Yin Yang
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Complementarity is a concept from physics which describes the circumstance where two models of a system will reveal some commonalities and some differences. It is necessary to be consciously explicit about the way in which the models are formulated, whether the model is a sophisticated simulation or a simple mental model, in order to avoid misunderstanding. In practice, most models are 'right' about some aspect or definition of the System under study. The question is which one applies or works best under the present circumstances. In management and social sciences the models of a system held by customers or clients, competitors, insiders from different departments and other interested parties may be very different indeed, with far reaching implications. When complementarity among models exists, it can be a **powerful resource** for acquiring a better understanding of the situation or it can degenerate into an unanswerable debate over who is 'right'. Complementarity became an issue in wave mechanics when measurements made on the basis of an assumption that light came in waves and those based on the assumption that light came in particles were both found to be useful depending on the experiment
# SOURCE Bohr, N. (1963). Essays, 1958-1962. New York: W iley Interscience.
# EXAMPLES • "the government" as seen by the party in power, by the opposition party and by its neighboring states • a plant closing seen by the company, the community in which it is located and the union to which its employees belong • a new product as seen by R & D and sales • a meeting seen from the perspective of each of its participants • a new procedure viewed by management and workers
# NON-EXAMPLES • a game with agreed upon rules a set of systems with no relevant overlap
# PROBABLE ERROR • not recognizing when complementarity exists by not making differing assumptions explicit • failure to recognize that many disagreements are rooted in the parties perceiving complementary systems • compelling people to take sides about issues that reflect only the inadequacies in two complementary models