Resumo

DIAZ MATA, Alfredo. Three approaches to complexity. Contad. Adm [online]. 2012, vol.57, n.1, pp.241-264. ISSN 0186-1042.

This text advances that the different approaches being taken by those who currently study complexity can be divided three ways: 1) from the perspective of the "hard sciences", 2) as a universality, and 3) from the point of view of the social sciences, and the topic of Management and Complexity is placed under this third approach. The paper tries to clarify some of the confusions presently surrounding complexity and presents a global perspective of this active area of research and application. The main ideas and propositions of these approaches are presented in order to show that they are clearly distinguishable and that, at the same time, they converge in several ways. It is shown the way these three approaches to complexity constitute a research area undergoing a consolidation process that is producing progresses and applications in the hard sciences as well as in the social sciences and the humanities and that, at the same time, is trying to surpass disciplinary boundaries and those separating these three areas of Knowledge.

Palavras-chave : complexity; "hard sciences"; universality; social sciences.