Learning in complex public systems: the case of MINUSMA’s intelligence organization

ABSTRACT

Public systems are facing increasingly complex challenges such as poverty and terrorism. In this paper, we seek to demonstrate the theoretical as well as practical value of complexity science, by investigating how key characteristics of a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) work out in practice within the intelligence organization of the ongoing nation-building mission in Mali (MINUSMA). Our main finding is that the learning properties of the CAS suffer when its structural properties are not sufficiently developed. In MINUSMA, major improvements can especially be made in (re)developing the minimum specs – in which strategic and operational demands, ideally, converge.

KEYWORDS:

• complexity theory
• complex adaptive system
• grand challenges
• United Nations
• triple-loop learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2021.2003108

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erik J. de Waard

Erik J. de Waard (PhD Rotterdam School of Management) is Associate Professor of Military Policing Operations at the Faculty of Military Sciences of the Netherlands Defence Academy. His research projects focus on organizational flexibility, modular organizing, internal demand and supply management, performance management, network-centric organizing, and border management. He has published in journals such as Financial Accountability and Management, International Journal of Project Management, Journal of Management and Organization, Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change, Journal of Organization Design, European Security, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and in several books with publishers such as Routledge, Springer and Edward Elgar.

Sebastiaan Rietjens

Sebastiaan Rietjens is a professor of Intelligence & Security at the Netherlands Defence Academy. He has done extensive fieldwork in military exercises and operations (Afghanistan, Mali, Greece) and has published accordingly in international books and journals including Disasters, Armed Forces & Society, International Journal of Public Administration and Human Relations. His main research focus is on intelligence, more specifically on future developments that confront intelligence organizations, information warfare and intelligence within the military domain. Sebastiaan is a frequent speaker at international conferences and (research) institutes including NATO School, Australian Defence Forces Academy, Groningen University and Texas State University. He is a member of the editorial board of Armed Forces & Society and Journal of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence, a board member of the Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association and editor of volumes on civil-military interaction (Ashgate, 2008; Springer, 2016), research methods in the military domain (Routledge, 2014) and organizing in the military (2016).

A Georges L. Romme

A Georges L. Romme obtained a MSc degree in economics from Tilburg University and a doctoral degree from Maastricht University. He currently is a professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). Previously, he was affiliated as a professor to Tilburg University and Maastricht University. From 2007 to 2014, Sjoerd Romme served as the dean of the TU/e department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences. He was an international visiting fellow of the Advanced Institute of Management Research in the UK from 2005 to 2007, and received educational awards from both the EFMD and Maastricht University. Professor Romme received several career achievement awards, such as the 2019 Distinguished Scholar-Practitioner Award of the Academy of Management, for his pioneering work on new organizational forms such as holacracy and sociocracy as well as management research as design science. Georges Romme’s publications have appeared in many journals, including Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Studies, and Journal of Product Innovation Management. His monograph ‘The Quest for Professionalism’ (Oxford University Press) received the 2017 EURAM best book award as well as the 2017 Responsible Research in Management award.

Paul C. van Fenema

Prof. Dr. Paul C. van Fenema (PhD Rotterdam School of Management) is a professor of Military Logistics at Netherlands Defence Academy, The Netherlands. His research focuses on practice-institutional change, network value creation and digital innovation/ transformation. His research projects focus on military logistics and public-private value chains. He published in journals such as International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Journal of Organization Design, International Journal of Management Reviews, Organization Science, and MIS Quarterly. Earlier he worked at Rotterdam School of Management and Florida International University.