Welcome to the Human Systems Dynamics Institute 

What is the Human Systems Dynamics Institute?

We are a non-profit, membership organization that is commited to providing a number of opportunities for interactions between and among researchers and practitioners in the field of human systems dynamics. We believe that this emerging field of study holds potential to help us move toward greater understanding of our relationships at home, at work, and in our communities.

Human systems dynamics as a field of study began in 1990 with the first meeting of the Chaos Network. Though the field was not named until 2001, the work began when forty practitioners and academics met in Washington, D.C., under the guise of the Chaos Network to explore the theory and practice of applying chaos and complexity theory to the fields of human interactions. The meeting, organized and hosted by Mark Michaels, was the first time that a public meeting was held to convene persons who were working at the boundary between social sciences and what was known then as chaos theory. Since those thrilling early days, the field has developed quickly and in many fascinating directions. Published works have covered a range from quantitative analysis and design to sheer poetry. Practical applications have ranged from nonlinear time series analysis to agent-based simulation models to metaphorical tools and techniques for planning and problem solving. The field is rich with possibilities and creative, committed devotees.

How did the Human Systems Dynamics Institute Come To Be?

Richness of Diversity
In the beginning, the diversity stimulated new thought and action. Possibilities emerged when individuals who worked mostly as soloists found opportunities to play in ensemble. The Society of Chaos Theory in Psychology and the Life Sciences, as well as the Chaos Network, afforded annual opportunities to meet face-to-face and more frequent communication via newsletters, journals, and email or listserves. Each of these venues provided opportunities for members of the emerging community to teach and learn together.

Over time, however, the dynamics of diversity have shifted. What previously were motivating differences that made a difference within the field threaten to become containers that establish competition and ill will between and among the various threads of investigation. Applications of complexity to human systems could become as factional and internally vitriolic as other applied social sciences from which many of us emerged. Or, we can apply what we've learned about emergent system-wide patterns to influence the dynamics prospectively. We can work together to consciously establish the conditions for an interesting and diverse, yet coherent field at the shared edges of complexity and social sciences.

One Shared Space
To meet this challenge and establish a shared environment of learning and opportunity, we must become aware of the similarities that bind us as well as the differences that enrich us. We must articulate a shared landscape that holds us together in common work. A single field with a single name will help move us toward this goal. Rather than standing at the edges of natural science investigation into complexity or the edges of more traditional social sciences stretching to incorporate nonlinear dynamics, we should stand in the middle of the field as we build it. We propose 'human systems dynamics' as a name to capture the primary characteristics of this field of study that partakes in many different traditional social sciences and many threads of research into complex systems dynamics.

Our Work
We must establish methods and modes of communication that will allow us to transform and be transformed as individuals, organizations, and a community of learners. These conversations must be frequent and fluid, allowing each of us to explore new ideas freely, trusting that our peers will provide encouragement as well as fair and well-reasoned critique. Electronic, print, and face-to-face communications will be needed to establish the networks of learning rich and varied enough to carry the transforming exchanges as the field, and each of us, emerges.

We must explore our differences to establish a rich and flexible tapestry of principle and practice in applications of complexity to human systems. We must establish standards of quality for ourselves to ensure that the field moves toward increasing truth and usefulness. At the same time, we must be ready to learn from myriad approaches, tools, and techniques as they emerge and are tested by others and ourselves.

The Human Systems Dynamics Institute is founded to establish these conditions. Its purpose is to facilitate development of theory and practice in human systems dynamics. We propose the following short list of simple rules as the foundation for the emerging system-wide patterns for the field of human systems dynamics.

• Teach and learn in every interaction.
• Reinforce strengths of self and other.
• Search for the true and the useful.
• Apply emerging learnings in reflective practice.
• Make expectations explicit.
• Give and get value for value.
• Attend to the part, the whole, and the greater whole.
• Engage in joyful practice.

We hope that you will join us on this journey of discovery. Each of us might search alone. Any one of us might find the 'better' truth, but it is not likely. The most likely path to productive system-wide patterns is through rich interaction of free agents. That is what the Human Systems Dynamics Institute is all about.