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We develop the ontology of "process complexity" and describe how the dynamics of "becoming" can be framed as the emerging, stabilising, and ultimate dissolving of "patterns of relationships." By extending traditional complexity thinking through introducing a "field theory" view, we develop a more nuanced and inclusive perspective of the processual complex world. We show how this leads to the idea of ontological uncertainty. We demonstrate how process complexity resonates with the ontologies of many different schools of thought including quantum gravity, the process philosophers of the Axial Age, and the early modern process philosophers impacted by Darwin's theory of evolution, such as Bergson, Whitehead, and James. The remarkable alignment of these diverse perspectives from science and philosophy adds conviction and depth to the development of process complexity. We conclude by indicating how process complexity influences our approach to policy and management practice.

What if you could double your productivity without additional capital investment? What if you could outperform your competition by changing the way you think? What if you could be fast, flexible, and The Process Mind , ® process.

PurposeMigration from the traditional management model to the BPM (business process management) approach results in improved process performance. In order to promote BPM, it is necessary to have an organizational approach that defines the necessary tasks of the processes' project, day‐to‐day execution, and learning‐related tasks. In this aspect, there are difficulties and barriers to be confronted in a different way through organization. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance attributed to the tasks necessary for process management considering the way the management of these tasks and barriers found in order to change from functional management to process oriented management.Design/methodology/approachA case study was developed on two companies from the services sector. In‐depth interviews with managers from the companies studied were conducted.FindingsIt was identified that these companies found themselves at different levels of transition from the functional management process to process oriented management and that people and organizational cultures are presented in both organizations as the main barriers to changes within this management model.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is based on a broad bibliographical base in opposition to the limited capacity of empirical validation.Originality/valueThe paper describes an empirical case study which refers to BPM tasks and to the barriers that will be transposed in order to promote business process management. The research investigates which BPM tasks are executed and the importance of each task and even the barriers against changing the management.

AbstractRegulation scholars have long searched for the best tools to use to achieve public policy goals, generating an extensive body of research on what has become known as instrument choice. By contrast, analysis of options for structuring how officials make regulatory decisions – process choice – remains in relative infancy. Notwithstanding the emphasis legal scholars and political economists have placed on administrative procedures, surprisingly little research has investigated why regulators choose among different process options or what value they and the public receive from different choices. In their book, Regulation by Litigation, Andrew Morriss, Bruce Yandle, and Andrew Dorchak make a significant contribution by empirically and normatively examining regulators' choices between notice‐and‐comment rulemaking, negotiated rulemaking, and what they call "regulation by litigation." This review article considers three central questions about regulation by litigation. First, how if at all does regulation by litigation differ from other uses of litigation to achieve policy goals? Second, why do regulators choose litigation over other process options? Third, is regulation by litigation as bad as Morriss, Yandle, and Dorchak say it is? By addressing these conceptual, empirical, and normative questions, this review article not only reveals the specific strengths and limitations of the book, Regulation by Litigation, but also highlights more general opportunities and challenges for future research on process choice.

Various phenomena in our daily world exhibit similarities to epidemic spreading. Fashion or technical trends are referred to as viral when they reach a large part of a society. In general, trends, opinions, diseases and failure in social or technical networks are characterized by the fact that they spread from an ``infected'' source to a ``non-infected'' state. We use the term epidemic process to refer to the described variety of different spreading phenomena. In addition to infection processes, external influences such as media in the case opinion spreading among people also play a major role. In contrast to a simple contagion, where one source is sufficient to sustain spreading, there also exist complex contagion phenomena where multiple sources are required. Social opinion formation is often described by the latter process. Until now, different spreading models have been developed and applied to account for different numbers of sources. We propose a general contagion model which accounts for both external influences and different numbers of ``infectious'' sources. We show that our contagion model exhibits a novel characteristic critical behavior which we describe using mathematical concepts that have their origin in catastrophe theory. Besides the stationary critical behavior, we also verify dynamical universal behavior by analyzing the corresponding correlation and response functions. The identification of universal critical behavior allows to demonstrate similarities between epidemic models that appear different at first sight. Based on those similarities, it is possible to classify spreading models. This way of classifying models is closely related to the study of phase transitions in statistical physics. Typically, one studies an order parameter (e.g. the number of infected) as a function of a control parameter (e.g. infection rate). In many situations, one finds a transition point or critical point of the control parameter at which the order parameter starts growing. At this point, there exists a characteristic behavior of the order parameter as a function of the control parameter. Considerations like these allow to apply methods from statistical physics which are important for describing phase transitions of percolation and magnetic systems. We consider different applications after defining and classifying our general modeling framework. We use the gained insights from the analysis of our general contagion model to propose a model for political campaigns. The suggested campaign model accounts for the complex interplay between activists, persuadables, political clout, budget and costs. Furthermore, we also study the opinion formation process in online petitions by applying different time series analysis methods. The last two examples have their origin in the field of disease spreading. We describe a very effective method of targeted recovery of infected individuals, which makes it possible to drastically reduce the number of infected cases. This protocol is also applicable to other spreading processes. Another application deals with the spatio-temporal correlations of the spreading of dengue.

