EMERGENCE, 1(2), 19–61 Copyright © 1999, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Complexity and Management: Moving From Fad To Firm Foundations Steve Maguire & Bill McKelvey C EOs have many different complexity approaches to choose from. The books reviewed in this Special Issue more or less define frequently obscure complexity science terms and give complexity science theories meanings more relevant to firms. Organization change methods leading toward emergence and empowerment are powerfully set forth. But in the founding issue of Emergence, one of us (McKelvey, 1999b) worried that “complexity sci- ence applied to management” had all the earmarks of becoming just another management consulting fad, aimed at marketing personal skills and books. It could become just another ingredient in what Micklethwait and Wooldridge (1996) describe as management guru witch-doctoring. The record is clear over the past several decades—management ideas that do not become legitimized by resting on a foundation of quality research are quickly replaced by the next fad coming down the pike. Are complexity applications to firms vulnerable to or solidly past fad- dism? The purpose of this Special Issue is to give readers a broad overview of the general quality of complexity applications to CEO problems and to test how vulnerable to faddism they are. In this article, we present an over- all summary of the total message that emerges from the reviews. REVIEWERS’ OBSERVATIONS To summarize parsimoniously the many points made in the books and book reviews assembled here is a significant challenge. The books them- selves are all different, as are their reviews. Book reviewers were free to write in their own style, to emphasize what they considered to be of importance or interest, and of course to arrive at their own judgment of 19