McDaniel R.R., Driebe D.J. (Eds.) Uncertainty and Surprise in Complex Systems: Questions on Working with the Unexpected

Springer, 2005. — 213 p. — ISBN: 3540237739Complexity science has been a source of new insight in physical and social systems and has demonstrated that unpredictability and surprise are fundamental aspects of the world around us. This book is the outcome of a discussion meeting of leading scholars and critical thinkers with expertise in complex systems sciences and leaders from a variety of organizations sponsored by the Prigogine Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the Plexus Institute to explore strategies for understanding uncertainty and surprise. Besides distributions to the conference it includes a key digest by the editors as well as a commentary by the late nobel laureat Ilya Prigogine, "Surprises in half of a century". The book is intended for researchers and scientists in complexity science as well as for a broad interdisciplinary audience of both practitioners and scholars. It will well serve those interested in the research issues and in the application of complexity science to physical and social systems.Introduction to Uncertainty and Surprise
Uncertainty and Surprise: An Introduction
Surprises in a Half Century
Central Themeson Uncertainty and Surprise
Complexity, Uncertainty and Surprise: An Integrated View
The Evolutionary Complexity of Social Economic Systems: The Inevitability of Uncertainty and Surprise
Managing the Unexpected: Complexity as Distributed Sensemaking
Differing Views of Uncertainty and Surprise. Fundamental Unknowability in Science and Social Science
Fundamental “Uncertainty” in Science
The Complementary Nature of Coordination Dynamics: Toward a Science of the In-Between
The Tyranny of Many Dimensionless Constants: A Constraint on Knowability
Organizational Issues of Uncertainty
A View from the Inside: The Task of Managing Uncertainty and Surprise
An Introduction to the Mathematics and Meaning of Chaos
Fundamental Uncertainty and the Delivery of Health Care
The Social Construction of Uncertainty in Healthcare Delivery
Primary Care Practice: Uncertainty and Surprise
Medical Errors and Microsystems: The Best Things Cannot Be Told
Organization and Leadership in Hospitals
Fundamental Uncertainty in Business and Business Decision Makin
The Fundamental Uncertainty of Business: Real Options
Transforming Your Regional Economy through Uncertainty and Surprise: Learning from Complexity Science, Network Theory and the Field
Uncertainty as Certaint
Conversations on Uncertainty and Surprise
Uncertainty and Surprise: Ideas from the Open Discussion