Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives On completion of this subject students will have gained an insight into the nature of unstable systems as they might apply to social systems and the development of strategy; have an experience of a range of models relating to the behaviour of organisations and to learning based on the general ideas of bifurcation, chaos and self-ordering systems; be capable of recognising and identifying possible sources of instability in organisational systems; be able to demonstrate an ability to build simple models exhibiting bifurcation and chaos using System Dynamics software.
Synopsis Turbulence and organisational behaviour; impact on organisational systems; bifurcation and chaos in the behaviour of dynamic systems; introduction to self-organising systems; applications to learning; simulation of bifurcations and chaotic behaviour; review of the current status of bifurcation and chaos theory.
Assessment Assignment and seminar presentation: 40% + Examination (3 hours): 60%