd Parallel Session (2 groups + open emergent session - up to 4 groups)
17.30 Open forum in plenary
18.30 Close
PARALLEL SESSIONS
17 September 2003
1st Parallel Session: 12.15 - 13.00
'The Basic Problem is Still Survival and an Evolutionary Ethics is Indispensable'
Peter Corning - discussion session
'Corporate Structure, Adaptation and Personality Type'
Philip V. Fellman, Professor of International Business
Southern New Hampshire University
Lois Estabrook Account Executive, Osram, Sylvania
Usha Dasari Lecturer, Southern New Hampshire University
'Complexity and Democratic Theory: Building a New Cosmopolis for the 21st Century'
Katharine N. Farrell
Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research
Queen's University of Belfast
'Re-conceptualizing Public-Private Partnerships in the Water Sector as a
Coevolving System of Innovation'
Urooj Amjad
Complexity Research Programme, LSE
2nd Parallel Session: 16.30-17.30
'Modeling Terrorist Networks - Complex Systems at the Mid-Range'
Philip Vos Fellman, M.B.A., M.A., PhD, Professor of International Business,
Southern New Hampshire University, USA
Roxana Wright, M.B.A., M.S., D.B.A. (Cand.)
Lecturer in International Business,
Southern New Hampshire University, USA
'Scanning - a Tool for Exploring the Implications of Emerging Patterns of Change'
Sheila Moorcroft & Kate Hopkinson
'Viable Systems Theory, Anticipation, and Logical Levels of Management'
Maurice Yolles
'Thermodynamics of Culture: the Relationship between Classical Entropy and Chaos'
Jerome Heath
Complexity, Ethics and Creativity Conference
at the London School of Economics, UK
17 & 18 September 2003
Conference Programme
18 September 2003
9.00 Registration & coffee
9.30 Welcome and Introduction
9.45 Terry Stock, HR Director, Rolls-Royce Marine & Eve Mitleton-Kelly, Director Complexity Research Programme, LSE & OU "Dealing with issues of complexity and cultural diversity in Rolls-Royce Marine"
10.45 Coffee & poster session
11.15 John Casti, Santa Fe Institute "How History Happens, or Why the Conventional Wisdom is 'Always' Wrong"
12.15 1st Parallel Session (6 groups)
13.00 Lunch & poster session
Invitations for emergent parallel session in afternoon
14.00 2nd Parallel Session (2 groups)
Peter Fryer - Business Parallel Session
Former MD of Humberside TEC with practical experience of the application of complexity theory in business "Transforming the Ugly Duckling - Practical Applications of Complexity in the Workplace"
Irene McAra-McWilliam - Arts Parallel Session
Professor of Interaction Design, Royal College of Art "Innovating a Culture of Creativity"
15.00 Tea & poster session
15.30 3rd Parallel Session (4 groups + open emergent session - 2 groups)
16.30 4th Parallel Session (4 groups + open emergent session - 2 groups)
17.30 Open forum in plenary
18.30 Close
PARALLEL SESSIONS
18 September 2003
1st Parallel Session: 12.15 - 13.00
'Using visual art to facilitate emergent order in organisations'
Julian Burton, Strategic Artist, Delta7 and Artist in Residence, LSE Complexity Research Programme
'Discussion of Complexity Issues in Rolls-Royce Marine'
Eve Mitleton-Kelly, Director Complexity Research Programme, LSE
'Co-Creating a Self-Organizing Management System: A Brazilian Experience'
Marcia Esteves Agostinho, D.Sc.
Gilberto Teixeira de Castro, M.Sc.
