Emerging order in CAS theory: mapping some perspectives

Purpose – The aim is to investigate the state of complex adaptive system (CAS) theory in the organizational theory literature and to provide a map for future studies of CAS theory.Design/methodology/approach – Abstracts were searched via electronic database and a range of recently published (1996‐2004) books and articles were identified that contained a relatively concise description of CAS. Content analysis is used to deconstruct the CAS descriptions into “component concepts.” Those concepts are analyzed from multiple viewpoints.Findings – There is no single, shared, sense of CAS theory. Differing understandings of CAS theory are identified based on “expert version” and “most popularly identified concepts.” Also, differences and similarities are identified between an “academic” version of CAS and a version developed by those who are influenced by both academic learning and practical experience.Research limitations/implications – Study is limited to concise definitions of CAS, so could be improved by incl...

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