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This video explains the critical distinction between risk and uncertainty. Decision-makers often navigate their options by assessing risk—by plotting the probabilities, costs, and benefits of different outcomes and deciding accordingly. But the world is increasingly characterized by situations in which the range of possible outcomes and their probabilities are virtually impossible to estimate. This video discusses the situations in which traditional risk management approaches will and will not work.

This video explains why contemporary systemic conditions generate such “wicked” problems and explores the ways in which organizations can operate either effectively or poorly in such circumstances. Several recurring patterns of feedback within and between organizations often undermine their endeavours, and require much more systemic approaches to management.

This video provides a clear introduction to the concepts of adaptation and resilience in the context of organizations. It focuses specifically on panarchy theory and the adaptive cycle, which help explain the ways in which organizations develop, gain and lose resilience, and undergo bouts of creative destruction. The video concludes by exploring strategies by which managers can foster resilience in their organizations and activities.

This video examines the role of technology in complex systems. Technologies are procedures that harness natural phenomena—that is, transform matter, energy, and information—to fulfill human purposes. They are an obvious source of societal innovation, yet they can also get “locked-in” to sub-optimal patterns, just like institutions do. This video investigates the advantages and disadvantages of social media, platform technologies, and other inventions as potential “game-changers” in economy and society.