'Self-Organization, Emergence and the Creation of New Order: The Case for Social Science Research'
S. M. Nolas
Complexity Research Programme, London School of Economics
3rd Parallel Session: 15.30 - 16.30
'From improvisation to taming uncertainty: creative responses to different levels of risk and formalization'
Barbara A. Misztal,
Professor of Sociology, Leicester University
'Complexity and the Non-Positive'
Tim Gough MA(Cantab) DipArch
'What Would an Enabling Environment for Creativity Look Like? Introducing a fresh way of identifying and working with enablers and inhibitors in the work context'
Kate Hopkinson, Director of Inner Skills Consultancy
& Business Liaison, ICoSS Project, Complexity Group, LSE
A Workshop in two sessions - Session 1
(You may attend session 1 without attending session 2 in this workshop; however you cannot attend session 2 without having attended session 1)
'Applying Complexity Theory to Performance Appraisal'
Frances Storr, Sheppard Moscow.
'Towards New Modes of Decision Making - Complexity and Human Factors'
Guy Bullen & Lionel Sacks, UCL
4th Parallel Session: 16.30 - 17.30
'Evolution and Creativity and Organisational Change'
P.M.Allen1, M.Strathern1 and J.S.Baldwin2,
1 - Complex Systems Management Centre, Cranfield University, UK
2 - Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Department of Mechanical Engineering. University of Sheffield, UK
'Complexity and the emergence of new intermediaries'
Will Medd and Simon Marvin
SURF (Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures), CUBE
'What Would an Enabling Environment for Creativity Look Like? Introducing a fresh way of identifying and working with enablers and inhibitors in the work context'
Kate Hopkinson, Director of Inner Skills Consultancy
& Business Liaison, ICoSS Project, Complexity Group, LSE
A Workshop in two sessions - Session 2
(You may attend session 1 without attending session 2 in this workshop; however you cannot attend session 2 without having attended session 1)
'Using Visual Art to Ground the Meaning of Complexity Theory'
Julian Burton, Strategic Artist, Delta7 and Artist in Residence, LSE Complexity Research Programme
Speaker bios
Alfredo Capote has been a professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at the Universidad Iberoamericana, the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Monterrey, and the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. During the period from 1991 to 1993 he was the director and general manager of corporate accounts for IBM's Latin-American division. He is a member of the Campus Ciudad de México ITESM Council, Vice-president of COPARMEX, member of the Mexican Foundation of Quality (FUNDAMECA) and member of the Mexican National Institute of Finance Executives (IMEF). In March 1995 he became President and General Manager for IBM-Mexico and in August 2000 he was named vice-president of Strategic Initiatives for IBM Latin-America and Director of the Electronic Business Research Center of the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
John L. Casti joined the Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico as a resident researcher, in 1992. Prior to that he was one of the first research staff members of IIASA in Vienna, and worked on problems of systems modelling and applied systems analysis. Dr. Casti's current research interests centre on the use of large-scale microsimulation to study the properties of complex adaptive systems such as stock markets, the business world and road-traffic networks. In particular he is building 'silicon surrogates' to investigate the behaviour of the world's insurance industry and that of a large supermarket chain. He is also involved in making a bridge between the 'impossibility' results of Turing, Gödel and Chaitin in mathematics and questions in physics, biology and economics. His many publications include the award-winning 'Alternate Realities: Mathematical Models of Nature and Man' Wiley 1989,"Complexification" Harper Collins NY 1994, "Would-Be Worlds" Wiley NY 1997, and 'Paradigms Regained' Morrow NY 2000.
Paul Cilliers is professor of Philosophy at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. He also has a degree in Electronic Engineering and worked as an engineer for more than a decade. He teaches Cultural Philosophy and Philosophy of Science. His research is focused on the philosophical implications of complexity theory. He is the author of 'Complexity and Postmodernism' Routledge 1998.
Peter A. Corning, Ph.D is Director of the Institute for the Study of Complex Systems (ISCS) in Palo Alto, California. He formerly taught in the Human Biology Program and Political Science Department at Stanford University, and served as a senior partner in a management-consulting firm. Dr. Corning is also a member of several scientific organizations and a past president of the International Society for the Systems Sciences. He has previously published over 150 articles and book chapters, as well as four books. His newest trade book 'Nature's Magic: Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind' was published by Cambridge University Press (2003). He is currently preparing a new book on 'Beyond Capitalism and Socialism: The Biological Basis of Social Justice'.
