New Directions in Systems Theory: Chaos and Complexity

Warren, Keith; Franklin, Cynthia; Streeter, Calvin L.

doi:10.1093/sw/43.4.357

Cited by 79 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 36 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Chaos theory is an evolutionary theory, which views systems as non-linear, complex, and dynamic [33]. Chaos theory describes systems as a set of inter-related parts that interact to achieve a specified outcome.…”

Section: Chaos Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

What Does the Sustainability-Risk Interaction Look Like? Exploring Nuanced Relationships in Emerging Economy Sustainability Initiatives

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:To be viable long-term, sustainability programs must be profitable. Unfortunately, current sustainability practices increase risk, increasing costs and threatening revenues. Higher costs and lower revenues negatively impact profitability and, thus, the viability of sustainability. To understand how sustainability-induced risks affect food production systems, sustainability-induced risks in food production systems are identified and classified. It is also explored how sustainability risks interact, making it especially costly and difficult to eradicate them. An inductive, interview-based method was employed, which relies on 41 semi-structured interviews, with managers at 32 companies. The study documents the interaction between sustainability and risk in five risk categories-behavioral, opportunism, organizational routines, safety and traceability routines and systems design. The negative impact of intensive interactions among these risk categories threatens food production systems' sustainability initiatives. Behavioral risks are particularly pervasive and harmful as they either induce or exacerbate other risk clusters. Elaborating the interaction between sustainability and risk, as well as documenting risk types and interactions, provides a more holistic view of sustainability implementation. This nuanced view will lead to a more accurate and insightful costing of sustainability programs. Lamentably, the most pervasive risk category-i.e., behavioral risks-are often overlooked in the supply chain management literature. However, this research shows a clear need to delve more deeply into the behavioral dimension to improve risk management and to increase the viability of sustainability. This study identifies and categorizes sustainability-induced risk factors in food production systems, and shows how they interrelate, providing the foundation for better planning and execution of viable sustainability programs.

show abstract

Section: Chaos Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

What Does the Sustainability-Risk Interaction Look Like? Exploring Nuanced Relationships in Emerging Economy Sustainability Initiatives

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They affect the preparedness and planning for disaster, the causes of disaster, and its impact on human survival and well-being, as well as government and humanitarian responses to disaster in the immediate and reconstruction phases. Political decisions and economic interests affect the magnitude of human 1 Some scholars working out of complexity/chaos theory even argue that natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis are 'man-made' in that they are created by interactions between crisis drivers and human activities (Kiel, 1994;Warren, Fath, & Streeten, 1998). loss in earthquakes and tsunami, just as they may be deeply implicated in the causes of disasters, such as transport catastrophes or gradually rising temperatures and sea levels due to global warming that may result in the obliteration of human settlements and/or their means of sustenance.…”

Section: Natural Disasters Are Social Disastersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered violence in natural disasters: Learning from New Orleans, Haiti and Christchurch

True

2016

ANZSWJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Why are women so vulnerable to violence and death as a result of disaster compared with men? This article investigates how global environmental forces in the form of natural disasters from floods, droughts and famines to earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes affect women and men differently. Disasters are known to have direct and indirect impacts on gender-based violence particularly against women and girls, revealing a pattern of heightened violence and vulnerability in their aftermath. These gendered impacts are directly relevant to social work theory, practice and advocacy, which seek to promote social wellbeing and to prevent violence in homes and communities during and in the aftermath of disasters. The article argues that women's unequal economic and social status relative to men before a disaster strikes determines the extent of their vulnerability to violence during and after a crisis. If gender-based violence and women's particular needs are not addressed in disaster preparedness, disaster recovery plans and humanitarian assistance, then women and girls' vulnerability will increase. The article offers some lessons based on primary research of responses to the 2010-2011 Christchurch earthquakes against the backdrop of what we know about the responses to an earthquake of similar magnitude in Haiti in 2009. It draws implications from this research for social work theory, practice and advocacy, highlighting the importance of ensuring that future disaster planning and decision making is gender-sensitive.

show abstract

“…Complexity science, with intellectual roots in general systems theory (von Bertalanffy 1968), has experienced considerable advancement in the last couple of decades with contributions from physics, genetic biology, evolutionary computation and political science (Axelrod and Cohen 2000). Unlike the general systems theory which focuses on order, stability, and rationality, complexity science is more concerned with disorder, instability, and changeusually rapid change (Warren, Franklin and Streeter 1998). The term 'complex adaptive systems' refers to systems that exhibit (a) macro-level outcomes manifested as emergent spatial or temporal regularities, (b) decision-making with specified behaviors, (c) heterogeneity in characteristics or behavior of actors, (d) social or other interactions that affect their attributes or decisions, and (e) feedback mechanisms that can produce nonlinear system behaviors (e.g.…”

Section: Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%