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According to
many authors in the field of management, today's globalization,
rapid-fire technological innovations, and constant mounting pressure
from few elitist, unimaginably reach, banking corporations have pushed
the world markets into a state of ceaseless turmoil. "Success amidst
such a maelstrom of change" - writes Conner in its book "Leading at the Edge
of Chaos", calls for much more than what change-management models
have to offer. It calls for emergence of a radically new kind of
organizations with highly flexible swarm-like dynamics, nimble
enough to adapt instantly to changing market conditions, and piloted by
people well versed in the art of riding complexity at the edge of
chaos."
The study
of the swarm-like dynamics is at the focus of the Artificial Life
research program of Langton. He has been the primary motivator behind
the development of a simulation package called SWARM - a
software package for modelling swarming behaviour of networks of agents
capable to act autonomously and to produce higher-level identities, such
as the flocking behaviour of birds, the swarming behaviour of bees, the
concourse of people, etc. Since 1997 Langton is with the Swarm
Corporation aimed to provide expert consulting and modelling capability
to businesses and other agencies facing whirling complex dynamics in
various aspects of their organizations.
The
swarm-like dynamics are at the very core of the dynamics of every
organization. This study reveals their use in the practice of
management.
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The Swarm
of Human Thoughts and Feelings |
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Although
every organization represents a system with an established order:
structure, hierarchy and links with the environment, it is clear that
the thoughts and feelings (shaped into ideas, emotions, aspirations,
expectations, hopes, dreams, etc.) of people working in organizations
can hardly obey any pre-imposed order. Being extremely sensitive to any
(even slightest) acts of interfering, they cannot be pushed into a
systemic order - they keep constantly swarming - diverging or
converging, unfolding or enfolding, forming transient patterns that
expand or shrink in a difficult-to-predict rhythm. The space where they
'dance' can be called a mental space - a non-material (transcendental
in Kantian term) space that belongs to each and every individual able to
think and feel.
"Explicit
knowledge is that knowledge that is written down or in a knowledge
base. Tacit knowledge is that knowledge that is in the heads of the
agents. The greatest knowledge base in the company is the tacit
knowledge in the heads of the people that is continuously changing and
evolving" (R. Buckman)
People do
not like to compare their thoughts and feelings with swarms. We like to
believe that what we think and feel: what we conceptualize and saturate
with emotions, what we expect and aspire, what we hope and dream gives
us identity and power in the world, so we do not want to accept that we
are in any way like bees in a swarm, or birds in a flock, or ants in a
colony.
"Why
is it unpalatable for us to accept that our complex human behaviour may
have a simple non-human explanation?" asks A. Battram in an
Internet discussion on organizational complexity.
Swarm
characterizes with seven unique properties:
Wholeness
Intensive
interactive dynamics
Flexibility
High
level of potentiality for formation of transient dynamic patterns and
accomplishment of coherent actions
Alertness
Receptiveness
Criticality
(edge-of-chaos behaviour)
These
properties endow the swarm with an exceptional ability for survival,
which is reinforced by equal participation of any swarm's member. In a
swarm of bees, for example, the naturally emerged differentiation
between 'drones', 'queens' and 'workers' exists in harmony with the
bees' drive towards supporting the swarm's continuity, its ongoing
adaptation and fitness - qualities that crucially depend on the
contribution of each and every single bee.
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The
swarm of thoughts and feelings that emerges and moves in one's mental
space has unique capacity for propagation from one individual to
individual - a capacity that can significantly increase, if the degree
of criticality (degree of 'noise') in an organization reaches a certain
level. Beyond this level is the area of the far-from-equilibrium
organizational dynamics, which draw the organization towards the edge
of chaos.
The
conditions of criticality act as a powerful stimulator of people's
willingness to share ideas and experience, to respond openly, to learn
instantly and even to help each other. Under criticality people can
display unparalleled levels of creativity and resourcefulness.
Behavioural patterns, which under conditions of order and equilibrium
remain hidden or fuzzy, suddenly come to light - clear and transparent.
The
'disclosing' effect of criticality is analogical to an effect known as stochastic
resonance in signal transmission and pattern recognition:
signals and patterns emerge much clearer, if their transmission is
accompanied with a certain level of noise. The noise 'harmoniously'
resonates with the hidden or fuzzy boundaries of the transmitted
signals and patterns and makes them contrast and easier for
identification. In the context of organizational dynamics, we shall
refer to this phenomenon as harmonious resonance in organization.
