120 executives of some of America's largest companies came to engage with
the approaches to complex adaptive systems developing at the Santa Fe
Institute (and other institutions) and left with a feeling of excitement
generated from an experience of a way of speaking, thinking and seeing the
world that is distinctly different from the organisational and management
approaches of practitioners in business and professors in business
schools.
The most frequent comment in response to the question, "How is it going
for you?" was, "I am stretched to the limit and find it a challenge to
stay with what's being said ... its just the right amount of challenge so
that I'm completely engaged." Feedback from the conference has been that
the content has rich possibility and that executives around the country
(and a few international ones although most of these will be in London)
are engaging with such new thinking and that they are not alone. There
are even those who are already producing dramatic results with this
thinking.
>From my point of view, the success of the conference was as much that the
executives were "dwelling in the conversation" of the researchers for
three days and that dwelling in the language, metaphors and models was
more powerful than any of the content. As they began to become more
comfortable with the words, phrases and syntax of complex adaptive
systems, they began to see new openings for their organisations.
The largest missing, the biggest question which we will pursue in London,
is exploration of the nature of organisation itself. Not organisation as
in "the" organisation (the company) but the principles of organisation or
the design principles of organisation and what the implications of the
various ones are. What has it be a missing is that the executives present
do not even seem to have the question or concern "registering on their
screens". This seems to relate to the challenge to authority that would
be involved as well as the lack of a common language in management to deal
with organisation at this level. (And those two things are connected.)
The four themes of the conference were:
- complex adaptive system theory and research
- strategy and its relationship to complex adaptive systems which
are operating as "members" of larger complex adaptive systems
- organisation and its relationship to intelligence
- language, metaphors and models and their influence on management
and organisation.
These themes were tied together throughout the conference by weaving
together some basic understandings that each provide. These were:
- that complex adaptive systems are emergent (that is they cannot
be understood by reference to their preceding sources nor
their constituent "parts") and thus demand new ways of
relating to them which are consistent with their own nature.
- that language provides the basis for creating new forms of
complex adaptive systems when applied to human beings and
that language also is designed to protect the existing
structures of power and authority from the challenge of
such creation.
- that the core of strategy is the ability to ask the best questions
for the times and that these questions for these
contemporary times have to do with organisation,
structure and design more than analysis of the
"external" world.
- that computer technology in the form of computing power and
new approaches such as "genetic algorithms" can
create solutions to problems far beyond earlier
engineering, mathematical or programmed approaches.
- that organisations exist as entities or phenomena in their own
right and are not understandable through application
of psychology or knowledge of individual functioning except
as these occur within existing institutions and community.
The questions that people came to the conference with have not been
answered so much as they've been taken to a deeper and more powerful
level. These questions will take years to unfold - hence they are the best
kind of questions. They are the kind of questions that will produce
practical value at each stage of unfolding but will not end with the first
answer.
One of the major questions that was answered is, "How do we get executives
to take the time to consider new ideas deeply enough to make a
difference?" The answer appeared to be to put on events, to offer
opportunities, that are worthy of time and depth of inquiry. Having
experienced how a group of senior people engaged with tough ideas and
rigorous presentation for three days, many have been inspired to action.
John Seely Brown of Xerox and Colin Crook and Mary Cirrillo of Citicorp
provided adequate inspiration as well as practical examples of doing that
in large companies with great success - in receptivity and bottom-line
results.
Another major question is, "How do we translate this into the language of
practical concerns of business?" While this is far from answered for most
people, the beginnings were seen. Of more importance, the nature of
language and its protection of the authority structures was clearly
revealed and it became apparent that the question is largely unanswerable
in any near time frame if the issue of authority is not confronted early.
John Seely Brown located the issue in what may have been the most powerful
statement of the conference: "I have not seen an organisation nor
management system that was not firmly Cartesian." And that is the source
of the current systems and structures of authority that cannot withstand
the ideas of complex adaptive systems - or organisational intelligence.
I'll provide a further more detailed description of each presenter's talk
at a later time if there is a request for that.
Meanwhile, I can report that I am inspired and renewed in my pursuit of
the development of the combination of what might be broadly termed
postmodern thinking and complex adaptive systems theory. These fit
together in a powerful package for the conference and the resulting
enthusiasm of participants speaks well for continuing research in the area
- particularly that research that is done in real life at real companies.
--
Mike McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>
"Intelligence is an underlying organisational principle
of the universe. The 'logos principle' is hidden and
perceptible only to the intelligence." Heraclitus