The Complexity Advantage (Hardcover)

by Susanne Kelly (Author), Mary Ann Allison (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Staggered by third-world debt, Citicorp turned to a new management tool to help thwart growing international competition. According to authors Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison, the company adopted "complexity science," which helped Citicorp learn how to evolve more effectively in its business environment. In the mid 1990s, they became a great turnaround story: profits rose again, debt was reduced, and its stock price rocketed. In The Complexity Advantage, Kelly, a Citibank vice president, and Allison, president of a consulting company, describe a complexity-based program that empowers employees and gives them the freedom to organize and manage themselves better. The authors write that this new management technique can help any company thrive in an increasingly chaotic business environment. The authors argue that managers who give company divisions the means to self-organize "will have enthusiastic employee contribution, better information, dramatic increases in both productivity and creativity, lower costs, and the ability to respond rapidly to change in direction." Kelly and Allison go on to describe step by step how the science of complexity can be applied to business. They give four simple rules to follow for successful self-organizing: Trust, learn together, commit deeply, and embrace change. The Complexity Advantage is a useful manual for company leaders interested in complexity science and its applications to business. -Dan Ring

Product Description
In today's rapidly changing global market, a growing number of organizations are turning to the science of complexity theory and successfully applying its principles to dramatically improve the way they do business. Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison draw on their extensive research at Citibank, a recognized pioneer in the successful application of complexity science to the business world, showing managers how to use complexity's self-organizing techniques to increase efficiency and creativity, inspire new ways of leading, and predict the behaviors of employees, customers, vendors, and competitors.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 261 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070014000
• ISBN-13: 978-0070014008
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,379,013 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gaining competitive advantage through complexity science, March 14, 1999

By A Customer

This is a very clear presentation of a difficult topic-the relationship of the new field of complexity science to business. It is particularly useful for anyone who is thinking "Complexity science is interesting, but what are the implications for the real world." This book gets off to an outstanding start with the unit "The Main Point: Self-Organization." This indeed is the aspect of complexity science that has the most relevance for business. The authors also are to be commended for being the first book that I know of to relate the concept of memes to the question of how to use complexity science to improve organizations. (According to the Oxford English Dictionary a meme is "an element of a culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means, esp. imitation." For more information on memes, enter "memetics" in the subject search box on amazon.com.) However, I would have liked to have seen an expanded discussion of memes. I believe the authors missed the opportunity to use the concept of memes to clarify the distinction between the old way of managing and the new way that they espouse. Traditional approaches to management are based on a meme set that can be traced back through Newton to Aristotle. The new approach to management that they recommend is grounded in a new meme set provided by complexity science. The authors initial focus on self-organization is capped-off with an equally brilliant section on "Reducing the Artificial, Designated Power Hierarchy and Enabling Natural Organization." However, the "lists of steps" in the middle chapters are somewhat overdone and in my opinion detract from the main thrust of their book. I'm afraid the casual reader may not fully grasp the importance of what the authors are saying: The traditional organizational hierarchy, in all of its MBA-ish splendor, is essentially unnatural. For it is complexity science, especially self-organized groups, which offers a natural approach to management. No one, in my opinion, has demonstrated they really know how to execute this new perspective within a major organization. The authors' approach is as good as it gets, and it has a real-world feel that is better than that of British complexity science guru Ralph Stacey (Complexity and Creativity in Organizations) or the American gura Margaret Wheatley (Leadership and the New Science). What is clear is that those organizations that figure out how to manage naturally will have a substantial competitive advantage over those who use artificial, unnatural approaches.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Undistinguished, May 24, 2000

By A Customer

The authors and the text come highly recommended but I must say that the book is a profound disappointment. What I expected was a book blending complexity science with applied business experience. What I received was another undistinguished business book. For a study based on nonlinear principles, Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison rely excessively on linear lists and programs. Much like any other business text, there are the five levels in the fitness model, the fourteen steps to success, the four simple rules, and so on. In short, the authors appear to be thoroughly grounded in linear thought. There was very little on growing complexity thoughts, behavior, and actions in your own portion of the business organization. Instead, the authors have written a book that should appeal to corporate training departments everywhere because of the focus on simple steps, simple progressions, and simple solutions. My advice is to save your money because The Complexity Advantage is too easily forgotten.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read, October 4, 1999

By A Customer

This book reveals how complexity theory (CT) can be used in today's complicated organization. However, it lacks the tools on how to achieve what it intends to do. The steps and levels of organization 'maturity' described by author is clear. It has interesting sections and good lessons to teach. The book does not stand on its own. It needs help from other disciplines to put the plan into reality. Perhaps, readers may find more in Theory of Constraints than what is expected in Complexity theory in business world at this point in time.