As far as
the external complexity of the organizations' environment is saturated
with 'noises' of various origin, and their internal complexity is
constantly driven towards criticality (a process known as self-organizing
criticality in complexity theory), the occurrence of harmonious
resonance in organizations is quite probable.
When it
happens, the swarming thoughts and feelings in the mental space of each
individual spontaneously self-organize into coherent dynamic
patterns, that is, patterns common for all the agents interacting in an
organization. And suddenly a kind of magic occurs: the agents
become able to act in sync and harmony, as if they are at-one - one
multi-agent entity, one multi-facet unity, one inseparable whole - a
flock of birds flying together with a lightning speed.
Examples
of such coherent patterns are:
emergence of an organizational climate that stimulates
agents towards realization of their skills and knowledge, towards
learning and strengthening the 'fitness' of the organization and its
ability to evolve and grow;
- emergence
of dynamically balanced (harmonious) interrelationships between the
values and purposes of the individuals who work in an organization and
the values and purposes of the organization as a whole.
Note:
Criticality is only a necessary condition for emergence of harmonious
resonance, but not a sufficient one. There are also other factors
responsible for the actual happening of this kind of resonance in the
organizations. We shall explain this in detail in the chapters that
follow.
The
harmonious resonance in organization cannot be imposed - no swarm of
thoughts and feelings in the mental space of an individual (with
ability to think and feel) can be forced to resonate according to
somebody's will. As far as the swarms are extremely sensitive to
perturbations, it is the perturbations that can help in 'tuning' the
degree of criticality (edge-of-chaos behaviour) in organizations so
that to facilitate emergence of harmonious resonance.
The skill
for tuning criticality in an organization to a level able to evoke
coherent actions towards strengthening organizational fitness is of
vital importance when managing organizational change at the edge of
chaos.
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The
external perturbations constantly bombarding an organization, rise its
level of criticality.
In the
organizational theory and practice, the external perturbations are
considered as something that impedes the development of an
organization. It is assumed that if the external environment is kept
quiet and predictable, the organizations function much better than in a
turbulent and unpredictable environment. As a consequence of such an
assumption, a great amount of efforts has been spent (and continues to
be spent) to explore how to avoid or minimize (neutralize) the effect
of the perturbations. And the more energy is spent in fighting with what
is considered as disturbing organizational dynamics 'from outside', the
less energy goes to an actual development of these dynamics form
'inside'.
The
environment can never be made to behave according to the preferences of
the organizations (or their leaders); it is the organizations that need
to learn how to 'dance', according to the rhythm of the environment, no
matter how chaotic this rhythm appears.
What is
necessary to be underlined is that although the external perturbations
cannot be directly used for tuning organizational criticality, they are
bearers of an immense energy. The question is whether it is possible to
transform this seemingly disturbing energy into a creative energy
supporting the fitness and growth of the organization from within,
where the essence of the organization palpitates?
The
essence of every organization consists of the individuals (agents) who
build this organization through their dynamical relationships and make
it evolve and grow through their competency, skills and continuous
activity.
To say
that some external perturbations affect an organization means that they
affect, above all, its essence - the agents who work in it. And
it is these same agents who directly absorb the effects of the energy
contained in the external perturbations.
In the
moment of this absorption, a unique kind of transformation occurs: the
energy contained in something that acts from outside of the
organization - from its environment, transforms into energy of the
agents acting from inside of the organization - from its very essence.
As far as
the swarm of thoughts and feelings of people is extremely sensitive to
any motioning in the environment, the release of the energy of the
external perturbations (through the effects, which they have on the
human dynamics) occurs almost immediately. And this energy then rises
the level of criticality of the human dynamics, which are at the core
of the overall organizational dynamics, and hence rises the level of
criticality of the whole organization.
