EGOS Sub-theme proposal on “Untangling the Complexity of Grand Challenges” accepted for EGOS 2020 in Hamburg

One of the hallmarks grand challenges, such as climate change, global warming, or poverty, is their complexity as they involve an array of potential dilemmas, paradoxes, complexities, contradictions, and conflicts. Such complexity is challenging and often surprising in both its nature and its consequences. Organizations increasingly realize the challenge to organize effectively in such an environment that is interdependent and complex, with organizational outcomes that are difficult to predict.

Therefore, gaining insight in the causal complexity and building better causal theories is a major challenge for scholars. The goal of this sub-theme is to advance organizational complexity from a (neo-)configurational perspective. We invite conceptual and methodological contributions that enrich our understanding of causal complexity and allow studying complex interdependencies from a set-theoretic approach with a methodological toolkit that help us to operationalize and measure set relationships. The sub-theme will merge paper presentations and group discussions on the latest insights in configurational theory and methods with a special focus on sustainability research.

The sub-theme is organized together with Download Bart Cambré (Antwerp University) and Download Peer Fiss (University of Southern California). 

For questions, feel free to contact Johannes!