"The term chaos is used in a specific sense where it is an inherently random pattern of behaviour generated by fixed inputs into deterministic (that is fixed) rules (relationships). The rules take the form of non-linear feedback loops. Although the specific path followed by the behaviour so generated is random and hence unpredictable in the long-term, it always has an underlying pattern to it, a 'hidden' pattern, a global pattern or rhythm. That pattern is self-similarity, that is a constant degree of variation, consistent variability, regular irregularity, or more precisely, a constant fractal dimension. Chaos is therefore order (a pattern) within disorder (random behaviour)." (Ralph D Stacey, "The Chaos Frontier: Creative Strategic Control for Business", 1991)
"In a linear world of equilibrium and predictability, the sparse research into an evidence base for management prescriptions and the confused findings it produces would be a sign of incompetence; it would not make much sense. Nevertheless, if organizations are actually patterns of nonlinear interaction between people; if small changes could produce widespread major consequences; if local interaction produces emergent global pattern; then it will not be possible to provide a reliable evidence base. In such a world, it makes no sense to conduct studies looking for simple causal relationships between an action and an outcome. I suggest that the story of the last few years strongly indicates that human action is nonlinear, that time and place matter a great deal, and that since this precludes simple evidence bases we do need to rethink the nature of organizations and the roles of managers and leaders in them." (Ralph D Stacey, "Complexity and Organizational Reality", 2000)
"The model [of reality] takes on a life of its own, in which its future is under perpetual construction through the micro interactions of the diverse entities comprising it. The "final" form toward which it moves is not given in the model itself, nor is it being chosen from outside the model. The forms continually emerge in an unpredictable way as the system moves into the unknown. However, there is nothing mysterious or esoteric about this. What emerges does so because of the transformative cause of the process of the micro interactions, the fluctuations themselves." (Ralph D Stacey et al, "Complexity and Management: Fad or Radical Challenge to Systems Thinking?", 2000)
"The central proposition in [realistic thinking] is that human actions and interactions are processes, not systems, and the coherent patterning of those processes becomes what it becomes because of their intrinsic capacity, the intrinsic capacity of interaction and relationship, to form coherence. That emergent form is radically unpredictable, but it emerges in a controlled or patterned way because of the characteristic of relationship itself, creation and destruction in conditions at the edge of chaos." (Ralph D Stacey et al, "Complexity and Management: Fad or Radical Challenge to Systems Thinking?", 2000)
"Organizations are not systems but the ongoing patterning of interactions between people. Patterns of human interaction produce further patterns of interaction, not some thing outside of the interaction. We call this perspective complex responsive processes of relating." (Ralph D Stacey, "Experiencing Emergence in Organizations", 2005)
"Systems are wholes consisting of parts interacting with each other in a self-generating, self-organising way and it is in this interaction that both parts and whole emerge without prior design." (Ralph D Stacey, "Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics", 2007)
"The system is highly sensitive to some small changes and blows them up into major alterations in weather patterns. This is popularly known as the butterfly effect in that it is possible for a butterfly to flap its wings in São Paolo, so making a tiny change to air pressure there, and for this tiny change to escalate up into a hurricane over Miami. You would have to measure the flapping of every butterfly’s wings around the earth with infinite precision in order to be able to make long-term forecasts. The tiniest error made in these measurements could produce spurious forecasts. However, short-term forecasts are possible because it takes time for tiny differences to escalate." (Ralph D Stacey, "Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics: The Challenge of Complexity" 5th Ed. , 2007)
"Organizations are not systems but the ongoing patterning of interactions between people. Patterns of human interaction produce further patterns of interaction, not some thing outside of the interaction. We call this perspective complex responsive processes of relating." (Ralph Stacey)
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