A simulation perspective on knowledge management and sharing, and conflict and complexity in social systems management

There are many contemporary situations today where conflict potential is a reality. In a very large number of these situations simple patterns, resulting from the aggregation of recurring individual actions and responses, can lead to extremely complex social behaviors. Often, there are misperceptions and miss beliefs concerning these behaviors and this can create a conflict potential that is dysfunctional for groups and societies. Knowledge sharing is generally beneficial in these situations. It would be highly desirable to be able to create models that will accurately predict the outcomes of these complex systems for various knowledge sharing options. In general, this cannot be done. We can, however, often create models that will accurately simulate the processes the system uses to create outputs. The major constructs associated with such models are: the interactions and feedback relations between the various agents whose choices depend upon the decisions of others; and linearity and return to scale considerations. There are many implications associated with these models. Among them are questions of steady state versus continued evolutionary behavior, the nature and possibility of time-invariant processes, and questions of path dependence. We discuss the use of complex adaptive system perspectives to support simulation models that represent social systems management approaches to enhance knowledge sharing in organizations