Abstract

Joining collaborations and keeping relationships has become a most important concern for managers in most
organizations. This change arises to a great extent due to the globalization of markets and the ongoing
specialization of organizations, fostered by the possibilities of information technology and data communication.
However, such a structural change requires adaptations by companies to fit the characteristics of industrial
collaborations. In particular, the increasing complexity of collaborations in highly dynamic environments often is
under estimated. In Kuwait, most organizations lack the analytical tools and associated operational bandwidth
required to manage complexity. Reducing and managing complexity aims mostly at structuring organizations
and implementing organizational changes. This article explores the implications of the emerging science of complexity
for the management of organizations in Kuwait. It is not intended as an introduction to complexity
thinking, but rather an attempt to consider how thinking “complexly” might affect the way in which managers do
their jobs. In a sense, complexity thinking is about limits-limits to what we can know about our organizations.
And if there are limits to what we can know, then there are limits to what we can achieve in a predetermined,
planned way.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.