Policy and Complex Systems
thority through the cabinet or through the department ’ s control over the agencies in a hierarchical manner . Policy ownership of a systems-of-systems is a complex matter , with no single organization being in any position of ownership ( and by extension authority ) over the whole . Governance is about control , and the issue is how can control be established across systems-of-systems that have distributed ownership ? If control is essential to the effective policy systems-of-systems realization , then without sufficient control what will encourage independent organizations to adopt shared goals ?
It is difficult to establish control over a complex systems-of-systems precisely because no individual or organization can have total authority — even when it appears that a single authority does exist . For example , a department may create a systems-of-systems with authority for the integration of constituent policies into a systems-of-systems . Theoretically , this new systems-of-systems has some authority over the constituent policies and their associated stakeholders . However , in instances such as this , the owners of the constituent policies and systems inevitably have primary allegiance to their particular stakeholders . Even if owners of constituent policies and systems are unusually committed to the systems-of-systems , a single authority is likely to be ineffective since the size of the overall capability makes it extremely difficult to understand the nuances involved in effective control . Thus , the only alternative is to facilitate collaborative identification and adherence to a shared set of governance processes .
Collaborative systems-of-systems governance involves abandoning the notion of rigid top-down governance of processes , standards , and procedures , and adopting peer-to-peer approaches such as Integrated Process Teams , Partnering , and Connective Planning . Such collaborative systems-of-systems governance is at odds with the natural tendency of government , because it means that the “ chain of command ” must evolve to a “ web of shared interests ”. Collaborative systems-of-systems governance requires cooperation between separate authorities and agents , even when there is no formal agreement .
The characteristics of collaborative governance for systems-of-systems are :
�� Independent systems-of-systems facilitation — new responsibilities are needed for policy systems-of-systems owners to act as conveners , and to engage external facilitators to co-ordinate the policy systems-of-systems establishment and ongoing development .
�� Identifying the scope of shared goals — understanding each party ’ s goals , and agreeing and documenting areas where shared goals can exist and cannot exist . There will be legitimate goal , motivation , and accountability differences . These differences need to be recognized , respected , and understood .
�� Incentives for co-operation — where there is no directive control , policy systems-of-systems owners need to establish incentive processes to motivate component policyowners and agents to participate cooperatively . Incentive based motivation is most easily achieved with private sector agents where the incentive is linked to Key Performance Indicators .
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System Stewardship , The UK Institute of Government , 2011 .
12
D . Dombkins , and P . Dombkins , Contracts for Complex Programs ( Booksurge , Amazon , Group , 2008 ).
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