This week sees what promises to be a fascinating event bringing together practitioners and scientists to reflect on issues of complex adaptive systems and rural development, organised by World Vision Canada in Arusha. The three day conference has a special focus on the lessons from an innovative programme to enhance aid agency staff and community leaders [...]
Archive for the ‘Innovation’ Category
Governance, Ecosystems and Livelihoods: New Strategies for Transformational Development
Posted in Agriculture, Facilitation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Organisations, Resilience, Strategy on August 31, 2010 | 1 Comment »
The Aid Leadership Paradox
Posted in Facilitation, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Networks, Organisations, Resilience, Self organisation, Strategy on August 24, 2010 | 2 Comments »
“In these troubled, uncertain times, we don’t need more command and control; we need better means to engage everyone’s intelligence in solving challenges and crises as they arise.” Traditional perspectives on leadership are based on a view of organisations as mechanical systems. Organisations are made up of prescriptive rules, formalised control mechanisms and hierarchical authority [...]
Complexity science according to Santa Fe
Posted in Innovation, Knowledge and learning on August 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Complexity refers to the condition of the universe which is integrated and yet too rich and varied for us to understand in simple common mechanistic or linear ways. We can understand many parts of the universe in these ways but the larger and more intricately related phenomena can only be understood by principles and patterns – not in detail. Complexity [...]
What brain scientists can tell us about learning in aid agencies
Posted in Chaos, Innovation, Institutions, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Networks, Organisations, Self organisation, Strategy on August 13, 2010 | 3 Comments »
According to 2008 ALNAP research on organisational change in the humanitarian sector, ’all theories of organization and management are based on implicit images or metaphors that lead us to see, understand, and manage organisations in distinctive yet partial ways.’ One of the key metaphors used in that work, drawing on the groundbreaking efforts of organisational theorist [...]
Complexity, crises and moving beyond recipes…
Posted in Chaos, Conflict and peace building, Financial crisis, Innovation, Institutions, Leadership, Natural disasters, Networks, Organisations, Public Policy, Self organisation on August 6, 2010 | 3 Comments »
The argument that modern organisations have to deal with complexity on a daily basis is fast becoming one of the least controversial statements any analyst, policy maker or practitioner can make. But what this actually means in practice is up for debate. Some suggest that there is little or no rigour in statements such as ‘the world [...]
From the Neoclassical Logic Piano to All That Jazz
Posted in Financial crisis, Innovation, Public Policy, Resilience, tagged Agent-Based Modelling, Earthquakes on August 3, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Over on Rethinking Development Economics, a recent post highlights a provocative speech by Dr DeLisle Worrell, Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados. Worrell focused on the problems with economics today, with much of his talk given over to ‘complexity economics‘. To quote directly from Worrell: Our theories can’t deal with reality, so we ignore the real [...]
Complexity and Innovation: A Plexus Institute interview
Posted in Innovation, Knowledge and learning, Leadership, Networks, Organisations, Strategy on June 15, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Over the past two years in ALNAP, we have been leading work on humanitarian innovations which resulted in a major study, an international conference and a significant investment in innovation processes by a major donor. It is clear to us that the term innovation is being used more and more across the aid sector, whether by senior leaders like Rajiv [...]
