WORKSHOP | DEVELOPMENT OF EXECUTIVES

Alan Kay said, “Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible.” Complexity and dealing with precisely these are decisive and indispensable aspects of modern management, which are dealt with in depth in this seminar.

Today, as Ross W. Ashby put it in his law (in short): “A complex environment can only be effectively regulated by a correspondingly complex control system. In other words, complexity needs its equivalent in the organization. To master this complexity is difficult and possibly not even necessary.”

The workshop starts with the understanding and delimitation of different models of complexity. It will be discussed to what extent complexity is created by observation, why it is perceived subjectively differently in each case and cannot actually be “reduced away”. It also discusses the important difference between difficulty and complexity.

In the second step, the question of why reducing complexity does not help (much) is now being investigated. The basics of system theory are imparted and the law of the necessary variety is taught and applied. It is also about getting to know and applying success factors in dealing with complexity. An important question is whether there is an optimal measure of (individual) system complexity (theoretically) in which efficiency is the most efficient (ideal handling of the complex environment).

At the end, the management style is discussed. Until now, leadership has been seen as a direct influence of the leader on the employee through behavioral control (if – then). However, leadership in complexity is a social process and revolves around the work on the system and not on people. Understanding this concept, applying it and focusing aspects of one’s own behaviour on it is the central goal of this unit.

No previous knowledge is expected.

Managers also from non-technical areas.

1 day

As an in-house event at your location.

The workshop will be led by Prof. Frank Widmayer (graduate industrial engineer), partner of Reflect GmbH & Co. KG. He works as a freelance consultant, coach and trainer in profit and non-profit organisations. His work focuses on executive development, implementation of new leadership concepts, innovation management and the strategic orientation of the company.