Globalization is a process of global economic, political and cultural integration and unification.

Human Nature in Politics brings the competences and perspectives of law, philosophy and political science to bear on an imporant subject seldom treated at book length. The subject of human nature in politics is as old as systematic thought about politics. Out of favor for a period in modern times, it is now once more the subject of attention by political theorists who often borrow heavily from the disciplines of biology and psychology. The plurality of their approaches and insights is reflecteed in Part I of the book: Perspectives on Human Nature . Although appeals to human nature have histori.

PurposeIt is argued that whilst operational and support processes deliver performance presently, it is the managerial processes that sustain performance over time. The purpose of this research paper is to better understand what these managerial processes are and how they influence organisational performance.Design/methodology/approachThe theoretical background is reviewed covering literature on the subject of business process management, resourced‐based view (RBV), dynamic capabilities and managerial processes. A research framework leads to qualitative case study‐based research design. Data are collected from 37 organisations across Europe, classified according to their performance.FindingsFindings suggest that the five managerial processes and their constituent managerial activities, identified through the empirical research, influence performance of organisations as an interconnected managerial system rather than as individual processes and activities. Also, the execution and maturity of this managerial system is influenced by the perceptions of the managers who organise it.Research limitations/implicationsWithin the limitation of the study the discussion leads to eight research propositions that contribute to our understanding of how managerial processes influence organisational performance. These propositions and ensuing discussion provide insights into the content and structure of managerial processes, as well as contributing to the debate on RBV by suggesting that managerial processes and activities could be considered as valuable, rare and inimitable resources. Furthermore, the discussion on how managerial perceptions influence the organisation and execution of the managerial system contributes towards our understanding of how and why dynamic capabilities develop.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that in higher performing organisations, managers: demonstrate a wider awareness of the overall managerial system; achieve a balance between short‐term and future‐oriented activities; exploit their managerial activities for multiple purposes; demonstrate greater maturity of managerial activities; and pay greater attention to the organisation of the managerial system.Originality/valueThis paper presents one of the first empirical studies that attempt to understand how business processes, and particularly managerial processes, as an interconnected managerial system serve to sustain performance of organisations.

1. Composition and diversity / Richard L. Moreland -- 2. Affective processes / Janice R. Kelly and Jennifer R. Spoor -- 3. Negotiation / Leigh L. Thompson, Jiunwen Wang, and Brian C. Gunia -- 4. Social dilemmas / Norbert L. Kerr -- 5. Justice / Tom R. Tyler -- 6. Majority and minority influence / John M. Levine and Radmila Prislin -- 7. Decision making / R. Scott Tindale, MaryBeth Talbot, and Rachael Martinez -- 8. Performance / Bernard A. Nijstad -- 9. Creativity / Paul B. Paulus and Hamit Coskun -- 10. Leadership / Michael A. Hogg -- 11. Social identity and groups / Dominic Abrams -- 12. Evolution and groups / Mark Van Vugt and Tatsuya Kameda -- 13. Intergroup relations / John F. Dovidio, Samuel L. Gaertner, and Erin L. Thomas.