• Non-linear, such that there is no proportionality between cause and effect.
• Fractal, such that measurement is scale dependent and concepts are indeterminate.
• Recursive between scale levels, such that it is easy to get lost.
• Sensitive to initial conditions, such that the system is experienced as volatile.
• Replete with feedback loops and potential bifurcation points.
• Subject to emergence.

Why Complexity Theory?
"If we wish to understand organizations and what makes them what they are, complexity science is perhaps not only our most potent tool, but at present may be our only tool." (Michael R. Lissack)

Three-Winged Bird A Chaotic Strange Attractor This image records the journey of a system in chaos. A simple non-linear equation went through millions of iterations. The result of each iteration was plotted in three-dimensional computer phase space. As the system evolved in a totally random fashion, over time the shape of the system emerged. Chaotic strange attractors reveal the order inherent in chaotic systems, order that is only visible over time and history. (Image by Mario Markus and Benno Hess, Max Planck Institute, Dortmund, Germany; From Leadership and the New Science, Margaret J, Wheatley)

 

Trickle-Up Management
Complexity theorists argue that managers should allow creativity and efficiency to emerge naturally within organizations rather than imposing their own solutions on their employees. They can do this by setting some basic ground rules and then encouraging interactions or relationships among their employees so that solutions emerge from the bottom up. Managers can't predict what the solutions will be. But just as a flock of birds can achieve more than a bird flying solo, it's likely that the energy and enthusiasm that are unleashed when employees are working together will yield successful results. (CIO Enterprise Magazine)

Let's Talk
Strategic options reside within complex interactions among systems. Profound knowledge of these systems and their potential for interaction with other systems is often tacitly held. Formal and informal communication among those who hold tacit knowledge can bring new insight and understanding to an organization in ways that significantly shape strategic thinking. (W. Scott Sherman; Graziadio Business Report; Fall 2000)

Meaningful Metaphor?
...Mr. Michels acts as an agent in a "self-organizing system," a phrase biologists use to describe organisms that continually adapt to the environment without losing their basic identity. Although it is tempting to dismiss the idea as management-by-metaphor, a few companies are beginning to recognize how closely their operations resemble such systems in the natural world - and how the lessons might be applied to the quest for success in the ever-changing market. (Wall St. Journal)

Plan on Uncertainty
"Given that the key finding claimed for complexity theory is the effective unknowability of the future, the common assumption among managers that part of their job is to decide where the organization is going, and to take decisions designed to get it there is seen as a dangerous delusion. Management, afflicted by increasing complexity and information overload, can react by becoming quite intolerant of ambiguity. Factors, targets, organisational structures all need to be nailed down. Uncertainty is ignored or denied. The management task is seen to be the enunciation of mission, the determination of strategy, and the elimination of deviation. Stability is sought as the ultimate bulwark against anxiety, which might otherwise become overwhelming. All of these managerial reflexes, many of them seeming unassailably commonsensical, are.... quite counter-productive when viewed from a complexity theory perspective.” (Jonathan Rosenhead)

The Father of Fractals Benoit Mandelbrot (born 1924) was largely responsible for the present interest in Fractal Geometry. He showed how Fractals can occur in many different places in both Mathematics and elsewhere in Nature.

Landscape View
"Complexity research has developed a descriptive language which can help to shape the world around us. By use of the vocabulary of complexity, managers view the world in a different light. Meanings and metaphors matter. The meanings that we give to ourselves, our products, our competitors, our customers, and all the relevant others in our world determine the space of our possible actions - and, to a large extent, how we act. Complexity metaphors - fitness landscapes, simulated annealing, local maxima, patches, generative relationships, increasing returns - when accepted within the vocabulary of an organization can change both the way mangers manage and the problems they choose to manage." (Michael Lissack)

Lingo Cha´os The´o•ry Concept that small changes can result in large differences and that there is an underlying order in our environment. e•mer´gence "...an overall system behavior that comes out of the interaction of many participants - behavior that cannot be predicted or even envisioned from a knowledge of what each component of a system does in isolation." (Michael R. Lissack) frac´tal A geometric figure that is self-similar to itself at different scales. i•ter•a´tion Taking the solution to an equation and feeding it back into the equation over and over again. self-or•gan•i•za´tion Emergent adaptation of a complex system to changing conditions.

Identity Crisis?
"Leaders set the conditions that support effective self-organization by attending to two areas:

In organizations where people trust and believe in each other, they don't get into regulations, policies and coercive behaviors. And, of course, people respond with commitment and creativity. Leaders who transform organizations into something more participative and productive always go through a profound shift in how they think about their employees and themselves. You can't open up an organization to people you don't trust. And you can't open it up if you believe that people won't assume responsibility." (Meg Wheatley)

Chaos Everywhere?
"By understanding industries as complex systems, managers can improve decision making and search for innovative solutions.... Chaos (complexity) theory is a promising framework that accounts for the dynamic evolution of industries and the complex interactions among industry actors. By conceptualizing industries as chaotic systems, a number of managerial implications can be developed. Long-term forecasting is almost impossible for chaotic systems, and dramatic change can occur unexpectedly; as a result, flexibility and adaptiveness are essential for organizations to survive. Nevertheless, chaotic systems exhibit a degree of order, enabling short-term forecasting to be undertaken and underlying patterns can be discerned. Chaos (complexity) theory also points to the importance of developing guidelines and decision rules to cope with complexity, and of searching for non-obvious and indirect means to achieving goals." (D. Levy)

Your Loopmaster suggests Managing Complexity in Organizations: A View in Many Directions Michael Lissack & Hugh Gunz (Editors)		Your Loopmaster suggests Rewiring the Corporate Brain Using the New Science to Rethink How We Structure and Lead Organizations Danah Zohar		Your Loopmaster suggests The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and the Complex Murray Gell-Mann
Your Loopmaster suggests... Maslow on Management Abraham H. Maslow		Your Loopmaster suggests... Management Challenges for the 21st Century Peter F. Drucker		Your Loopmaster suggests... Who Moved My Cheese Spencer Johnson, M.D.
Bob Fulmer suggests... The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computer Exceed Human Intelligence Ray Kurzweil		Dave & Jill Hitchin suggest... Your Money or Your Life Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin		Your Loopmaster suggests... Leadership and the New Science Revised: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World Margaret J. Wheatley