Harnessing Complexity will be indispensable to anyone who wants to better comprehend how people and organizations can adapt effectively in the information age. This book is a step-by-step guide to understanding the processes of variation, interaction, and selection that are at work in all organizations. The authors show how to use their own paradigm of "bottom up" management, the Complex Adaptive System-whether in science, public policy, or private commerce. This simple model of how people work together will change forever how we think about getting things done in a group."Harnessing Complexity distills the managerial essence of current research on complexity.…A very valuable contribution to the emerging theory of competition and competitive advantage."-C.K. Prahalad, University of Michigan, coauthor of Competing for the Future"A brilliant exposition that demystifies both the theory and use of Complex Adaptive Systems."-John Seely Brown, Xerox Corporation and Palo Alto Research Center

Harnessing Complexity

Business & Money

Axelrod, Robert

Cohen, Michael D.

Management & Leadership

Basic Books

This widely praised and much-discussed book explores how cooperation can emerge in a world of self-seeking egoists—whether superpowers, businesses, or individuals—when there is no central authority to police their actions.

The Evolution of Cooperation

History

Evolution of Cooperation

A Passion for Cooperation: Adventures of a Wide-Ranging Scientist (Campus Voices: Stories of Excellence from the University of Michigan)

<div>A Passion for Cooperation is the exciting autobiography of Robert Axelrod, one of the most acclaimed and wide-ranging scientists of the last fifty years. After being recognized by President Kennedy for being a promising young scientist while in high school, Axelrod built a career dedicated to collaborating with business school professors, international relations scholars, political scientists, computer scientists, and even evolutionary biologists and cancer researchers. Fifty years later, he was honored by President Obama with the National Medal of Science for scientific achievement and leadership and his work has been referred to as the gold standard of interdisciplinary research.&nbsp; Yet Axelrod's autobiography is not just an account of his wide-ranging passion for cooperation. It reveals his struggles to overcome failures and experience the joys of gaining new insights into how to achieve cooperation. A Passion for Cooperation recounts Robert Axelrod's adventures talking with the leader of the organization Hamas, the Prime Minister of Israel, and the Foreign Minister of Syria. Axelrod also shares stories of being hosted in Kazakhstan by senior Soviet retired generals and visiting China with well-connected policy advisors on issues of military aspects of cyber conflict. Through stories of the difficulties and rewards of interdisciplinary collaborations, readers will discover how Axelrod's academic and practical work have enriched each other and demonstrated that opportunities for cooperation are much greater than generally thought.&nbsp;</div>

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN REGIONAL

Recent advances in the study of complexity have given scientists profound new insights into how natural innovation occurs and how its power can be exploited. Now two pioneers in the field, Robert Axelrod and Michael D. Cohen, provide leaders in business and government with a guide to complexity that will help them make effective decisions in a world of rapid change. Building on evolutionary biology, computer science, and social design, Axelrod and Cohen have constructed a unique framework for improving the way people work together. Their approach to management is based on the concept of the Complex Adaptive System, which can describe everything from rain forests to the human gene pool, and from automated software agents to multinational companies. The authors' framework reveals three qualities that all kinds of managers must cultivate in their organization: Variation What is the best way to manage the development of software? Should the problem be broken up into small pieces for programmers working independently, thus enhancing variation, or should there be a centralized hierarchy of programmers ruled by a chain of command? The authors show how the decentralized creation of variation combined with the centralized maintenance of standards was the key to the success of the Linux "open source software" project, which brought together thousands of volunteers in cyberspace to produce an operating system that can outperform Microsoft's. Interaction Why did northern Italy prosper while southern Italy remained poor? Recognizing the internal interactions of a Complex Adaptive System -- be it a national region, a company, or a nonprofit group -- reveals vital networks of trust. Axelrod and Cohen explain that in successful adaptive systems, rich networks of horizontal linkages foster cooperation and provide an advantage over other less cooperatively networked groups. In the case of Italy, voluntary associations created networks of trust in the Middle Ages that became northern Italy's critical advantage over the south. Selection Is a Pulitzer Prize better than a National Book Award? How can foundations and corporations design competitions that have a positive effect on the evolution of excellence? The authors' framework makes clear that the worst selection processes are mired in orthodox standards that have not adapted to a new environment. The best selection processes, on the other hand, are created and run by leaders who understand how the standards they use can transform their organization and its environment. This simple, paradigm-shifting analysis of how people work together will transform the way we think about getting things done in a group. Harnessing Complexity is the essential guide to creating wealth, power, and knowledge in the 21st

Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier

Science & Math

Free Press

Robert Axelrod is widely known for his groundbreaking work in game theory and complexity theory. He is a leader in applying computer modeling to social science problems. His book The Evolution of Cooperation has been hailed as a seminal contribution and has been translated into eight languages since its initial publication. The Complexity of Cooperation is a sequel to that landmark book. It collects seven essays, originally published in a broad range of journals, and adds an extensive new introduction to the collection, along with new prefaces to each essay and a useful new appendix of additional resources. Written in Axelrod's acclaimed, accessible style, this collection serves as an introductory text on complexity theory and computer modeling in the social sciences and as an overview of the current state of the art in the field.
 The articles move beyond the basic paradigm of the Prisoner's Dilemma to study a rich set of issues, including how to cope with errors in perception or implementation, how norms emerge, and how new political actors and regions of shared culture can develop. They use the shared methodology of agent-based modeling, a powerful technique that specifies the rules of interaction between individuals and uses computer simulation to discover emergent properties of the social system. The Complexity of Cooperation is essential reading for all social scientists who are interested in issues of cooperation and complexity.

The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration (Princeton Studies in Complexity)

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Princeton University Press

"For anyone involved in settling disputes" (Richard Dawkins), a famed political scientist offers a classic argument for how to achieve a more cooperative world&nbsp; &nbsp; We assume that, in a world ruled by natural selection, selfishness pays. So why cooperate? In The Evolution of Cooperation, political scientist Robert Axelrod seeks to answer this question. In 1979, he organized the famed Computer Prisoner's Dilemma Tournament, which sought to find the most effective strategy for the ubiquitous prisoner's dilemma, a model of strategy problems in the nuclear age. The expectation had been that some complicated scheme of competition would win the day. Instead, a simple, cooperative program called Tit for Tat did. The effects of that victory continue to reverberate today, from college campuses to the Situation Room.&nbsp; &nbsp; A vital book for leaders and decision-makers, The Evolution of Cooperation reveals how cooperative principles help us think better about everything from military strategy to political elections to family dynamics.&nbsp;

Wie ist Kooperation möglich in einer Welt von Egoisten, in der es keine zentrale Autorität gibt? Axelrod entwickelt aus der Spieltheorie - auf der Basis des ""Gefangenendilemmas"" - eine verblüffende Lösung. Nicht die raffinierteste, auch nicht die aggressivste, nicht die sanfteste Strategie sichert langfristig Erfolg, sondern die grundsätzlich wohlwollende, aber stets vergeltungsbereite: TIT FOR TAT, ""wie Du mir, so ich Dir"". Axelrod schließt daraus, dass in der globalen arbeitsteiligen Wirtschaftsweise geradezu ein innerer Zwang zur Kooperation besteht. Gewinnbringende Kooperationen sind für Unternehmen nützlicher als blinder Wettbewerb.

Die Evolution der Kooperation: Aus dem Amerikanischen übersetzt und mit einem Nachwort von Werner Raub und Thomas Voss (Scientia Nova) (German Edition)

Philosophy

De Gruyter Oldenbourg

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Axelrod, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Axelrod, Robert

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Axelrod, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Harnessing Complexity

The Evolution of Cooperation

Evolution of Cooperation

A Passion for Cooperation: Adventures of a Wide-Ranging Scientist (Campus Voices: Stories of Excellence from the University of Michigan)

A Passion for Cooperation: Adventures of a Wide-Ranging Scientist (Campus Voices: Stories of Excellence from the University of Michigan)

Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier

The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration (Princeton Studies in Complexity)

The Evolution of Cooperation

Die Evolution der Kooperation: Aus dem Amerikanischen übersetzt und mit einem Nachwort von Werner Raub und Thomas Voss (Scientia Nova) (German Edition)