Sustained adaptability: the transaction level

A new system level, called the ‘Transaction Level’ is introduced. I argue that such architectures should not be couched in (macro)cognitive terms, but rather in terms of networks of nodes and links that effectuate transactions. The principle of relationality governing this level states that links are selected to attain transactions. The transaction level is a true systems level rather than a perspective on a particular unit of analysis (individual, team, organization). The novelties and advantages of the introduction of the transaction level for the field of resilience engineering are: (1) an increased emphasis on longitudinal data collection and use of social network analysis as one of the tools to analyse data collected on nodes and links; (2) providing an explanation for when transactions fail and may lead to accidents in sociotechnical systems; (3) a renewed emphasis on the study of patterned interactions of sociomaterial assemblages; (4) providing a language for describing architectures for sustained adaptability and thus advancing relative invariants in the study of Layered Networks.