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The
transformation of the energy contained in the perturbations bombarding
the organization into levels of criticality of the entire organization
can occur either unconsciously or consciously. In the first case, the
agents are ignorant (or are deliberately held in ignorance) about the
nature of the perturbations, their source and power. In the second
case, the agents make conscious efforts to understand (through their
own experience, AWARENESS and LEARNING) where the perturbations come
from and how strong could be their consequences on the overall
organizational activity; the depth of this understanding varies from
individual to individual. Although the both ways result in heightening
the level of criticality in the organization, the first way is usually
accompanied with an ever-growing stress and tension in the agents'
behaviour, whereas the second way contributes to the growth of their
knowledge and stimulates their creativity.
So, the
question whether it is possible to transform the seemingly disturbing
energy of the external perturbations into creative energies supporting
organizational development can be answered positively, provided the
agents do not blindly surrender to the external forces but constantly
learn how to better understand their sources, their ever-changing
nature and influences.
Any
increase of the level of criticality in organization caused by external
perturbations provides unique opportunities for learning - just through
a mindful observation how the other agents react to perturbations of
different nature and intensity, one can learn enormous amount of
lessons for one's own behaviour. The greatest lesson, perhaps, is the
lesson of self-management: how to manage oneself mentally and
emotionally, how to help and care about those who need support in order
to cope with the growth of criticality, and how to motivate, energize
and inspire oneself, without waiting for stimulators from outside.
Critical
organizational dynamics are impregnated with huge number of
possibilities for creative development, for strengthening the fitness
and accelerating the growth of the organization. If the organization
(including its leaders) does not continually learn to see these
possibilities, its survival is in danger. The chances for failure
of an organization are directly proportional to the number of the
failed-to-be-seen possibilities for its development - the greater
this number, the higher the chance for failure.
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Purpose as a Strange
Attractor of Agents' Dynamics |
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Fortunately,
the critical organizational dynamics are not only impregnated with
potential for emergence, they constantly realize this potential:
criticality gives birth to strange attractors (or repellers) - emergent
patterns of self-organizing energy.
As far as
the activity of each agent working in an organization is purposeful,
that is, oriented towards attainment of a certain purpose (goal,
objective), the purpose can be considered as a focal dynamic
pattern in an agent's mental space, which constantly attracts the swarm
of the agent's thoughts and feelings. Without having any concrete
material expression, this pattern informs, motivates and inspires the
actions of the agent, and therefore plays the role of a strange
attractor able to expand, shrink, merge with other attractors, collapse
or 'explode' into new dynamic patterns in the agent's mental space.
The
purposes of the agents working in an organization crucially depend on
their values, beliefs, and motivations,that is, on relatively stable
and yet open for changes and evolution ideas (inevitably coloured with
emotions and psychological response), which they hold as meaningful and
true.
However
complex and chaotic the dynamics of an organization, they are always
pulled towards the purpose of this organization as a whole. The purpose
of the organization propels - informs, motivates and inspire the whole
rich spectrum of activities carried by the organization, and reflects
its mission statements, its strategies and visions about the future, as
well as other (open or confidential, official or informal)
organizational documents. The purpose of the organization plays the
role of a strange attractor whose structure emerges as projections of
the overall purpose of the organization on different levels (scales) of
its functioning (divisions, departments, project teams, working groups,
agents).
Harmonious
Resonance Theorem:
Harmonious resonance in an organization occurs if and
only if the agents' strange attractors representing their purposes are
'tuned':
(1)
in harmony with one another, and
(2)
in accord with the strange attractor of the overall purpose of the
organization.
As far as
the agent's purposes strongly relate to their values, beliefs and
motivations, the condition (1) implies mutual willingness for
collaboration, cooperation and complementarity between the agents,
rather than competition, obstruction and conflicts.
The
condition (2) requires that the overall purpose of the organization
reflect the purposes of the agents, and vice versa: the purposes of the
agents mirror the overall purpose of the organization.
The
'accord' required by the second condition does not imply sameness - the
organizational and individual purposes do not need to be the same in
order to be in harmony. Moreover, the sameness is simply impossible, as
the comparison is between two essentially different scales - the
characteristics at organizational level differ from the characteristics
at individual level. What is required is similarity - a similar kind of
purposes. In chaos theory, the similarity at different scale levels has
a special name: fractals.
In
summary, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the harmonious
resonance to happen in an organization is an increase in criticality up
to level, beyond which the strange attractors representing the agents'
purposes coalesce into an all-embracing fractal structure of one and
only one strange attractor - the strange attractor corresponding to the
overall purpose of the organization.
