Organization structures for dealing with complexity

Abstract

"Complexity is in the eye of the beholder" is a well known quote in the research field of complexity. In the world of managers the word complex is often a synonym for difficult, complicated, involving many factors and highly uncertain. A complex business decision requires careful preparation and close attention of the managers and workers involved. This preparation often reduces the uncertainty or reveals the structure of the problems and processes to be dealt with. A complex problem becomes less complex for those involved in solving it. This is the eye of the beholder. An experienced eye will perceive a different level of complexity than an inexperienced. However we cannot say, less complexity for the experienced, more for the inexperienced. Inexperienced observers may overlook, thus underestimate complexity. The goal of this thesis is to show that structure is one of the most important and often overlooked design variables in solving complex business management problems. In this thesis a design procedure and rules for designing business processes and their structure decisions will be presented.