What is the Positive and Negative Side of Chaos?

Positive Side of Chaos - The new theory of organizations is how to create what is called "edge of chaos" patterns of organizing. In this approach individuals and units are given more flexibility and local control and terms are expected to self-organize under the assumption that it is possible to achieve greater adaptability to the customer demands and other environmental shifts and flows. 

Daryl Conner, author of Managing at the Speed of Change and Leading at the Edge of Chaos: How to Create the Nimble Organization, asserts. "Change now breeds itself," he says, so the challenge is, "how do we deal with perpetual unrest?" 

The concept of the "nimble organization" is key to Conner's work. In fact, the first line in his book Leading at the Edge of Chaos reads: "the focal point for this book is leadership's role in building resilient, nimble organizations." Organizations that are not nimble, Conner says, are constrained. To build nimble organizations, he explains, leaders "must bring to the human side of change the same level of rigor and discipline that are applied
to the organization's financial assets." (As summarized in (Lin Grensing-Popha, 2000)

As Conner (2000: 18) puts it:

Running a corporation that survives and thrives at the edge of chaos has become almost a full-time job. Mergers and acquisitions are creating strange bedfellows, the market is becoming more sophisticated, and the very nature of our businesses is shifting. Some leaders are questioning their abilities to remain competitive in a market where disruption is the norm. 

Negative Side of Chaos - In its popular usage, chaos is a negative. People say "I hate chaos, let's get organized." While the theorists give us fractal, strange attractor, and edge of chaos metaphors, we have to work in the chaos soup.  Of concern here, is how does it feel to stare into the abyss, or worse to work in a chaos abyss?  One definition of Chaos Narrative comes from Frank (1995) 

"It is the story we tell when we are unable to tell a story; it is the "anti-narrative of time without sequence, telling without mediation, and speaking about oneself without being fully able to reflect on oneself." 

There is an obvious need to balance theories of chaos management with how people experience chaos as the void of buzzing confusion and being out of control. To read a paper on Complex Adaptive Chaos Organizing Systems by Professor Kevin Dooley of Arizona State (press here).

What are Complex Adaptive Systems? The third concept is a characterization of the only known type of system that is capable of thriving at the edge of chaos. A Complex Adaptive System is defined as "a system of individual agents, who have the freedom to act in ways that are not always totally predictable, and whose actions are interconnected such that one agent’s actions changes the context for other agents."

(Plsek: http://www.acpe.org/cyber/abstract6.html)

The relevant generalization here is that to optimize system performance, managerial control must be loosened enough to allow uninhibited communication and interaction among all members of the organization. Creative and adaptive solutions to external constraints will emerge as the learning organization gains the mobility and freedom to actively navigate through uncertainty and turbulence. The behavior of a mature complex adaptive organization can even move into the realm of predictability.

Additional References

Conner, Daryl R (2000)  "Nimble organizations." Executive Excellence. Volume: 17 (2): 18.

Grensing-Pophal, Lin (2000) "Leading through change  Credit Union Management. Volume:  23 (2): 10.

Please use browser arrows to return to this page when done.

Please click (Left Arrow will take you back).