Simply Complex by Design

Reality‐real life‐is complex, more complex than can be imagined. The majority of our most pressing issues confronted in the management of organizations are overwhelmingly complex. I make the case for a systems design approach as a remedy. Examples introduced in this paper illuminate conceptual tools that advance how people transform their workplaces despite the collusion of complex forces that thwart their best efforts and the occurrences of failures of straightforward attempts to produce desired outcomes. The primary aim of this paper is to present an overall picture of the way in which complexity and simplicity—which appear to be oppositional—are collaborative allies in the deliberate processes of transforming businesses. The aim is also to underscore the value of complexity to organizational management and design. The secondary aim of this paper is to explore some approaches for simplifying complexity. These diverse means of simplifying complexity help to illuminate the collaborative role that complexity and simplicity play in the process of improving business organizations. This paper demonstrates how complexity can be rendered more simply comprehensible by design.     

Applications of Heider's p-o-x balance model to classroom situations

Some selected principles of Heider's balance theory are presented and the p-o-x model is explained as a theoretical framework for predicting responses to interpersonal situations in which the participants are in attitudinal agreement or disagreement. Concrete classroom situations are cited in which application of the model provides the basis for suggestions concerned with adaptive patterns of interaction with students.