Structural Complexity Management

Structural Complexity Management
Author: Udo Lindemann
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2008-09-24
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3540878890

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Product design is characterized by a steady increase in complexity. The main focus of this book is a structural approach on complexity management. This means, system structures are considered in order to address the challenge of complexity in all aspects of product design. Structures arise from the complex dependencies of system elements. Thus, the identification of system structures provides access to the understanding of system behavior in practical applications. The book presents a methodology that enables the analysis, control and optimization of complex structures, and the applicability of domain-spanning problems. The methodology allows significant improvements on handling system complexity by creating improved system understanding on the one hand and optimizing product design that is robust for system adaptations on the other hand. Developers can thereby enhance project coordination and improve communication between team members and as a result shorten development time. The practical application of the methodology is described by means of two detailed examples.

Complexity Management in Engineering Design – a Primer

Complexity Management in Engineering Design – a Primer
Author: Maik Maurer
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2017-02-21
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3662534487

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The treatise supports understanding the phenomena of complexity in engineering, distinguishes complexity from other challenges and presents an overview of definitions and applied approaches.The historical background of complexity management is explained by highlighting the important epochs, their key actors and their discoveries, findings and developments. Knowing about the appearance of early system awareness in ancient Greece, the creation of mechanical philosophy in the 17th century and the discovery of classic physics enables the reader to better comprehend modern system sciences and management approaches.A classification of complexity management approaches by research fields indicates current focus areas and starting points for future discussions. In a comprehensive map, the classification points out mutual overlaps between engineering disciplines in terms of similar complexity management approaches.Finally, the treatise introduces a generic complexity management framework, which is based on structural management approaches.

Complexity Metrics in Engineering Design

Complexity Metrics in Engineering Design
Author: Matthias Kreimeyer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2011-07-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3642209637

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This book presents the results of several years’ research work on how to characterize complexity in engineering design with a specific regard to dependency modeling. The 52 complexity metrics that are presented show different facets of how complexity takes shape in design processes. The metrics are supported by a modeling method and a measurement framework to employ the metrics in a goal-oriented manner. The detailed description of all involved metrics and models makes it possible to apply the analysis approach to common process modeling methodologies. Three case studies from automotive process management illustrate the application to facilitate the transfer to other cases in an industrial context. The comprehensive appendix supplies additional details and checklists for structural analysis to generate a complete overview of current means of structural analysis.

Managing Complexity

Managing Complexity
Author: G. Rzevski
Publisher: WIT Press
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2014-03-25
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1845649362

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Managing Complexity is the first book that clearly defines the concept of Complexity, explains how Complexity can be measured and tuned, and describes the seven key features of Complex Systems: ConnectivityAutonomyEmergencyNonequilibriumNon-linearitySelf-organisationCo-evolution The thesis of the book is that complexity of the environment in which we work and live offers new opportunities and that the best strategy for surviving and prospering under conditions of complexity is to develop adaptability to perpetually changing conditions. An effective method for designing adaptability into business processes using multi-agent technology is presented and illustrated by several extensive examples, including adaptive, real-time scheduling of taxis, see-going tankers, road transport, supply chains, railway trains, production processes and swarms of small space satellites. Additional case studies include adaptive servicing of the International Space Station; adaptive processing of design changes of large structures such as wings of the largest airliner in the world; dynamic data mining, knowledge discovery and distributed semantic processing. Finally, the book provides a foretaste of the next generation of complex issues, notably, The Internet of Things, Smart Cities, Digital Enterprises and Smart Logistics.

Six Simple Rules

Six Simple Rules
Author: Yves Morieux
Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2014-03-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1422190560

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New tools for managing complexity Does your organization manage complexity by making things more complicated? If so, you are not alone. According to The Boston Consulting Group’s fascinating Complexity Index, business complexity has increased sixfold during the past sixty years. And, all the while, organizational complicatedness—that is, the number of structures, processes, committees, decision-making forums, and systems—has increased by a whopping factor of thirty-five. In their attempt to respond to the increasingly complex performance requirements they face, company leaders have created an organizational labyrinth that makes it more and more difficult to improve productivity and to pursue innovation. It also disengages and demotivates the workforce. Clearly it’s time for leaders to stop trying to manage complexity with their traditional tools and instead better leverage employees' intelligence. This book shows you how and explains the implications for designing and leading organizations. The way to manage complexity, the authors argue, is neither with the hard solutions of another era nor with the soft solutions—such as team building and feel-good “people initiatives”—that often follow in their wake. Based on social sciences (notably economics, game theory, and organizational sociology) and The Boston Consulting Group’s work with more than five hundred companies in more than forty countries and in various industries, authors Yves Morieux and Peter Tollman recommend six simple rules to manage complexity without getting complicated. Showing why the rules work and how to put them into practice, Morieux and Tollman give managers a much-needed tool to reinvigorate people in the face of seemingly endless complexity. Included are detailed examples from companies that have achieved a multiplicative effect on performance by using them. It’s time to manage complexity better. Employ these six simple rules to foster autonomy and cooperation and to effectively handle business complexity. As a result, you will improve productivity, innovate more, reengage your workforce, and seize opportunities to create competitive advantage.

