CM Topper says about organisations as complex adaptive systems:
> I agree that most systems may not be in or near a state of chaos, and
> that some degree of predictability is often possible.
and later
> -- 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.
and then states the problem of imagining that being practiced
intentionally.
This is a confusion which frequently results from the collaps of chaos
theory (mathematics, physics) with theories of complex adaptive phenomena
(living and natural sciences) and particularly intelligent phenomena. (I
don't like to use "systems" for living things themselves although the term
can be used that way.)
It is not a "whole system being pushed towards chaos" that is occurring.
Not in terms of chaos theory and not in terms of complex adaptive systems.
It IS systems being pushed away from equilibrium, direct control, and
Newtonian (common) understanding.
These conferences do not work in a purely "self organising" way. They are
carefully constructed and have design - which includes designed
"attractors" - that operate without direct control. Designed well, they
are designed for emergence.
We can learn from these for corporate approaches by creating process
design and "attractor" design that call forth emergence.
> 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?
It is possible that there is a tacit, intuitive understanding of probably
emergent states - especially by the designers. It is likely that we all
have a tacit, intuitive understanding of the current state - especially if
we can be quite and listen for a bit.
> Is it even possible to demonstrate empirically chaotic behavior in an
> organizational setting, except through computer simulation?
If chaos is seen in the non-physics sense as merely a lack of seeing
patterns, a lack of understanding, and not as a characteristic of the
system itself, then this question is like a Zen koan. The answer is yes
and no depending on the point of view you take.
-- Michael McMaster : Michael@kbdworld.com book cafe site : http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe "I don't give a fig for simplicity this side of complexity but I'd die for the simplicity on the other side of complexity." attributed to Chief Justice BrandiesLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>