Managing Complex Organizations Complexity Thinking and the Science and Art of Management by Kurt Richardson

Managing Complex Organizations Complexity Thinking and the Science and Art of Management by Kurt Richardson Mastering the art of managing the key processes of a complex organization is not an easy task. Because of the necessity to embrace a range of concepts and monitor numerous processes, one may fail to keep the track of the changes that occur within the company and, therefore, deliver a careful and a well put together plan based on the company’s future prospects.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on â€Å"Managing Complex Organizations: Complexity Thinking and the Science and Art of Management† by Kurt Richardson specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In his article â€Å"Managing Complex Organizations: Complexity Thinking and the Science and Art of Management,† Kurt Richardson addresses the issue of coordinating the supervision of various processes within complex organizations and the challenges that the specified task presupposes. Richardson argues that, though it is impossible to incorporate every last deta il of the company’s operations into the analysis of the organization’s key advantages and the threats that it may be facing, there is, in fact, no need to do so; following several key rules on decision making and learning to make suppositions concerning the implications of certain steps in financial management of a company is enough to succeed in navigating the complex mechanism of a major enterprise. In order to understand the specifics of complex organizations operation, it is crucial to differentiate between complex and complicated. Though the key processes of an enterprise may be outstandingly easy to understand, they may still happen to be very hard to monitor simultaneously, which predisposes their complexity. As long as managing a company involves dealing with several processes that involve a different set of elements and are guided by different principles, the organization operation must be viewed as complex, even though these processes may be extremely simple. In order to navigate the complexity of the organizational processes, one must introduce the basic principles of logics into the organizational management, Richardson explains (Richardson 14). At this point, the key concepts of the Boolean logics should be brought up: identified by the author of the article as the â€Å"universal language† (Richardson 14), this language serves as the mediator between the language of computing and the ordinary interpersonal communication.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The necessity to incorporate computer logics into the company organism is becoming increasingly big at present, with the rapid integration of information technologies into the operation of companies. The concept of incompressibility is often used along with the idea of companies’ complexity; however, the very idea of absolute incompressibility should be taken with a grain of salt, Richardson explains. In order to handle the supervision of the organizational processes within a major corporation, one must focus on the elements that are viewed as the most important ones, leaving the minor issues, which are hard to embrace due to their number, out of the picture plane: â€Å"We might say that, in the absence of a complete representation, the overall behavior of a system is at least the sum of the behaviors of all our (simplified) models of that system† (Richardson 16). What makes the situation even more complicated is that the pluralism emerging as a result of incompressibility creates not the premises for an objective analysis, but the environment that demands making a complicated choice between several theoretical frameworks. In addition, the fact that the specifics of a team dynamics are supposed to be rendered through the lens of an individual makes the process of a company analysis nearly impossible to carry out. Defined b y Richardson as â€Å"incommensurable pluralism† (16), the phenomenon in question does not mean, though, that complex organizations cannot be evaluated in any possible manner. Instead, the limitations of the organization analysis and, therefore, a certain shallowness of the results attained in the end, should be kept in mind. Seeing that the complexity of the organizational processes structure is the key problem when it comes to analyzing the efficacy of a major company’s performance, it is reasonable to suggest that a complex approach towards the analysis may be of some help. To put it differently, Richardson suggests that complexity thinking can be the answer to the problem (Richardson 18).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on â€Å"Managing Complex Organizations: Complexity Thinking and the Science and Art of Management† by Kurt Richardson specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Defined by the author as the incorporation of several key schools of thinking, particularly, the neo-reductionist one, the metaphorical one and the critical pluralist one (Richardson 18–21), the phenomenon in question is not a silver bullet, yet it can be viewed as a legitimate strategy for approaching the analysis of the complex organizational structure of a corporation. Managing the processes of a complex organization is possible, despite the fact that one will never be able to embrace every single step in the course of the company’s operations. In order to handle the issues related to the evaluation of a consistently changing environment, one must follow key logical principles and be flexible enough to adopt the approach that the solution of a unique conflict demands. More importantly, one must get the company’s priorities straight before starting the analysis; otherwise, a range of essential factors will be omitted. As soon as the essential details are in the limelight, the assets o f a corporation of any size can be evaluated properly. Richardson, Kurt A. â€Å"Managing Complex Organizations: Complexity Thinking and the Science and Art of Management.† E:CO 10.2 (2008), 13–26. Print.

10 Copper Facts

10 Copper Facts Copper is a beautiful and useful metallic element found throughout your home in both pure form and in chemical compounds. Copper is element No. 29 on the periodic table, with the element symbol Cu, from the Latin word cuprum. The name means  from the isle of Cyprus, which was known for its copper mines.   10 Copper Facts Copper has a reddish-metallic coloring unique among all the elements. The only other non-silvery metal on the periodic table is gold, which has a yellowish color. The addition of copper to gold is how red gold or rose gold is made.Copper was the first metal to be worked by man, along with gold and meteoritic iron. This is because these metals were among the few that exist in their native state, meaning the relatively pure metal could be found in nature. The use of copper dates back more than 10,000 years. Otzi the Iceman (3300 BCE) was found with an axe that had a head consisting of nearly pure copper. The icemans hair contained high levels of the toxin arsenic, which may indicate the man was exposed to the element during copper smelting.  Copper is an essential element for human nutrition. The mineral is critical for blood cell formation and is found in many foods and most water supplies. Foods high in copper include leafy greens, grains, potatoes, and beans. Although it takes a l ot of copper, its possible to get too much. Excess copper can cause jaundice, anemia, and diarrhea (which may be blue!). Copper readily forms alloys with other metals. Two of the best-known alloys are brass (copper and zinc) and bronze (copper and tin), although hundreds of alloys exist.Copper is a natural antibacterial agent. It is common to use brass door handles in public buildings (brass being a copper alloy) because they help prevent disease transmission. The metal is also toxic to invertebrates, so it is used on ship hulls to prevent the attachment of mussels and barnacles. It is also used to control algae.Copper has many desirable properties, characteristic of transition metals. It is soft, malleable, ductile, and an excellent conductor of heat and electricity, and it resists corrosion. Copper does eventually oxidize to form copper oxide, or verdigris, which is a green color. This oxidation is the reason the Statue of Liberty is green rather than reddish-orange. Its also the reason inexpensive jewelry, which contains copper, frequently discolors skin.In terms of industrial use, copper ranks thir d, behind iron and aluminum. Copper is used in wiring (60 percent of all copper used), plumbing, electronics, building construction, cookware, coins, and a host of other products. Copper in water, not chlorine, is the cause of hair turning green in swimming pools. There are two common oxidation states of copper, each with its own set of properties. One way to tell them apart is by the color of the emission spectrum when the ion is heated in a flame. Copper(I) turns a flame blue, while copper(II) produces a green flame.Nearly 80 percent of the copper that has been mined to date is still in use. Copper is a 100 percent recyclable metal. Its an abundant metal in Earths crust, present at concentrations of 50 parts per million.Copper readily forms simple binary compounds, which are chemical compounds consisting of only two elements. Examples of such compounds include copper oxide, copper sulfide, and copper chloride.