Structural Complexity I

Structural Complexity I
Author: Jose L. Balcazar
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 223
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3642792359

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In the six years since the first edition of this book was published, the field of Structural Complexity has grown quite a bit. However, we are keeping this volume at the same basic level that it had in the first edition, and the only new result incorporated as an appendix is the closure under complementation of nondeterministic space classes, which in the previous edition was posed as an open problem. This result was already included in our Volume II, but we feel that due to the basic nature of the result, it belongs to this volume. There are of course other important results obtained during these last six years. However, as they belong to new areas opened in the field they are outside the scope of this fundamental volume. Other changes in this second edition are the update of some Bibliograph ical Remarks and references, correction of many mistakes and typos, and a renumbering of the definitions and results. Experience has shown us that this new numbering is a lot more friendly, and several readers have confirmed this opinion. For the sake of the reader of Volume II, where all references to Volume I follow the old numbering, we have included here a table indicating the new number corresponding to each of the old ones.

Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity

Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity
Author: Michael C. Jackson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 728
Release: 2019-03-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1119118387

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The world has become increasingly networked and unpredictable. Decision makers at all levels are required to manage the consequences of complexity every day. They must deal with problems that arise unexpectedly, generate uncertainty, are characterised by interconnectivity, and spread across traditional boundaries. Simple solutions to complex problems are usually inadequate and risk exacerbating the original issues. Leaders of international bodies such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO and WHO — and of major business, public sector, charitable, and professional organizations — have all declared that systems thinking is an essential leadership skill for managing the complexity of the economic, social and environmental issues that confront decision makers. Systems thinking must be implemented more generally, and on a wider scale, to address these issues. An evaluation of different systems methodologies suggests that they concentrate on different aspects of complexity. To be in the best position to deal with complexity, decision makers must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches and learn how to employ them in combination. This is called critical systems thinking. Making use of over 25 case studies, the book offers an account of the development of systems thinking and of major efforts to apply the approach in real-world interventions. Further, it encourages the widespread use of critical systems practice as a means of ensuring responsible leadership in a complex world. Comments on a previous version of the book: Russ Ackoff: ‘the book is the best overview of the field I have seen’ JP van Gigch: ‘Jackson does a masterful job. The book is lucid ...well written and eminently readable’ Professional Manager (Journal of the Chartered Management Institute): ‘Provides an excellent guide and introduction to systems thinking for students of management’

Managing Complexity: Insights, Concepts, Applications

Managing Complexity: Insights, Concepts, Applications
Author: Dirk Helbing
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2007-10-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540752617

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The essays and lectures collected in this book center around knowledge transfer from the complex-system sciences to applications in business, industry and society, as viewed from a broad perspective. The contributions aim to raise awareness across the spectrum to meet the increasing need to integrate lessons from complexity research into everyday planning, decision making, logistics or optimization procedures and forecasting. The writing has been largely kept non-technical.

Product Complexity Management Enabled by a Model-Based Approach

Product Complexity Management Enabled by a Model-Based Approach
Author: Zhenchao Hu
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre:
ISBN:

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As contemporary engineered systems become more interdependent, there is a growing need to manage their system complexity. However, system complexity only exists as implicit and heterogeneous information. This situation causes difficulties to obtain and analyze system complexity. This manuscript illustrates a model-based approach to support system complexity management. The system complexity includes dynamic complexity and structural complexity in this manuscript. The proposed approach includes complexity modeling and complexity analysis. As for complexity modeling, a graph-matrix hybrid complexity modeling approach is proposed to describe the dynamic and structure complexity information. The graph-based architecture models are developed by a unified meta-meta modeling approach. The connections among different architecture models are described by design structure matrix. As for complexity analysis, a general complexity metric provides dynamic and structural complexity values for the designer to evaluate the system. Besides, automatic ontology modeling is introduced to integrate complexity modeling and complexity analysis. Finally, a case study about aero-engine design is conducted. The complexity management processes of three different scenarios are compared in this case study. The comparison results demonstrate that the proposed approach is general and applicable to any engineered system and can support the trade-off between complex product design schemes.

