Effective decision making requires a clear methodology, particularly in complex, globally relevant situations. Institutions and companies in all disciplines and sectors are faced with increasingly multi-faceted areas of uncertainty which cannot always be effectively handled by traditional strategies. Complex Strategic Choices provides clear principles and methods which can guide and support strategic decision to face modern challenges. By considering ways in which planning practices can be renewed and exploring the possibilities for acquiring awareness and tools to add value to strategic decision making, Complex Strategic Choices presents a methodology which is further illustrated by a number of case studies and example applications. Dr. Techn. Steen Leleur has adapted previously established research based on feedback and input from various conferences, journals and students resulting in new material stemming from and focusing on practical application of systemic planning. The outcome is a coherent and flexible approach named systemic planning. The inclusion of both the theoretical and practical aspects of systemic planning makes this book a key resource for researchers and students in the field of planning and decision analysis as well as practitioners dealing with strategic analysis and decision making. More broadly, Complex Strategic Choices acts as guide for professionals and students involved in complex planning tasks across several fields such as business and engineering.

The new economy, under the impetus of the ever-widening outreach of the Internet, is undergoing a transition. In the meantime, theres also been a shift to the information paradigm, with its emphasis on lack of foresight. These processes have almost completely supplanted the concept of market that was once one of the most cardinal features of conventional economic theory. In Toward a General Theory of Exchange: Strategic Decisions and Complexity, author Dr. Javaid R. Khwaja traces the slow melting of the market, the most ubiquitous contraption and the summum bonum of economic science, as an organized manifestation of complexity, with its wide-ranging impact on the flow of funds. Using the historical background of economic theories, this study blends the interdisciplinary range and fills the vacuum that has existed among current conventional economic theory, the theory of strategic decision making, actor-network theory, the domain of law and economics, and the science of complexity. An observer of economic development for several decades, Khwaja shows the relationship between technology and economics and how it affects social exchanges and trends.

Radical Decision Making offers a controversial new framework to the conventional strategic change management conversation. While many approaches provide a discussion on a singular level, Dr. Hruška blends theory and research of decision making and social interaction to develop a consistent framework of strategic change.

Strategies, Leadership and Complexity in Crisis and Emergency Operations will bring together the main themes of strategy, operational leadership, organizational dynamics and complexity in the context of crisis and emergency operations; creating a book that is timely and relevant for research and leadership in emergency services, the police, military and other organizations involved in operations in highly dynamic and critical contexts. Based on two recent Scandinavian cases, Strategies, Leadership and Complexity in Crisis and Emergency Operations identifies theoretically generalizable dimensions in the discussion of emerging strategies and leadership in complex, uncertain and dynamic situations during crisis and emergency operations. The book will offer original material and discussions from these cases on how strategies, leadership and organizational dynamics evolve during crisis and emergency operations - and further link these to existing international cases and research In light of theories and fields of knowledge emphasising complex organizational dynamics, discussions are coupled with examples from different organizations and countries. The knowledge fields draw on a wide range of new organizational complexity research, and insights from more established work. The intention is to integrate established and recent organizational research in order to understand dynamic practices of organizations during crisis and emergency operations.

Urban Complexity and Spatial Strategies develops important new relational and institutionalist approaches to policy analysis and planning, of relevance to all those with an interest in cities and urban areas. Well-illustrated chapters weave together conceptual development, experience and implications for future practice and address the challenge of urban and metropolitan planning and development. Useful for students, social scientists and policy makers, Urban Complexity and Spatial Strategies offers concepts and detailed cases of interest to those involved in policy development and management, as well as providing a foundation of ideas and experiences, an account of the place-focused practices of governance and an approach to the analysis of governance dynamics. For those in the planning field itself, this book re-interprets the role of planning frameworks in linking spatial patterns to social dynamics with twenty-first century relevance.

Parallel and distributed computing has been one of the most active areas of research in recent years. The techniques involved have found significant applications in areas as diverse as engineering, management, natural sciences, and social sciences. This book reports state-of-the-art topics and advances in this emerging field. Completely up-to-date, aspects it examines include the following: 1) Social networks; 2) Smart grids; 3) Graphic processing unit computation; 4) Distributed software development tools; 5) Analytic hierarchy process and the analytic network process

Knowledge Management, Organizational Intelligence and Learning, and Complexity is the component of Encyclopedia of Technology, Information, and Systems Management Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on Knowledge Management, Organizational Intelligence and Learning, and Complexity in the Encyclopedia of Technology, Information, and Systems Management Resources provides the latest scientific insights into the evolution of complexity in both the natural and social realms. Emerging perspectives from the fields of knowledge management, computer-based simulation and the organizational sciences are presented as tools for understanding and supporting this evolving complexity and the earth's life support systems. These three volumes are aimed at the following a wide spectrum of audiences from the merely curious to those seeking in-depth knowledge: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Advancing new sense-making tools for organizational strategy, this book demonstrates how to deal with asymmetric threats and opportunities. It employs participatory methods and multiple sector strategies to shift strategic thinking into considering disorder complexity and chaos. The contributors examine whether the 'third lens' or ontology of a project (its nature, work and strategic landscape) should influence the two other 'lenses' (our epistemological and methodological choices) that create an understanding of the world we live in. The book also considers the importance of time, in particular spatio-temporal relations that serve as reflection points for sense-making and strategic decision-making, both with respect to the situation in which they take place and as conceptual vehicles for managing multiple times and realities. Written for 21st century strategists, this volume will benefit people and organizations who struggle daily with multiple co-existing ontological, epistemological and methodological discourses.

The analysis of complex organizations was largely descriptive until the 1960s. Conceptual and methodological developments then led to comparative analyses of complex organizations. These were comparisons across organizations at that time and are now comparative on a cross-national basis. Just as the comparative analyses were getting up to full speed, analysts began to realize that they were not including a very important element in their analyses. This element was the environment in which organizations were operating. Soon thereafter, other analysts began to point out that there were many activities carried out in and around organizations that were not based on strict rational models and that organizations developed their own systems of meanings. The dominant thrust at present is to try to develop theoretical explanations which work in combination with each other. This book traces these developments with the major articles of the times.

This book describes how domain knowledge can be used in the design of interactive systems. It includes discussion of the theories and models of domain, generic domain architectures and construction of system components for specific domains. It draws on research experience from the Information Systems, Software Engineering and Human Computer Interaction communities.