Adaptability

Adaptability (Latin: adaptō "fit to, adjust") is a feature of a system or a process describing the capacity to adjust in response to new conditions. According to Andresen and Gronau^[1] adaptability in the field of organizational management can be generally seen as the ability to change something or oneself under conditions of the environment. In ecology, adaptability has been described as an organism's ability to adjust and thrive under the conditions of its own environment, see adaptive behaviour (ecology).

In business and manufacturing, adaptability is increasingly seen as an important factor towards efficiency and economic success. In contrast, in biological and ecological systems, adaptability and efficiency tend to be opposites of each other; thus, requiring a trade-off, since both are critical factors in system success.^[2]

Terminology

In the life sciences the term adaptability is used variously. At one end of the spectrum, the ordinary meaning of the word suffices for understanding. At the other end, there is the term as introduced by Conrad,^[3] referring to a particular information entropy measure of the biota of an ecosystem, or of any subsystem of the biota, such as a population of a single species, a single individual, cell, protein or gene.

In the technical research field this feature has been considered only since the late 1990s. H. P. Wiendahl first introduced adaptability as a necessary feature of a manufacturing system in 1999.^[4] The need to consider adaptability arose in the context of factory planning, where it is an objective to develop modular, adaptable systems. It has now become an important consideration for manufacturing and system engineers.

Adaptability of a system

Technological System

Further information: Adaptation (computer science)

Adaptability is to be understood here as the ability of a system (e.g. a computer system) to adapt itself efficiently and fast to changed circumstances. An adaptive system is therefore an open system that is able to fit its behaviour according to changes in its environment or in parts of the system itself. That is why a requirement to recognise the demand for change without any other factors involved can be expressed.^[5][6]

See also

• Adaptive behaviour
• Ecological resilience
• Max Mckeown, author of Adaptability: The Art of Winning in an Age of Uncertainty