CMC 2024 – book now for early bird discount.

Only three weeks to go before the end of the early bird discount for this year’s Complexity and Management conference. You can book here.

The theme for this year’s conference is Complexity and Culture.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Patricia Shaw, who will be familiar to many of you. She will give the key note in conversation with Prof Nick Sarra.

The Complexity and Management Conference is an antidote to the sense of drift and thoughtlessness which can afflict managers in organisations because of the sheer complexity and pace of work, and the abstractions of contemporary management discourse. The currency of the conference is conversation, reflection and meaning-making about things that matter to us in and beyond the workplace.

Saturday afternoon will be given over to delegate-led workshops to explore the conference theme.

Sunday morning will be a chance for Prof Karen Norman and I to reflect together on some of the themes of the conference to offer a further reflexive turn in thinking.

Hope to see you there.

Complexity and Culture, the 2024 Complexity and Management Conference 7th-9th June – update.

The annual Complexity and Management conference is open for booking here.

The concept of culture in organisations is widely used but often poorly understood. So how do group identities and a sense of belonging emerge, and what methods might we employ to understand them better? How might we do justice to the contradictions and tensions that are constant themes shaping the experience of group life?

Our keynote speaker Professor Candida Yates has had to withdraw her offer speak with great regret. Instead we are delighted to welcome Dr Patricia Shaw, who will be familiar to many of you, who will give the key note instead, in conversation with Prof Nick Sarra.

The Complexity and Management Conference is intended as an antidote to the sense of drift and thoughtlessness which can afflict managers in organisations because of the sheer complexity and pace of work, and the abstractions of contemporary management discourse. The currency of the conference is conversation, reflection and meaning-making about things that matter to us in and beyond the workplace. Saturday afternoon will be given over to delegate-led workshops to explore the conference theme. Sunday morning will be a chance for Prof Karen Norman and I to reflect together on some of the themes of the conference to offer a further reflexive turn in thinking.

For those seeking an insight into some of the ideas informing the body of thought termed complex responsive processes of relating, there is a one day workshop on Friday 7^th June.

The conference begins at 7pm on Friday 7^th (unless you attend the one day workshop, which begins at 9.30am) and finishes at 2pm on the 9^th June. The fee includes all board and lodging at Roffey Park Institute, Horsham, UK.

Any questions, write to me at c.mowles@herts.ac.uk

Booking now: Complexity and Culture, the 2024 Complexity and Management Conference 7th-9th June.

Click here to book your place on the Comlexity and Management Conference 7-9th June at Roffey Park, UK.

The concept of culture in organisations is widely used but often poorly understood. So how do group identities and a sense of belonging emerge, and what methods might we employ to understand them better? How might we do justice to the contradictions and tensions that are constant themes shaping the experience of group life?

Working with the intersection of symbolism, politics and culture, Professor Candida Yates will talk about a current research project where she is trying to understand how the community imaginary is developed and sustained. Drawing on work she is undertaking with a community on the south coast of the UK, Professor Yates will give examples of art-based and psycho-social approaches to exploring to the emergence of meaning in a UK maritime community through the exploration of thoughts, feelings, politics and experience.

Candida Yates is Professor of Culture and Communication, Bournemouth University.

The annual Complexity and Management Conference is intended as an antidote to the sense of drift and thoughtlessness which can afflict managers in organisations because of the sheer complexity and pace of work, and the abstractions of contemporary management discourse. The currency of the conference is conversation, reflection and meaning-making about things that matter to us in and beyond the workplace. Saturday afternoon will be given over to delegate-led workshops to explore the conference theme.

The conference begins at 7pm on Friday 7th (unless you attend the one day workshop, which begins at 9.30am) and finishes at 2pm on the 9th June. The fee includes all board and lodging at Roffey Park Institute, Horsham, UK.

Look forward to seeing you there. Let me know if you would like to run a workshop on Saturday afternoon.

Complexity and the emergence of culture – Complexity and Management Conference, June 7-9th 2024.

