Joining collaborations and keeping relationships has become a most important concern for managers in most organizations. This change arises to a great extent due to the globalization of markets and the ongoing specialization of organizations, fostered by the possibilities of information technology and data communication. However, such a structural change requires adaptations by companies to fit the characteristics of industrial collaborations. In particular, the increasing complexity of collaborations in highly dynamic environments often is under estimated. In Kuwait, most organizations lack the analytical tools and associated operational bandwidth required to manage complexity. Reducing and managing complexity aims mostly at structuring organizations and implementing organizational changes. This article explores the implications of the emerging science of complexity for the management of organizations in Kuwait. It is not intended as an introduction to complexity thinking, but rather an attempt to consider how thinking “complexly” might affect the way in which managers do their jobs. In a sense, complexity thinking is about limits-limits to what we can know about our organizations. And if there are limits to what we can know, then there are limits to what we can achieve in a predetermined, planned way.
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