Wheatley Dialogue LO10364

cm_topper@ccmail.pnl.gov
Mon, 07 Oct 1996 11:27 -0700 (PDT)

Replying to LO10353 --

I agree that most systems may not be in or near a state of chaos, and
that some degree of predictability is often possible. This is indeed
why the scientific method has been as successful as it has
(recognizing, of course, the many unintended and unforeseen negative
consequences of such success).

However, at least metaphorically, chaos theory and self-organization
do appear to apply to the realm of how organizations learn through
innovation, especially discontinuous (as opposed to incremental)
innovation.

- Innovations are largely unpredictable;
- they may result from small events (changes)with increasing returns;
- tacit knowledge or an intuitive understanding that can not be well
articulated may lead to innovative success. It might entail an
ability to "steer" the complex system toward desired, but unknown, and
unforeseen ends.
- when discontinous innovation occurs, a system may be thought of as
entering a new phase, a new mode of self-organization, a new "strange
attractor."
-- I'm really intrigued by the notion, present in Wheatley's work and
practiced in Marvin Weisbord's search conferences, that if one can
push a whole system towards chaos, then new self-organized states
(innovation?) may emerge.

Yet, when I try to think about how to apply these ideas from a
research perspective, I run into some confusion.

For example, does tacit knowledge, as above, imply an intuitive
understanding of probable new emergent states of the system, or does
it imply an intuitive understanding of the system's current state? or
both?

Is it even possible to demonstrate empirically chaotic behavior in an
organizational setting, except through computer simulation?

My exploration of these ideas is just beginning. Is anyone out there
familiar with any empirical work that has applied Self Organizing
Systems Theory (SOST) models to organizational phenomema? especially
to innovation?

- Curt Topper
cm_topper@ccmail.pnl.gov
-- 

cm_topper@ccmail.pnl.gov

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