APPENDIXA.doc.docVIP

APPENDIX A ARE THERE NATURAL LIMITS TO HOW WELL COMPLEX SYSTEMS CAN BE ADDRESSED? By Henry C. Alberts, Ph. D. Adjunct Professor Graduate School of Management and Technology University of Maryland, University College College Park, Maryland ABSTRACT A distillation of lessons learned in a varied 53-year professional career is consolidated into a Theorem of Limits which can be widely applied to complex issues involving systems science. The theorem indicates that three factors impinge on, and limit, the degree to which long term solutions to such issues can be developed. The factors are: ? The complexity of the issue ? The time it takes to develop an understanding of the issue and its systemic relationships: ? The processes necessary to propose, structure, and implement activity chains aimed at ameliorating problems Case histories illustrate how each of the three factors, acting individually and through interactive effects, creates difficulty in: (a) Conceiving a sufficiently detailed and stable working visualization of the situation (defining the system), (b) seeking out and structuring potential ameliorating actions, (c) combining those actions into a reinforcing activity chain, and (d) implementing the actions in a timely and effective manner. Examples from government, national and International Industry, and technical disciplines (including information technology and cognitive science) illustrate both the basis for the theorem of limits and the way in which the three factors affect the processes.  Keywords: Defining Systems, Validity of Research Results, Organizational Processes, Effects of Exogenous Events on Complex Systems Operation, Applying System Theory? BACKGROUND There is a human factor to finding problem solutions. Immanuel Kant, in A Critique on Pure Reason? [1] made the argument that individuals experience the world through their sense mechanisms, and the way they interpret that world is limited by their own experiences up to that point. Ant