Peter Fryer is a management consultant who specialises in the subject of learning organizations and complex adaptive systems, in particular, their application to businesses of all kinds. Such organisations have included Pfizer, the Industrial Society, DfES, and Glasgow Caledonian University as well as a wide range of smaller entities. He was the Chief Executive of Humberside Training and Enterprise Council until TECs were abolished in 2001 As the TEC Chief Executive he was able to practice what he preached by taking out the traditional business process such as, plans, hierarchy charts, budgets, managers, rules, job descriptions etc. Introducing in their place, fuzzy policies, paperless 360 appraisals, self managed teams, serious thinking sessions and much, much more - all based on the principles of self responsibility, trust and giving oceans of support. He has been working with the London School of Economics (LSE) for several years now, initially as a member of a project that looked at the relationship between complex adaptive systems and organisational form and more recently as an advisor to a new EPSRC-funded LSE project. He has written a number of articles on complexity. Over the years he has given a wide range of presentations on the subject of complexity in the workplace based on his experiences as one of the few people who has actual experience of running an organisation using complexity theory.
Roland Kupers is currently Vice President Strategy for Shell's LNG global business, based in London. A theoretical physicist by university training, Roland spent the first 11 years of his career with AT&T in the Netherlands and in Italy, holding different management positions. His last assignment was as Regional Managing Director for Northern Europe. The period with AT&T coincided with a tremendous transformation of the telecommunications industry, both as a business and in its societal impact. In 1998, Roland left AT&T for a yearlong sabbatical. Its main theme was the study of complexity, particularly as a new approach to organizational and societal change, resulting in a series of lectures and publications. Subsequently he joined Shell and held a number of positions including Vice President Sustainable Development for the Group. Roland is a Dutch national and married to a designer. His travels have made him fluent in five languages as well as given him an appreciation and a passion for the dilemmas of sustainability, business and complexity.
Irene McAra-McWilliam is Professor and head of the Department of Interaction Design at the Royal College of Art. Prior to this, she was Director of Design Research at Philips Design in the Netherlands. Since 1995 she has acted as a consultant for the European Commission in defining future visionary research directions, and is a member of the EC Working Group on Ambient Intelligence. She coordinated EC research theme, Connected Community, for which she initiated and led the award-winning project, Living Memory. Her central interest is the relationship between social change and the design of new technologies.
Eve Mitleton-Kelly is Director and founder of the Complexity Research Programme at the London School of Economics, UK; Visiting Professor at the Open University; Coordinator of Links with Industry & Government in the European Network of Excellence, Exystence; Executive Director of SOL-UK (London), the London group of the global network 'Society for Organisational Learning'. The focus of her research has been the strategy process in the business and information systems domains, with over 90 companies in the UK and USA. Her recent work has concentrated on the implications of the theories of complexity for IT legacy systems, organisational learning and the emergence of organisational forms and has developed a methodology for identifying conditions that enable and constrain those processes, using the principles of complexity. She has written on complex social systems and on the application of the theory in practice and is editing a book on complexity and organisations with 14 international authors, 'Complex Systems and Evolutionary Perspectives on Organisations: the Application of Complexity Theory to Organisations', Elsevier, 2003, ISBN No: 0-08-043957-8. EMK's chapter outlines 10 principles of complexity and enabling infrastructures.
Terry Stock is Director of Human Resources, Rolls-Royce Marine. Terry obtained a BSc degree from Birmingham University and an MSc from Imperial College, London, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development, and a Chartered Secretary. He has 20 years' of broad international experience in Human Resources, and has held the senior HR position in two UK listed companies - Johnson Matthey plc and Cookson Group plc. Terry joined Rolls-Royce in December 2000 as Director of HR - Marine. Aged 44 and married to Lora, they have a four-year old son, Alfred, and a two-year old daughter, Emily. Terry and Lora are keen and experienced scuba divers. Terry's other interests include cricket, soccer, theatre and cinema.