Page 30 - Complexity Perspective_Neat

A fascinating insight into the impact of the reality
of levels of integration occurred when this writer
was doing his Ph.D. in Management. The thesis
was a cross-level study linking personality and
achievement orientation to the business culture
preferences of aspiring entrepreneurs.
Personality is part of micro-psychology, culture is
a macro phenomenon. The student, in this case,
was an expert in the dynamic macro behavior of
organizations and a long time published author
on the strategic transformation of organizations.
The thesis assessors were all micro psychologists
and had to be appeased with a thesis written in a
form that matched their expectations. It turns out
that macro and micro differences, in this case,
included different mental constructs and even
how to write and can be profound. In common
with many others, the writer discovered that
cross-level studies can add years to the
attainment of a doctorate!!

Interactions of agents at different levels seek to resolve the interests of
that level, so at the lowest human level, the family, parents seek to
have the family unit survive and bring up children imposing
(downward causation) structure on their offspring. At a higher
communal level, this interaction brings about the emergence of
political organization and culture, which is created by "the people" but
also imposes restrictions on the people in the interests of social
cohesion (or the interests of a corrupted power elite).

These multi-level characteristics of the human context evolve over
generations and like systems, the higher level always exerts control
(downward causation) over the lower levels. This is the tension of
power politics influenced by ideology (the beliefs of the group in
power) and the impact of institutional bureaucracy on the lives of
individuals through regulation and in some cases rent-seeking (see
Institutional Theory).
Many writers claim that the integrative levels themselves Emerge. We
believe a simpler way of thinking is to see the levels in a context as
an inherent structure and that it is the 'clothes' society dresses the

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