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Incompatibility
of Harmonious Resonance in Organizations with Profit-Oriented Attractors |
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In
today's run-by-money society, the individual and organizational
purposes are money-oriented. When the value of money has highest
priority in the societal life, most of the agents share the belief that
the more money they can earn, the better they can organize their
living; so the motivation to work is money-based and the purpose is to
have more money. Similar is the thinking at organizational level - the
higher the profit, the stronger is the position of the organization; so
the purpose is to increase the profit.
The
similarity in the relationship of the agents and their organizations to
the flow of moneys meets the second condition of the Harmonious
Resonance Theorem - there are fractal relationships (that is, a
cross-scale similarity) between the purposes of the agents and the
organization.
Unfortunately,
the first condition of the Harmonious Resonance Theorem cannot be
satisfied when the money is a dominant attractor for the agents and the
organization. Instead of complementarity and collaboration, it is the
competition and the pursuit for egoistic interests that are compatible
both with the individual and with the organizational passion for
profit. Financial alliances are possible, if and only if they
strengthen the competitive capacity of the 'collaborating' sides
vis-a-vis their rivals.
As P.
Bourdieu explains that from the markets where the organizations
compete, the competition naturally extends to individuals themselves,
"through the individualization of the wage relationship:
establishment of individual performance objectives,
individual performance evaluations, permanent evaluation,
individual
salary increases or granting of bonuses as a function of competence and
of individual merit;
individualised
career paths;
strategies
of "delegating responsibility" tending to ensure the self-exploitation
of staff who, simple wage labourers in relations of strong hierarchical
dependence, are at the same time held responsible for their sales,
their products, their branch, their store, etc. as though they were
independent contractors...
In this way,
a Darwinian world emerges - it is the struggle of all against all at
all levels of the hierarchy, which finds support through everyone
clinging to their job and organisation under conditions of insecurity,
suffering, and stress." (Pierre
Bourdieu)
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The
first condition of the Harmonious Resonance Theorem can be satisfied
with attractors of purpose that are out of the sphere of money.
Stronger than the fever for money is the individual urge for
self-realization; its creative capacity is boundless. If the conditions
in the organization stimulate this urge, there are no limits for both
the individual and organizational growth. When the inspiration drives
the swarms of thoughts and feelings of the agents, the organization
becomes robust through finding its own rhythm of activity.
To find
the rhythm of an organization means to find the 'pulse' of its
self-realization expressed in the pace of innovation (how often and
when to change its production), of transition from one spectrum of
activities to another, of entraining with other relevant organizations.
It is a challenge for the managers and leaders to reveal the rhythm of
self-realization of their organizations. Once revealed, this rhythm can
be constantly energized through the urge for self-realization of each
and every agent in the organization. And, vice versa, the individual
urge for self-organization can be stimulated by the rhythm of the whole
organization, as the rhythm motivates people to
do things simultaneously and in coherence
have
a clearer sense of changing priorities and different time horizons
'fractalize'
and pace their activity.
According to S.
Brown and K. Eisenhardt, the rhythm helps also for:
synchronizing the organization of complex tasks
giving
people a way to pace their own work
enhancing
confidence building
driving
a time pace that other organizations end up following.
The rhythm
of self-realization keeps the organization directly connected with the
very core of its human dynamics, where the swarm of people's thoughts
and feelings never ceases to pulsate. And it is exactly through the
pulsation of this swarm - through the rhythms of our brainwaves and
heartbeats reflected in our capacity to think and feel, that we aspire
to grasp the rhythm of life and nature.
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1. Corner,
D. 1998 Leading at the Edge of Chaos, John Wiley & Sons
2. Langton,
C. 1989 Artificial Life In C. G. Langton, ed. Artificial Life,
Volume VI of SFI Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, pages 1-47,
Addison-Wesley, Redwood City, CA
3. Bak, P.
1999 How Nature Works: The Science of Self-Organized Criticality,
Copernicus Books
4. Bourdieu,
P. 1998 The
essence of neoliberalism, Le Monde Diplomatique, 12
5. Brown, S.
and K. Eisenhardt 1998 Competing On The Edge: Strategy
as Structured Chaos, Harvard Business School Publ.
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