Flexibility of System of Systems

Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Oct-Dec 2008 by Gorod, Alex, Gandhi, S Jimmy, Sauser, Brian, Boardman, John

In order to move towards a Flexible SoS, the extensiveness of the Flexibility Dynamic has to shift towards independence, decentralization, network-centricity, heterogeneity and indeterminability. However, the extensiveness of the Flexibility Dynamic should not be overwhelming because that would lead to a chaotic form. An important characteristic of a SoS is that it should be governable (Sauser Boardman et al. 2008).

The chaotic form of a SoS, as illustrated in Figure 3, refers to the state of the SoS where the Flexibility Dynamic becomes too high, which leads to a loss of governance. As a result of this, there is a severe decline in the amount of adaptability due to having too many options, which leads to chaos.

Finally, we contend that among the variation in the extensiveness of the Flexibility Dynamic, there is an area which shows how many options the organization may have. According to Gorod and Sauser (2007) this area is referred to as the Optimization Space of a system. They were able to demonstrate that this Optimization Space could be quantifiably determined for the upper or lower operational boundaries of a connected weighted SoS. We thus define the Optimization Space of a SoS as the area between operational boundaries. We theorize that this Optimization Space can influence the adaptability a SoS can have within the Flexibility Dynamic.

One way of further describing the Optimization Space is by the use of the term "Chaordic." Chaordic is obtained from a combination of the words Chaos and Order, and refers to a state of existence between Order and Chaos (Hock 2000). According to Miller and Page (2007), "...Systems that are too simple are static and those that are too active are chaotic. Thus it is only on the edge between these two behaviors where a system can undertake productive activity. In its most grand incarnation, the edge of chaos captures the essence of all interesting adaptive systems as they evolve to this boundary between stable order and unstable chaos" (Miller and Page 2007).

As previously stated, an assembly represents zero options. Zero options for an organization shows that there is no Optimization Space, which results in extremely low adaptability. Less rigid hierarchy in a system results in an Optimization Space being present, but covering a small area, that is, there are options but not many. The consequence of this is that adaptability is not as low as in an assembly but not sufficiently high to effectively cope with the dynamic complex environment. In a Flexible SoS, there is a sufficiently large Optimization Space. It is in this Optimization Space that there exists the point of highest adaptability for a SoS. In a chaotic form there are too many options which results in the Flexibility Dynamic increasing to such a great extent that the SoS starts losing its adaptability.

Likewise, to move outside of this Optimization Space or operational boundary would constitute an increase in the operational risk of a SoS, impacting the SoS adaptability and options it has at its disposal. From Figure 5, we can see that there are two regions that are markedly different from each other as far as the amount of risk versus adaptability. For Region A, as the risk decreases, the adaptability increases, until the SoS reaches the Optimization Space of adaptability. Once, the SoS has reached this area of optimization, it takes an opposite heading in Region B. From this area onwards, the amount of risk increases but simultaneously the adaptability decreases, which leads the SoS into a chaotic state. However, we would like to emphasize that adaptability is not the same as flexibility. This is shown in Figure 5, where in Region B, the Flexibility Dynamic increases until the SoS reaches a chaotic form, whereas the adaptability is simultaneously decreasing. Furthermore, the adaptability of the SoS is highest in the region of the Optimization Space of SoS whereas the Flexibility Dynamic is highest at the chaotic form of a SoS.