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Complexity and Management Centre

The annual Complexity and Management Conference, held this year between 7^th-9^th June 2024 at Roffey Park in Horsham, UK, is intended as an opportunity to make sense of the rationally irrational processes that we get caught up in at work. The currency of the conference is conversation, reflection and meaning-making about things that matter to us in the workplace and beyond.

The topic for this year is culture which is often considered to be thing-like, and capable of manipulation by leaders and managers to create the outcomes we think we want. These are often ideals of high performance, collaboration and positivity.

However, whatever we think of as culture, the habituated pattern of behaviour which allows us to recognise each other as we co-operate and compete, is not so easily subjected to our plans and intentions. We are as much shaped by the habitus as we can shape it.

This year we are delighted to invite Professor Candida Yates to help us explore this theme . She will talk about a current research project where she is trying to understand how the community imaginary is developed and sustained. Drawing on work she is undertaking with a community on the south coast of the UK, Professor Yates will give examples of art-based and psycho-social approaches to exploring to the emergence of meaning in a UK maritime community through the exploration of thoughts, feelings, politics and experience.

Candida Yates is Professor of Culture and Communication, Bournemouth University. She is an interdisciplinary scholar and applies a psychosocial approach to culture, politics and society and has published widely in that field. She works with academics, clinicians, creatives and cultural organisations to create new understandings of emotion and affect in the public sphere. She is a Co-Director of the BU Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion and Social Justice and sits on the Executive Boards of the Association for Psychosocial Studies; is a Founding Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council and is an Academic Research Associate of the Freud Museum. She is Joint-Editor of the Routledge book series: Psychoanalysis and Popular Culture, andis a Contributing Editor on the journals Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, and The Journal of Psychosocial Studies.

The conference starts with an inaugural supper on the evening of Friday June 7^th and will finish after lunchtime on the 9^th June. The conference fee includes all board and lodging at Roffey Park Insitute, which is a residential setting.

There will also be an introductory day on complexity and organisation and the unique perspective of complex responsive processes on Friday 7th.

The booking page will go up on the University of Hertfordshire website at the end of this month.

For any queries contact me on c.mowles@herts.ac.uk

Complexity and Management Conference 7th-9th June 2024

Complexity and the emergence of culture

The concept of culture in organisations is widely used but often poorly understood. So how do group identities and a sense of belonging emerge, and what methods might we employ to understand them better? How might we do justice to the contradictions and tensions that are constant themes shaping the experience of group life? 

Working with the intersection of symbolism, politics and culture, Professor Candida Yates will talk about a current research project where she is trying to understand how the community imaginary is developed and sustained. Drawing on work she is undertaking with a community on the south coast of the UK, Professor Yates will give examples of art-based and psycho-social approaches to exploring to the emergence of meaning in a UK maritime community through the exploration of thoughts, feelings, politics and experience.

Candida Yates is Professor of Culture and Communication, Bournemouth University. She is an interdisciplinary scholar and applies a psychosocial approach to culture, politics and society and has published widely in that field. She works with academics, clinicians, creatives and cultural organisations to create new understandings of emotion and affect in the public sphere. She is a Co-Director of the BU Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion and Social Justice and sits on the Executive Boards of the Association for Psychosocial Studies; is a Founding Scholar of the British Psychoanalytic Council and is an Academic Research Associate of the Freud Museum. She is Joint-Editor of the Routledge book series: Psychoanalysis and Popular Culture, and is a Contributing Editor on the journals Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society, and The Journal of Psychosocial Studies.

The annual Complexity and Management Conference is intended as an antidote to the sense of drift and thoughtlessness which can afflict managers in organisations because of the sheer complexity and pace of work, and the abstractions of contemporary management discourse. The currency of the conference is conversation, reflection and meaning-making about things that matter to us in and beyond the workplace.

