Natural complexity structures to work in big business

A group which explores the living world for fresh ideas about how to design and manage organisations has been launched.

The Complexity Society spawned in the United Kingdom will bring together academics, researchers and members of the public who are all fascinated by radical new ways of structuring and running organisations.

They will use concepts from chaos theory, complexity science and evolution, along with living case studies from the natural world as examples of how businesses can organise themselves, challenging long-held views developed more than 300 years ago by classical scientists and thinkers.

Dr Elizabeth McMillan - from the Open University based in southern England - is the society's co-founder and says it has a number of aims. "We want to bring people together who are enthusiastic about complexity science and give it a home," she said.

"We want to spread information about complexity science, informing and educating policy makers and individuals alike, and we want to put into practice the successful models we have identified by observing the natural world," she added.

There are many successful examples of how complexity science has been applied in the real world, said Dr McMillan. For example, researchers at UK telecoms giant BT have studied ant colonies, jellyfish and slime moulds because they recognise that the biological world is highly effective at tackling complex problems. They have used the knowledge gained from such research to develop robust telecom networks.

A pharmacy chain in the United States also used ant foraging patterns to create more effective assembly lines for its national distribution centre. Principles identified through complexity science are also being applied in the medical world, she added.

"Learning from the natural world is inherently useful because it offers valuable insights into innovative, efficient, sustainable and creative ways of working," said Dr McMillan.

"The natural world and living species have been tested over millennia by evolution and have developed amazing ways of organising and surviving in a harsh and very real environment. It is therefore very possible that we might find some brilliant new ways of doing things if we look closely, sensitively and intelligently at the world around us."