@article{c9863e0fc4a84caca9e4edf2f94b1e92,
title = "Complexity, simplicity, simplexity",
abstract = "{"}In the midst of order, there is chaos; but in the midst of chaos, there is order{"}, John Gribbin wrote in his book Deep Simplicity (p. 76). In this dialectical spirit, we discuss the generative tension between complexity and simplicity in the theory and practice of management and organization. Complexity theory suggests that the relationship between complex environments and complex organizations advanced by the well-known Ashby's law, may be reconsidered: only simple organization provides enough space for individual agency to match environmental turbulence in the form of complex organizational responses. We suggest that complex organizing may be paradoxically facilitated by a simple infrastructure, and that the theory of organizations may be viewed as resulting from the dialectical interplay between simplicity and complexity.",
keywords = "Complexity, Dialectics, Organization, Simplexity, Simplicity",
author = "{Miguel Pina}, {e. Cunha} and Arm{\'e}nio Rego",
note = "Funding Information: A preliminary version was presented at the 4th Organization Studies summer workshop, Pissouri, Cyprus, June 2008. We thank the participants in our session for their comments and suggestions. Discussions with Suzana B. Rodrigues, John Huffstot, John Child, Moshe Farjoun and Mary Uhl-Bien allowed us to improve our argument. We are grateful to the Editor, Herv{\'e} Laroche and the anonymous reviewers of the European Management Journal for their advice. Remaining errors or misinterpretations are, of course, entirely our own. The notion of “simplexity” was borrowed from Jeffrey Kluger{\textquoteright}s Simplexity: The simple rules of a complex world. London: John Murray, 2007. Miguel Cunha acknowledges support from Instituto Nova Forum. This work is part of a larger project supported by Funda{\c c}{\~a}o para a Ci{\^e}ncia e a Tecnologia (PTDC/GES/70167/2006). ",
year = "2010",
month = apr,
doi = "10.1016/j.emj.2009.04.006",
language = "English",
volume = "28",
pages = "85--94",
journal = "European Management Journal",
issn = "0263-2373",
publisher = "Elsevier Ltd.",
number = "2",
}