Beginning with an inaugural dinner in the evening of Friday 7^th of June, the formal conference will start on Saturday morning with Prof Yates’ thought-provoking key note to encourage the movement of thinking. Thereafter it is reflection and reflexivity continuously till lunchtime Sunday on topics brought by the conference participants themselves.

The conference promises good food, stimulating conversation, and a chance to rediscover oneself in one’s work.

Booking for the conference will begin in the New Year 2024. Next year’s conference will be held in association with the KIOL Executive Leadership programme in Denmark.

Hope to see you there.

Complexity and Management Conference 7-9th June 2024

Finding ourselves in our work

In the last few weeks, three people I have been corresponding with have suggested that we might ‘jump on a call’. When I asked one of them what he thought it signified, he replied that he spent so much time at work jumping from one thing to the next that the expression denoted a state of mind, a way of summing up what work feels like. 

When I work with groups of managers they tell me similar things, that they are obliged to rush around ‘delivering’ things without a moment’s thought. They are caught up in the game of every day organisational life, consumed by obligations to the plan, the target or the performance indicator. While it’s great to be busy, being so overwhelmed with ‘feeding the beast’ may lead to feelings of alienation and meaninglessness. Contemporary management offers any number of tools, techniques and recipes which deal in abstractions, where people and what they are saying and doing can disappear from view. If we wanted better to find ourselves in our work with colleagues, we wouldn’t necessarily start there.

The annual Complexity and Management Conference is intended as an antidote to the sense of drift and thoughtlessness which can afflict managers in organisations because of the sheer complexity and pace of work, and the abstractions of contemporary management discourse. The currency of the conference is conversation, reflection and meaning-making about things that matter to us in and beyond the workplace.

Beginning with an inaugural dinner in the evening of Friday 7^th of June, the formal conference will start on Saturday morning with a thought-provoking key note to encourage the movement of thinking. Thereafter it is reflection and reflexivity continuously till lunchtime Sunday on topics brought by the conference participants themselves.

The conference promises good food, stimulating conversation, and a chance to rediscover oneself in one’s work.

Booking for the conference will begin in the New Year 2024.

Hope to see you there.

Complexity and Management Conference 2nd-4th June 2023

Complexity, uncertainty, breakdown: coping, recovering and finding hope in dark times.

The Complexity and Management Conference 2023 will address what can feel like a constant state of breakdown, potentially undermining things we may previously have taken for granted, such as plans, rules, loyalties, markets, knowledge, and how we exercise authority in groups. 

If you are interested in the difference it makes to take the complex interplay of relationships seriously, particularly in dark times, then this year’s conference is for you. The conference is a mix of input and small and large group discussion, and conversation is the currency of participation. It will greatly enhance the conference if delegates bring concrete examples of their workplace dilemmas. Delegates are welcome to offer ideas for workshops in the afternoon of the first day, Saturday 3^rd June. 

The conference runs from 7.00pm  Friday evening 2^nd June, beginning with drinks and the inaugural dinner, and finishes after lunch on Sunday 4^th June.

On Friday 2^nd there is a one-day introductory workshop offering insights into the perspective described as complex responsive processes of relating, which runs between 9.30am and 4.30pm. Again, workshop participants are encouraged to bring concrete examples from their workplace as a resource to bring the ideas alive.

The conference is organised in collaboration with KIOL Executive Programme at University College Copenhagen and because of this it is likely to be full. Book soon and avoid disappointment.

The payment page is now live and can be found here. The conference fee includes all board and lodging.

Do write to me if you would like to convene a workshop.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Chris

Reminder – Complexity and Management Conference 2nd-4th June 2023

Complexity, uncertainty, breakdown: coping, recovering and finding hope in dark times.

The naïve discourse about disruption presents it as the preserve of charismatic tech gurus or as an instrument of management that has the potential for bringing about transformation for the good. Our every day experience of disruption is that it emerges as a consequence of longer term socio-economic trends, the interweaving of intentions, of which no one is in control, not governments, and certainly not senior management teams. There may indeed be opportunities which arise from extremely turbulent times, but there are also costs: winners and losers, threats to identity and a sense of permanent dislocation from ourselves and from others.

