The Role of Complexity in Preparing for Municipal Decision-Making

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the theories of complexity may give insight and a new perspective into the preparation of decision-making at the municipal level. Based on concepts like emergence, self-organization, far-fromchaos, connectivity and feedback processes, the paper suggests that more attention should be paid to the invisible dynamics of the preparation process. Municipalities are regarded as open and complex social systems that must ensure democracy and make effective decisions at the same time. Furthermore, municipalities should be able to analyze information and to construe the meaning of their operational environment. Among other things, officeholders and politicians should also be creative and innovative. This paper is based on a conceptual analysis done by the author. The literature of that analysis included several dissertations concerning decision-making at the local government level in Scandinavian countries, particularly in Finland . This paper is based also on other sources. This paper is descriptive and interdisciplinary in nature, and the goal is to outline a framework for future research

Ignorance in organisations : a systematic literature review

This study is linked to previous research that approaches organisations as systems of shared meaning where ignorance is created and sustained, either unintentionally or deliberately, through various social interactions,symbolic processes, and organisational structures. While previous studies have touched upon organisational ignorance, there is a lack of systematically conducted research on its many forms and its many sources. This study analyses the causes, characteristics, and consequences of organisational ignorance. By reporting a systematic review of the literature, the paper contributes to the theory of organizational ignorance by developing a framework of organisational ignorance comprising the manageability (intentional or unintentional) and dynamics (bounded or expanding) of ignorance. Instead of framing ignorance as something that should be avoided, the study adopts anuanced approach to the organisation of ignorance.© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Social media as a 'service' for value co-creation by integrating sponsoring companies, sports entities and fans

Social media has changed the ways we communicate, collaborate and connect with each other. It has also influenced our habits of consuming sports. Social media has allowed direct interaction between sponsoring companies, athletes/players and fans. Drawing on the service dominant logic of value co-creation, the conceptual paper identifies three operant resources which are beneficial for value co-creation: i) social identity and sense of community, ii) congruence and brand personality, and iii) participatory culture and fan activation. The paper contributes to the theoretical discussion on how social can be media used for value co-creation purposes in the sports industry

The Art of Enabling Reverse Innovation : a Complexity-Based Approach

“If you hear advice from a grandmother or elders, odds are that it works 90 percent of the time. On the other hand, in part because of scientism and academic prostitution, in part because the world is hard, if you read anything by psychologists and behavioral scientists, odds are that works at less than 10 percent.” Nassim Nicholas Taleb in Skin in the Game. This chapter is neither praise for grandmothers nor an argument against science and academic institutions. This chapter is about reverse innovation. Reverse innovation is an innovation for the poor that potentially transforms the lives of the people in rich countries (Govindarajan & Trimble 2015). Innovation is called ‘reverse’ as it challenges many assumptions about how innovations originate and diffuse. A car that costs only 2000 USD or a portable electrocardiogram (ECG) for less than 1000 dollars are tempting value propositions, which will also be noticed in economically developed countries. Grandmothers can play important roles in reverse innovation as they can help to understand the lived experiences in the particular context. On the other hand, academic research is needed and/or requires for the generalization of the particularities with concerns or observations

New development : Complexity-informed interpretation of social innovation

Social innovation is a systemic and complex process aiming at achieving added value for the whole society. This article explores the applicability of complexity thinking as a useful resource for conceptualizing social innovation. The author advances the complexity-informed research tradition by emphasizing the emergence of social innovation and addressing the paradox of being in charge but not in control. By drawing on such concepts as emergence, self-organization, diversity, co-evolution, feedback processes, dissipative structures and attractors, the article proposes a new approach to cope with the complexities of social innovation.© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in anyway.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

A complexity theory perspective on politico-administrative systems : Insights from a systematic literature review

Complexity theory (CT) refers to a collection of concepts and heuristics that can be used to study the developments emerging from interactions between phenomena, actors, and events. CT has increasingly been utilized in the study of public administration and policy. However, there is no comprehensive analysis of empirical or other research focused on the functioning of political-administrative phenomena applying CT. This article reports the results of a systematic literature review demonstrating how CT has been applied in empirical research in different stages of the policy cycle: policy preparation, implementation, evaluation, and maintenance. The study reveals empirical research utilizing CT offers practical implications that can be categorized into four themes: enabling leadership, leveraging experimentation, the holistic perspective, and the humble approach.© 2024 the author(s). Published with license by taylor & Francis group, llc. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Public value creation mechanisms in the context of public service logic : an integrated conceptual framework

This conceptual paper maintains that mainstream public management theories have failed to incorporate public services as a fundamental part of the public administration system. That failure does a disservice to the potential of public services to address societal betterment through the creation of public value, which can strengthen democracy. This paper presents an integrated conceptual framework to help make sense of the public value creation flows in the context of politics (encompassing public policy and public service goal attainment) and public service outcomes. We suggest there are four flows creating public value.© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Digital co-creation : Mission (im)possible?

This chapter discusses the promises and pitfalls of digital co-creation. Drawing on the emerging literature on co-creation of public services the chapter seeks to identify the enabling factors helping bridge the gap between service providers and service users. Of particular interest is how digital means can be used for engaging vulnerable people. The chapter focuses on three technologies: open data, social media, and artificial intelligence. Pros and cons for each of them are discussed. The empirical part of the chapter consists of showcasing some digital initiatives conducted in the research project. The chapter ends with a suggestion that digitally enabled co-creation should be understood as a process consisting of three consecutive phases: sensing, sensemaking, and seizing. Sensing is referred to collecting and organizing data from social media and other sources. It helps a public service organization understand what is happening in the environment. Sensemaking aims to add value to the data extracted in the sensing phase. It links causes to consequences by providing answers to questions of how and why something is happening. Seizing focuses on the change and creating new actionable solutions and opportunities. The outcome of seizing is learning from the data in a way that enables organizations to influence events as they happen.©2022 the contributors. This is a Version of Record of a book chapter published by Routledge in Public Innovation and Digital Transformation on 9 August 2022, available online: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003230854. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

“One’s Social Skills Go to the Dogs” : The potential of social media to elicit information on socially withdrawn youths in Finland

Youths who are socially isolated are largely inaccessible to social work professionals; nevertheless, most are active on social media. Feeling they have been let down by society, many such youths seek comfort in imageboards, where the idea of being anti-social is cherished and where even extremism and hate speech is tolerated. This study relies on a thematic analysis of 323 imageboard messages to identify the challenges socially withdrawn youths perceive as excluding them from society. We use the capability approach as our viewpoint, emphasizing the youths’ actual capabilities to join in, as opposed to the opportunities seemingly provided by society. Our results resonate with the earlier research: Many members of the group labeled ‘withdrawn youth’ suffer from neuropsychological and mental health problems, fear social situations, experience a sense of shame and failure, and harbor bitterness toward society. They consider issues including unsuitable services, the onerous demands imposed by working life, and the hard values prevalent in society to restrict their opportunities to participate in that society and undermine their self-respect. Fear and negative experiences prevent socially withdrawn people from approaching social workers. Accordingly, we recommend social services keep an open mind on using digital options to reach people beyond the conventional service system.© 2023 Authors, Vol. 23 No. 1 (Spring 2023), 109-131, DOI: 10.18060/26067. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Läpi sumuisen ajan – pandemian kestävä hallinto

©2023 Hallinnon tutkimuksen seura.fi=vertaisarvioimaton|en=nonPeerReviewed