| Dear colleagues: I have been asked to prepare a review of current research involving complexity thinking and leadership. It is scheduled to be a handbook chapter published by the Oxford University Press next year. I would like to include your work, if it is relevant to "complexity and leadership", and I therefore ask for your input. The chapter will review approaches and empirical studies in complex systems leadership theory (CSLT). CSLT uses insights from complexity science, social networks, and computer and agent based modeling (ABM) to inform research on organizations, social influence, team formation, strategy determination and execution, and individual choice and action as these relate to leadership. CSLT is different than traditional leadership research in that leadership is not assumed to be situated in an individual. Rather, it is assumed to be a system function that enables semi-autonomous individuals to engage in unified collective action. This occurs in the context of emergent collective properties such as organizational performance, innovation, adaptation, and a sense of unity or collective identity. Complexity topics that have been explored through modeling and empirical studies include: complex adaptive systems and local rules of interaction, nonlinear dynamical systems and catastrophe theory, emergence and self-organization, random and social networks, organizational boundaries and boundary spanning, rugged fitness on performance landscapes, bifurcation and attractors, game theory, and sensitivity to initial conditions and chaos theory. Leadership topics addressed include: group formation, entrepreneurial leadership, groups embedded in organizations, project teams, and organizational transformation in for-profit, not-for-profit and government settings. In more general terms, studies on trust or reputation and how these impact influence in social networks and thus leadership are also relevant. A lot is happening so I apologize if I missed your area of research. My intention is to make the review and synthesis as comprehensive as possible and to lay out a research agenda going forward. I would like to include your work and your research agenda in the analysis, and I would like the reference list to be as complete as possible. YOUR INPUT IS REQUESTED. I am aware of much of the activity in the area (see: http://complexityleadership.wikispaces.com/ ) but I might not be familiar with your latest research. If you would like your work included, please respond directly to me at hazy@adelphi.edu or join the above wiki and upload your input to the site. Other list serve members are invited to join as well, even if you have not yet done work in the area. The site gets thousands of page views per month. Thanks in advance for your help. Sincerely, Jim Hazy Adelphi University |