Complex system governance: concept, challenges, and emerging research

The purpose of this paper is to explore an emerging paradigm and implications for complex system governance. Although ‘governance’ has been taken as a ‘good thing’, we seek more rigorous development of governance as a multidisciplinary construct. Following an introduction to the complex system problem domain three primary objectives are pursued. First, three fields, governance, management cybernetics, and systems theory are examined for contributions to the emerging complex system governance field. Second, an emerging paradigm for complex system governance is developed. This developmental paradigm establishes a preliminary basis for complex system governance. Third, a set of implications for research and development is suggested to accelerate advancement of the complex system governance field. Emphasis is placed on the potential that this field offers for practitioners who must deal with the increasingly complex systems and their constituent problems. The paper concludes with research challenges to push the emerging field forward.

[1]  R. Ackoff,et al.  Systems, Messes and Interactive Planning , 1997 .

[2]  J. Kooiman,et al.  Governing as Governance , 2003 .

[3]  Charles B. Keating,et al.  Research foundations for system of systems engineering , 2005, 2005 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics.

[4]  Behnido Y. Calida,et al.  System Governance: Emergence of Practical Perspectives Across the Disciplines , 2014 .

[5]  John D. Donahue,et al.  Governance in a Globalizing World , 2000 .

[6]  Peter Checkland,et al.  Diagnosing the system for organizations: S. BEER Wiley, Chichester, 1985, 152 + xiii pages, £7.50 , 1986 .

[7]  H. Willke,et al.  Smart Governance: Governing the Global Knowledge Society , 2007 .

[8]  N. Brennan,et al.  Corporate Governance, Accountability and Mechanisms of Accountability: An Overview , 2008 .

[9]  E. Krahmann,et al.  Conceptualizing Security Governance , 2003 .

[10]  Bob Jessop,et al.  Governance and Metagovernance: On Reflexivity, Requisite Variety, and Requisite Irony. , 2003 .

[11]  David Dery,et al.  Problem Definition in Policy Analysis , 1984 .

[12]  Behnido Y. Calida,et al.  System governance analysis of complex systems , 2013 .

[13]  Charles B. Keating,et al.  Governance implications for meeting challenges in the system of systems engineering field , 2014, 2014 9th International Conference on System of Systems Engineering (SOSE).

[14]  Patrick T. Hester,et al.  Systems Theory as the Foundation for Understanding Systems , 2013, Syst. Eng..

[15]  Tony Bovaird,et al.  Public governance: balancing stakeholder power in a network society , 2005 .

[16]  Charles B. Keating,et al.  System requirements engineering in complex situations , 2012, Requirements Engineering.

[17]  R. Rhodes.  Understanding Governance: Ten Years On , 2007 .

[18]  Robert O. Keohane,et al.  Power and interdependence , 1977 .

[19]  Charles B. Keating,et al.  Systems of systems engineering: prospects and challenges for the emerging field , 2011, Int. J. Syst. Syst. Eng..

[20]  H. Schroeder,et al.  Earth System Governance: People, Places, and the Planet , 2009 .

[21]  H. Rittel,et al.  Dilemmas in a general theory of planning , 1973 .

[22]  Henrik Paul Bang,et al.  Governance as social and political communication , 2003 .

[23]  Howard S. Becker,et al.  Social Problems: A Modern Approach. , 1967 .

[24]  C. Ansell,et al.  Collaborative Governance in Theory and Practice , 2007 .

[25]  Laurence E. Lynn,et al.  Studying Governance and Public Management: Challenges and Prospects , 2000 .

[26]  Charles B. Keating,et al.  Prevalence of pathologies in systems of systems , 2012, Int. J. Syst. Syst. Eng..