What is Complexity

The layers of constraints in solving a problem of a social nature, which often includes a social, economic, or political frame.

Complexity refers to the number and diversity of the elements in the internal and external environment of organization.

A description of a behavior of a system that demonstrates key aspects of emergence , response to feedback , and being greater than the sum of its parts . A complex system is one that cannot be broken down into constituent elements for the purpose of understanding the system as a whole. A complex system differs from a complicated system in that the latter is exactly equal to the sum of its parts. An example of a complicated system is an automobile, and of a complex system any vertebrate animal.

A scientific theory which asserts that some systems display behavioral phenomena that are completely inexplicable by any conventional analysis of the systems’ constituent parts.

The quality of what is composed of various elements.

Complexity describes the totality of all interdependent features and elements that stand in a diverse but holistic relationship (structure) within a system. A system’s complexity is composed of the elements’ specific behavior and their variability of their course of action. Complexity thus refers to the diversity of individual system elements and their (dynamic) interactions over time.

The minimum length for a complete description of a process. Also called Kolmogorov complexity. In educational assessment more complex phenomena manifest themselves in more various forms.

Something, which involves complicated processes, situations, and aspects, the comprehension of which require a holistic approach.

Degree to which an innovation is seen by the potential adopter as being relatively difficult to use and understand.

Defined by and expanded upon by Sandra Kaplan, Joyce VanTassel-Baska, and other gurus in the field, complexity is another of the GT differentiation features or ways in which teachers can modify content, processes, or products for advanced students. Teachers can add complexity to their instruction by providing learners with the opportunities to explore authentic resources from a variety of perspectives using higher-level skills.

Complexus means that which is woven together; the bond between unity and multiplicity. Complex thought, education and knowledge, in Edgar Morin´s understanding, take into account contextual, global and multidimensional factors to devise strategy conducive to more fruitful action.

A characteristic of a project that implies difficulty on its management and therefore demands enormous effort to lead it to a successful closing.

In relation to innovation, complexity is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult to understand and use. New ideas that are simpler to understand will be adopted more rapidly than innovations that require the development of new skills and understandings.

Complexity involves the presence of multiple interconnected elements or factors that hinder the understanding or management of a situation or problem. It may require a more detailed and in-depth approach to address it.

A condition of a system or situation integrated with some degree of order but with too many elements and relationships to be understood in a simple analytic or logical way. In the extreme, the complex system or situation is with multiple and diverse connections with dynamic and interdependent relationships, events, and processes.

Refers to the dense, entangled, global and non-linear form of intelligibility needed to comprehend the networked object.

Reflects the increased number of market variables that affect the decision making process of Corporations. These variables exist in the Corporation’s environment (improved client sophistication, fiercer competition, increased information availability, etc.) and therefore they are externally given.

Understood as a concept in various ways, yet not definitively defined in the literature. However, in recent times, comprehensive theories of complexity and chaos have become popular in many disciplines of both the natural and social sciences. These theories reflect the tension between the natural tendency for disorder to increase while humans strive to impose order by developing ever more interconnected systems. In business today success is no longer determined by a few single factors, but by systems with multiple interacting relationships. Thus complexity and chaos theories are being applied in organization science where both operations and management in human enterprises are becoming increasingly complicated. The response is frequently to impose greater planning, control, rules, and regulation. At some point, organizations reach a state of complexity where planning and control of mandated work-practices should give way to the provision of a supportive environment that allows innovation and creativity for problem identification and solutions to emerge. The former is likely to be exploitative and bureaucratic, while the latter can be networked and innovative.

An assessment of the difficulty associated with adopting a new system

Complexity is a phenomenon that involves a lot of interaction and interference between a very large number of units. It is related to chance, while analysis involves uncertainties and random phenomena. With regard to chance and uncertainty the goal of complexity theory is or constant traffic movement in this direction: order-disorder-organization. The Science of Complexity is a rapidly developing corpus dedicated to the study of dynamic natural systems. A set of theories and sub-theories as theories interrelated Chaos of Disasters, of Fractals, and several others related to the phenomenon of self-organization, created and consolidated some of the key concepts in the characterization of contemporary science: chaos; nonlinearity; unpredictability; random; indeterminism; emergency; self-organization; self-similarity.

A feature of phenomena that is hard to describe using reductionist (looking at the parts of a system) approaches, with no agreed upon theory or science.

A sense of how complicated a specific knowledge asset might be, whether it can be understood and used easily in another application or whether it is complex and so dependent on relationships with other knowledge in its original setting.

