Diamonds in the rough: Positive deviance and complexity

As systems evolve over time, their natural tendency is to become increasingly more complex. Studies in the field of complex systems have generated new perspectives on management in social organizations such as hospitals. Much of this research appears as a natural extension of the cross-disciplinary field of systems theory. This is the 12th in a series of articles applying complex systems science to the traditional management concepts of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. This article focuses on the idea of positive deviance and how it can be applied in developing elegant solutions to complex problems.