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The Idea of Requisite Complexity





                                 What is Requisite Complexity?


                  After Emergence, Requisite Complexity is THE core construct of the
                  Complexity Perspective.

                  Every business exists in a context with the primary objective of
                  serving a (customer) need; that is the nature of business!  So, if a

                  context is characterized by change, an organization within it must
                  adapt or it will be left behind and may die.

                  The theory underlying the above statement is rooted in
                  cybernetics, the study of control systems. Originally called Ashby's
                  Law after W. Ross Ashby (1956) who formulated it as the Law of

                  Requisite Variety, others have reframed it as the Law of
                  Requisite Complexity (McKelvey and Boisot, 2009). It has been called
                  the only idea on which every systems theorist agrees!!




                               Implications of the Need to Adapt

                  Constant Adaptation

                  At its simplest, McKelvey and Boisot's version of Ashby's Law posits
                  that for a system to survive its internal complexity must

                  match the external complexity it confronts.  The word match
                  here does not mean 'mirror' precisely; it means 'be appropriate to' so
                  that the firm can control its operations and survive. Remember
                  Ashbyès Law was derived from the study of control systems:

                  cybernetics.

                  Example: over the last thirty years the rate of change in the business
                  context has accelerated as business globalized and communications
                  (internet) became instant and ubiquitous with innovation-to-survive





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