A more complex understanding of the interrelationships and interdependencies in networks and hierarchies. Networks need hierarchies, and hierarchies need networks.
Multi-level structures can work in different levels of complexity in various ways. They are not about domination and control. In living systems, we talk about nested systems that can exist in hierarchies and networks.
In ecosystems, we talk about a “keystone species” in the food chain, where the existence of one species holds the key to the survival of others. Many animal organisations have a hierarchical pecking order but rely on a network of plant and animal species to survive.
For example, no organ in the body can survive by itself, yet it competes for resources and cooperates for mutual survival. A legal system relies on parliament, judges, juries, solicitors, prisons, police, and probation services. These systems only make sense when seen as interconnected agents in a complex network of a whole system. These networks contain systems operating at different scales and levels.
These systems can reach a level of complexity that fails to match the complexity of the demands placed on them, and the viability of the whole system is then threatened.
Some networks have no apparent direction, such as communication systems that cross a system’s boundaries. This happens in self-organising systems like “communities of practice”. Individual agents form “clusters” with no apparent leader. However, teams tend to work better when someone is in charge of injecting energy and focus when coherence and direction are lost.