What does it mean to collaborate when the ground is always shifting? Where are the sources of hope? What are more or less helpful ways of dealing with uncertainty beyond the tired prescriptions of many contemporary management perspectives?

This is a reminder that the Complexity and Management Conference 2023 will address what can feel like a constant state of breakdown, potentially undermining things we may previously have taken for granted, such as plans, rules, loyalties, markets, knowledge, and how we exercise authority in groups.

The conference will be organised around contributors to the recent Complexity and Management series published by Routledge, which include the titles Complexity and Consultancy, Complexity and Leadership and Complexity and the Public Sector. Contributors will talk about their experience of leading, managing and consulting to a wide range of organisations, particularly the public sector. An invitation is also extended to all delegates attending the conference who want to offer a workshop on Saturday afternoon 3^rd June.

If you are interested in the difference it makes to take the complex interplay of relationships seriously, particularly in dark times, then book for the conference, 2^nd-4^th June. The conference is highly discussive and conversation is the currency of participation. It will greatly enhance the conference if delegates bring concrete examples of their workplace dilemmas. Participants are encouraged to offer workshops on something they are currently working on.

The conference is organised in collaboration with KIOL Executive Programme at University College Copenhagen.

The booking site will be opening soon and offers an early-bird discount until the end of April.

Complexity and Management Conference 2-4th June 2023.

Complexity, uncertainty, breakdown: coping, recovering and finding hope in dark times.

With the world in flux, perhaps it’s time to be less naïve about the idea of disruption. Our recent experience tells us that we have struggled to respond to disruptive socio-economic and political forces, let alone harness them for the good. Instead constant upheaval on the grand scale, the banking crisis, the pandemic, political and economic instability, has permeated society and our psyches, and has shown up inevitably in our practices and relationships in everyday organisational life. The effects of political and social turmoil, economic collapse, have set constraints on what we can achieve together in organisations. And they may have produced acute and enduring work place dilemmas which can provoke anxiety, burn-out and a sense of hopelessness. Constant disruption demands a more creative and subtle approach than may be found in orthodox recipes for leading, managing and consulting, or an idealisation of its benefits. Equally, we are required to find more generative responses than those offered by the lords of misrule who come to prominence in dark times recommending simplistic solutions to complex problems.

It is also worth thinking about the possible benefits of the huge disruption to traditional working practices caused by what the Oxford English dictionary now recognises as a neologism: the permacrisis. No profound set of social and economic changes is an unalloyed disaster. Where are the loci of hope?

The Complexity and Management Conference 2023 will address what can feel like a constant state of breakdown, potentially undermining things we may previously have taken for granted, such as plans, rules, loyalties, markets, knowledge, and how we exercise authority in groups.

The conference will be organised around contributors to the recent Complexity and Management series published by Routledge, which include the titles Complexity and Consultancy, Complexity and Leadership and Complexity and the Public Sector. Contributors will talk about their experience of leading, managing and consulting to a wide range of organisations, particularly the public sector. An invitation is also extended to all delegates attending the conference who want to offer a workshop on Saturday afternoon 3^rd June.

If you are interested in the difference it makes to take the complex interplay of relationships seriously, particularly in dark times, then book for the 2023 Complexity and Management Conference, 2^nd-4^th June. The conference is highly discussive and conversation is the currency of participation. It will greatly enhance the conference if delegates bring concrete examples of their workplace dilemmas.

The conference is organised in collaboration with KIOL Executive Programme at University College Copenhagen.

The booking site will go up in the New Year.

Ralph Stacey Memorial Lecture 5/10/22

The following is the text of the Ralph Stacey Memorial Lecture which I gave at Hertfordshire Business School on Weds 5th October 2022. It accompanies the video which you will find in the post below.

The response to the lecture was give by Patricia Shaw, who co-founded the Doctor of Management programme with Ralph and the late Doug Griffin.