Being in a state of uncertainty, where the characteristics and conditions of the environment or the variables related to a problem are continually changing and are unpredictable. The complex domain involves unknown unknowns, ambiguity, nonlinearity, with no clear definition of the problem and solution. Issues in the complex domain are identified as being complex adaptive systems.

Amount and detail of intricacy, often expressed in the most reduced or abbreviated form.

The state of being complex or difficult with a variety of challenges and obstacles to effectiveness and efficiency. Complex situations are born of lack of a clear approach to dealing with an existing situation.

Complexity is the lack of simplicity in a system. Complex systems need sophisticated tools to analyze them.

This is used in this study as barriers/challenges to breastfeeding.

The extent to which an innovation is perceived as relatively difficult to understand and use.

Complexity is an evolving scientific theory addressing properties and behavioral phenomena of systems not well understood, explained, or predictable by means of conventional analysis of its’ parts or subsystems. Complex systems involve many components that are dynamically interacting across size and time scales. The components are self-organizing and form hierarchies and over time reveal emergent properties and or features that cannot be simply inferred from the behavior of the components making up the complex system.

The perception of how difficult it is to understand and use a virtual world

An interdisciplinary lens through which to articulate the learning behaviours in/of systems wherein perpetual emergence and adaption occurs. Central to the understanding of complexity is the notion that individual agents within the system are involved in continuously negotiated and in-flux self-organization and decentralized control.

The number of possible system states, i.e. the number of variables and their characteristics are the drivers of complexity.

Involving more than one thing intensifying complication.

A process that examines the interconnectedness of systems, processes, products and people in the global higher education organization.

An innovation characteristic that is the degree to which the innovation is perceived be complicated or difficult to understand and use. The greater this characteristic is, the slower the innovation is expected to be adopted.

A characteristic of systems which emerge with nonlinearity and uncertainty.

A technical notion of complexity theory that attempts to understand systems behavioral across social and natur4al phenomena, mainly through computer simulations.

Many components, interacting in complex ways, lead to notorious unpredictability. Ecosystems, for instance, economic entities, developing embryos, and the brain - each is an example of complex dynamics that defy mathematical analysis or simulation.

Complexity is a concept that explains the initial value of variables and their mutual interaction with each other and with the elements in the external environment (interdependence) and non-linear relationships.

Principle of universal interdependence.

Understood in the context of either complex system or algorithmic information theory.

The extent to which an innovation is difficult to use or understand.

In the context of this work, the case of having more information than one can easily process.

The condition of a system, or situation that is integrated with some degree of order, but has too many elements and relationships to be understood in simple analytic or logical ways. In the extreme, the landscape of a complex situation is one with multiple and diverse connections with dynamic and interdependent relationships, events and processes.

Many different, interconnected factors come into play, with the potential to cause chaos and confusion.

Refers to tools, techniques, and approaches from the field of Complexity Science. Complexity Science is a highly interdisciplinary field dedicated to understanding complex systems. In this context a complex system is defined as a set of elements that often exhibit adaptation and interact in a non-linear fashion. The overall behaviour of a complex system can be counter-intuitive and difficult to predict by studying the individual components in isolation.

A condition of a system or situation integrated with some degree of order but with too many elements and relationships to be understood in a simple analytic or logical way. In the extreme, the complex system or situation is with multiple and diverse connections with dynamic and interdependent relationships, events, and processes.

The state or quality of being intricate or complicated.

This is used in this study as barriers/challenges to breastfeeding.

As a scientific theory, complexity has much to offer the study of design, in terms of communication, e.g. when two communicative wavefunctions collide (person A’s communication structurally coupling with person B’s communication). Not to be confused with complication, complexity (the structural interplay between order and chaos) has always been part of life.

In computer science, complexity measures the number of cycles to achieve an algorithm. Congestion

Complexity has two different meanings that are of interest for research and must be distinguished: one is complexity as reality or object of study, and the other complexity as method or way of approaching issues. In the first conception, reality is complex because it is composed of distinct and interwoven and intermingled elements that create a whole superior to its parts and structured through different levels of reality. In the second sense, complexity as method, it is a way of understanding and study reality in its multiple dimensions and reciprocal interdependencies. In this second acceptance, complexity is also synonymous of interdisciplinarity or transdisciplinarity. It is also sometimes referred to the science or sciences of complexity.

The ability of the watermarking process to embed fast / simply the watermark information.

The condition of having many diverse and autonomous but interrelated and interdependent components linked through many dense interconnections.