The Effects of Network Structure and Dynamics in Complex Systems

The Situation A socio-techno organization (say a company) is embedded in an environment of stakeholders (customers, competitors, regulators, etc.) with varying objectives. The company has reached some stable equilibrium. As a whole organism, the company would like to survive, adapt and thrive to a change in its environment. Environmental change might be characterized by by any complex set of needs to be satisfied (maybe a disruptive technology or a new need to be cooperate with a wider stakeholder class.) The hierarchical organizational structure of the company is ill-equipped to handle any problems which represent “all-at-once” needs that can’t be broken down into piece parts. Thus the company forms new organizational structures (say cross-corporate teams and maybe even outside the corporation coalition networks) and stimulates new dynamics for information transfer within the company and to the new environment.

The Problem Statement A network of agents is operating with a set of socio-techno norms which we designate (n1,n2, ...,np) [Scott Page gives them values {0,1}]. They have reached some stable equilibrium between the degree to which they are integrated (cooperate with each other) and the degree to which they are innovative (act with their own pattern of norms). Typically, the t = 0 network structure is a hierarchy maybe with close neighbors connected in an integrated product team (cluster). Somehow we need to characterize how that represents fitness in the t=0 environment. Now the environment changes. What new structures might we create and what new dynamics might we stimulate in order for that company to follow the new fitness landscape?

Sticky Problems

1. We must consider the class of situations for which changing those situations is a problem in complexity theory. (This is in contrast to the class of situations for which changing those situations is a problem in solving ordinary linear differential equations.)Is this an information Theory problem?
2. How do we even visualize the capacity of that network to accomplish its tasks, to exchange information, to learn, and to adapt to its environment.
3. What are the realistic social variables that determine the agent behavior.

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