Educating managers in Complexity

The science of complex systems can change, and it is changing, our vision of the world. This new knowledge allows new interpretations and new points of view, thereby allowing a deeper understanding of the behaviour of natural, social, and technical systems. In particular, it promises to offer effective concepts and methods in order to foster innovation, the key process in any company or organisation. Therefore, complexity constitutes a new challenge for trainers and teachers which have to develop an effective educational process able to provide the necessary competencies. This book is one of the outcomes of the European Project CETRA, funded by the Leonardo da Vinci Programme, that aims to provide a theoretical framework and concrete supports for vocational trainers, to help them (and their students) to understand change and the relationship between different levels of change. By learning about complexity the learners should be enabled to understand the dynamics of the internal and external processes in which organisations engage and in which knowledge, innovation and emerging technologies are created. Successful management of innovative organisations lies in the capability of capture the structure and the dynamics of the recurring patterns of interactions among the involved entities, and in the adequate exploitation of this knowledge. This book is not limited to the illustration of the project results but is presenting the dense interrelations that the science, the management and the formation are developing in order to interpret and to face the challenge of innovation.