LO & the New Sciences LO5013

Martin Charles Raff (martin@vistaraff.win-uk.net)
Sun, 21 Jan 1996 17:46:43

Replying to LO4911 -- responding to Doug Seeley

Doug

I have very much enjoyed and been stimulated by your postings on
this subject.

>In fact, I suggest that the "New Sciences" signal a paradigmatic shift
>from a culture which tends to think that everything is accomplished from
>top-down organizations, and especially from top-down intellectual
>thinking, to a culture in which both wisdom and innovation are nurtured as
>bottom-up (emergent network) processes.

One area where the "New Sciences" require a pardigm shift in
organisational thinking is in management and leadership.

The chaotic, fast flowing and rapidly changing nature of systems
depicted by Meg Wheatley, means that leaders cannot any longer stick
to the illusion that they can 'control' their organisations.

In fact leaders have rarely been able to exercise much real
control over systems, particularly in large organisations - you only
have to have been in a low level post in such an organisation to
realise this.

Messages from the top were rarely read (unless the were about pay or
promotion). Detailed procedures laid down by Head Office were
modified by the people at ground level - they needed to do this to
make them workable. In any case all levels of hierarchy could
change, distort, or simply not pass on, messages from the top. In
fact the thing that makes most traditional organisations work at
all, is a surprisingly robust level of common purpose among most
employees even in outfits with little leadership vision.

An appreciation, by leaders, for the real nature of systems will
make them realise that their most effective role is to release the
energies of their people, and to help channel these to take forward
the organisation's purpose to the benefit of all its stakeholders.
This will mean a radical change in the way people lead - not easy
for leaders who have developed their skills in the old paradigm.
The personal change involved will require belief, courage and
determination to carry it through.

--
Martin Raff
VISTA Consulting  - for a better future
martin@vistaraff.win-uk.net
phone and fax: +44-1789 840418