Managing Project Structural Complexity by Integrating Facility Management in Planning, Designing, and Execution of High-End Facility Upgrades

Managing Project Structural Complexity by Integrating Facility Management in Planning, Designing, and Execution of High-End Facility Upgrades
Author: Audrey Marie Bascoul
Publisher:
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

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Ensuring that a building consistently supports occupants in producing value is a global challenge. To tackle this challenge, the discipline of Facility Management (FM) emerged in the 1970s. FM became responsible for steering the building toward a constantly changing desired future state. Since then, buildings have become increasingly more complex. Despite the existence of FM, buildings still fail in terms of value delivery. Failure to meet customer requirements is waste. This motivated this research. Through review and analysis of the literature, the researcher classifies FM failures in five aspects: (1) building systems, (2) people, (3) tools and data, (4) processes, and (5) changes. To prevent those failures, researchers and practitioners have developed solutions. However, these solutions have not been able to reduce waste in facility delivery for at least three reasons. First, they fail to capitalize on FM knowledge, and thus miss the opportunity of learning from other completed facilities. Second, they do not address the Transformation-Flow-Value (TFV) views of FM. As a result, they focus on ensuring that building components function and omit value delivery to customers. Third, they do not acknowledge the complex nature of FM, which manifests itself at the organizational and at the project level. This leads to FM not being able to steer the building so that it meets customer expectations. This dissertation advocates that the late involvement of FM in project delivery contributes to waste and is manifested in a lack of awareness of structural complexity. Structural complexity is the condition of a system whose behavior emerges from the interactions of its parts. The burden of managing that complexity falls on FM during operations and maintenance of the completed facility. By not engaging FM strategically in project delivery, such complexity is not managed easily and the facility may fail to deliver the expected customer value. The use of the Design Structure Matrix (DSM) methodology, a matrix-based method to model structural complexity, and Hoshin Kanri, a Lean planning process used to deploy strategies in organizations, will help generate value to owners and occupants by enabling FM involvement in the planning, designing, and execution of facility upgrades and construction projects in general. To substantiate this argument, this research investigates the manifestation of structural complexity and its implications for FM at two levels. First, at the project level, it documents and analyzes two examples of high-end facilities that failed to deliver value to occupants. Both examples explore how the lack of management of structural complexity contributed to FM failure. The researcher uses DSM to gain insight into FM failure and uses the Lean Project Delivery System (LPDS)-Multi-Domain Matrix (MDM) framework, to make the interdependences between project elements and thus some aspects of complexity visual. Second, at the organizational level, this research documents how two large public organizations have integrated FM in project delivery. Furthermore, this research presents a novel model based on Hoshin Kanri, named Hoshin-for-Facilities, to support and enable FM integration. This model builds upon Lean Construction principles and methods, while acknowledging the complex nature of FM. By analyzing the case studies, the researcher identifies five aspects of structural complexity in projects involving high-end facilities: (1) customer complexity, (2) organizational complexity, (3) product complexity, (4) process complexity, and (5) market complexity. Poor FM integration in project delivery has a compounding effect with product and process complexity. At the project level, DSM is fit for modeling structural complexity. Its early use on projects could help avoid negative design iteration (process complexity) and increase transparency in design decision making (product complexity). The LPDS-MDM framework offers a holistic approach to manage project structural complexity. At the organizational level, Hoshin-for-Facilities seems promising for engaging FM in project delivery. This research contributes to knowledge by augmenting the literature on FM at its intersection with D&C, revealing by using DSM how structural complexity manifests itself in projects, formulating the implications thereof for facility delivery, and proposing Hoshin-For-Facilities to enable strategic FM integration in project delivery. This dissertation shows how project structural complexity can be managed by integrating FM in project delivery. This research helps ensure that facilities support organizations’ business objectives. It is targeted to business owners of high-end facilities, i.e., facilities that house sophisticated systems and/or equipment, whose performance is critical for the organization to meet its business objectives. Future research can deepen understanding of how the language used during project delivery contributes to complexity and then explore how project teams can leverage those findings (if any) to manage complexity.