Relativistic complexity, adaptive governance and the intelligence leadership

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Liang, Thow Yick^*

Affiliations: Singapore Management University, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore, Republic of Singapore

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Thow Yick Liang, Singapore Management University, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, 50 Stamford Road, Singapore 178899, Republic of Singapore. tyliang@smu.edu.sg

Abstract: Recognizing the inherent strengths and weaknesses of human agents and organizations, as well as changing characteristics and behavior of the interacting agents is the key fundamental to better adaptation, leadership, governance, resilience and sustainability. In all human organizations, the agents are human beings each embedded with an intrinsic intense intelligence source that could easily transform their behavioral schemata. Thus, contradictory to the Newtonian/design paradigm, the group/organizational dynamic of human agents is complex, nonlinear, constantly/continuously changing, and can be unpredictable. In addition, complexity in the human world can be relativistic. Consequently, human agent/organization may perceive certain spaces of complexity as spaces of relativistic order – relativistic complexity. In particular, due the presence of the intense mental dimension in humanity – complexity is in the mind of the beholder. In human existence, leadership and governance are spontaneously emerging key requirements – a primary trait for collective survival. Currently, with more knowledge-intensive and participative new agents (self-powered intrinsic leadership) who possess modified beliefs, values, norms, and expectations that are dissimilar from the older generations, governance and leadership need deeper analysis and redefinition. Traditional governance systems in all categories of organization are manifesting their constraint, vulnerability, and incompetency, in particular, incoherency due to new values and cultural pressure, and their associated self-organizing networks – especially informal networks that demand change, a more commonly observed worldwide phenomenon. In this respect, special attend has to be focus on the highly nonlinear relational parameter is beneficial. This study adopts the intelligence mindset that concurrently focuses on intelligence/consciousness-centricity, complexity-centricity, and network-centricity as the new strategic path towards better adaptive governance and the new leadership. It concentrates on the self-powered agents that are also intrinsic leaders/actors. The new intelligence leadership focal point include nurturing intense collective intelligence (more actors), the critical ability of self-organizing communications, immersion of leadership nodes in networks/clusters (including e-governance), increasing coherency of complex networks (interdependency of network of networks, network management), exploiting selected spaces of complexity (complexity management), and intelligence-driven self-transcending constructions that better facilitates emergence through ‘multi-lateral’ dynamics (minimizing ‘direct’ governance). This intelligence governance strategy emphasizes that mass lateral collectivity rather than selective enforced hierarchical empowerment is the more effective approach in the present contact. Fundamentally, optimizing the ‘everybody is in charge’ phenomenon frequently is a more viable option.

Keywords: Newtonian mindset design paradigm, complexity mindset, intelligence mindset, intelligence paradigm, intelligence/consciousness management, intelligence-intelligence linkage, mindfulness, network management, orgmindfulness, mindful culture, complexity management, complexity-intelligence linkage, sensitive dependence of initial conditions, interdependency, space-time compression, unpredictable, basin of attraction, strange attractor, emergence, relativistic complexity, space of relativistic order, self-centric, stability-centric, autopoiesis, self-organizing communications, self-organization, self-transcending constructions, self-powered human agents, intrinsic leadership, intelligent person, deliberate strategy, emergent strategy, deliberate-emergent auto-switch, complex network, networks of networks, small world network, adaptive capacity, governance capacity, ‘multi-lateral’ dynamic, coherency, synergetic, self-powered self-organizing governance, intelligence governance strategy, intelligence leadership, and intelligent organization theory

DOI: 10.3233/HSM-150841

Journal: Human Systems Management, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 201-223, 2015