New Science: Systems Thinking, Chaos

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New Science Systems Thinking, Chaos Complexity
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The Newtonian Universe

• "Each of us lives and works / has dealings with
  organisations designed from Newtonian images of
  the universe. But the science has changed. We
  need to ground our work in the science of our
  times. We need to stop seeking after the universe
  of the Seventeenth Century and begin to explore
  what became known to us in the Twentieth
  Century. Wheatley
• Newton says that all the bodies of the universe
  are analogous to "tinker toy" creations suspended
  in an otherwise empty universe. The new science,
  the science of the quantum, says otherwise.

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The Newtonian Universe 2

• Newtonian laws of physics are completely
  deterministic they assume that, at least
  theoretically, precise measurements are possible,
  and that more precise measurement of any
  condition will yield more precise predictions
  about past or future conditions.
• Reductionism

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General Systems Theory 1

• Ludwig Von Bertalanffys definition of a system
  'a set of units with relationships among them.'
• set" implies that the units or elements contain
  similar characteristics and that each unit or
  element is controlled, influenced, or dependent
  upon the state of other units.

• Open systems exchange matter or information with
  the environment.
• Closed systems have clear boundaries prohibiting
  exchange of energy or information - isolated from
  their environment.
• The essential nature of matter lies not in
  objects, but in interconnections

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General Systems Theory 2

• A system is a set of units that connect to form a
  whole
• The whole system functions because of
  interdependence of its parts
• Systems have input, output, control, and feedback
  processes
• Living systems are more complex than mechanical
  systems

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General Systems Theory 3

• Every living organism is essentially an open
  system. It maintains itself in a continuous
  inflow and outflow, a building up and breaking
  down of components
• This is the very essence of that fundamental
  phenomenon of life, which is called metabolism,
  the chemical processes within living cells.

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General Systems Theory 4

• It is useful then, to think of people,
  corporations, organisations, groups, families,
  interpersonal relationships and computer-based
  information systems as all being open, living
  systems.

• A system comprises interrelated components
  related by flows of energy, material, or
  information.
• Cooling system, Information System, Immune System
  etc..

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General Systems Theory 5

• Heirarchies (systems within systems)
• Boundaries (define system by drawing boundaries)
• Dynamic (Change over time and internal
  relationships change as well)
• Synergistic (the whole gt sum of parts)

• Feedback Control (homeostasis)
• Autopoesis (self regulating)
• Equifinality (same goal achieved via different
  paths)
• Entropy (measure of disorder)

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Life

• Life a property of improbable complexity
  possessed by an entity that works to keep itself
  out of equilibrium with its environment.
• R. Dawkins (1986)

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Characteristics of Life 1

• All Living things
• are organized
• work together to create increasingly higher
  levels of complexity
• metabolize
• maintain internal environment

• grow
• respond
• reproduce
• evolve

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Characteristics of Life 2
Process
Form
Structure
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Characteristics of life 3

• Living systems learn constantly (are adaptive)
• Living systems are self-organizing
• Life is systems-thinking
• Living systems are webbed with feedback
  (reciprocal modification)
• Living systems are interconnected
• Living systems are self-referential
• Living systems are autopoetic (self regulating)

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Laws of Thermodynamics

• First Law Total energy in the universe is
  constant. (Energy can neither be created nor
  destroyed.)
• Second Law Total entropy (randomness) in the
  universe is increasing.

• You cant win You can only break even.
• You cant even break even.

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Organisms vs. Machines

• Open versus closed
• Dynamic versus static
• Fluid versus bounded
• Adaptive versus rigid
• Complex versus simple
• Quantum versus Newtonian

• Non-linear versus linear
• Organic versus mechanistic
• Interrelationships versus objects
• Chaotic pendulum versus clock

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Question

• How can you hold a hundred tons of water in the
  air with no visible means of support?

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You build a cloud
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Chaos Theory 1

• A name given to recent wide-ranging attempts to
  uncover the statistical regularity hidden in
  processes that otherwise appear random, such as
  turbulence in fluids, weather patterns,
  predator-prey cycles, the spread of disease, and
  even the onset of war. Systems described as
  "chaotic" are extremely susceptible to changes in
  initial conditions. As a result, small
  uncertainties in measurement are magnified over
  time, making chaotic systems predictable in
  principle but unpredictable in practice.
• The butterfly effect

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Chaos Theory 2

• Chaos refers to an apparent lack of order in a
  system that nevertheless obeys particular laws or
  rules
• Systems - no matter how complex - rely upon an
  underlying order, and that very simple or small
  systems and events can cause very complex
  behaviors or events

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Chaos Complexity

• Human organizations operate from several core
  beliefs
• The universe is living, creative, and continually
  experimenting. Lifes natural tendency is to
  organize. Life is self-organizing. Life is always
  an act of creating an identity. People are
  intelligent, creative, adaptive, self-organizing,
  and meaning-seeking. Organizations are living
  systems, with these same attributes.

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Systems Chaos Theory

• Emphasise the interconnectedness of everything
• Connectedness generates order from disorder

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Quantum Universe 1.

• Quantum theory at its essence says that our
  make-up is of a more connected nature.
• There are fields of energy flooding the entire
  universe. These fields, as Wheatley says, are
  responsible for "action-at-a-distance."
  Scientists now believe that these fields of
  energy contain all the information that has ever
  existed, exists now, or will ever exist in the
  future.
• This data is available and influences our lives
  daily. We are virtually "always online" to God,
  nature, and the universe.

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Quantum Universe 2

• At the sub-atomic level of the universe, and,
  therefore, at the very core of human make-up, the
  physical nature of the universe is a dance of
  energy.
• We are made up of the same light and energy as
  the electro-magnetic fields that permeate space
  and all of creation. Therefore, it stands to
  reason that, as a part of this celestial dance,
  we can have access to nature's wealth of
  information, and we can be influenced by it.
• If we can be influenced by this vast database of
  energy and knowledge, can we tap into this cosmic
  database and perhaps even influence it as well?

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The Vision of Leadership

• What does nature, the cosmos and the untapped
  capabilities of people mean to organizational
  vision? We must include some of these doctrines

• Equilibrium is death to the quantum organization.
  Think about it if human interaction and dialogue
  are critical fuel to the new organization, a
  little creative chaos will continue to drive
  human creativity.

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Doctrines 1

• The whole really is greater than the sum of the
  parts.
• Human dialogue is critical to creativity. When
  two ideas come together that never met before,
  they lead to or create a new third idea.
• As we are all connected to the "cosmic database,"
  it stands to reason that we must organize in a
  fashion that allows us to tap into this vast
  array of data.

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Doctrines 2

• Complex systems are best managed from the bottom
  up. Today's top-down command and control
  management styles are complicated, inefficient,
  and problematic.
• We must manage to recognize the tremendous
  individual human potential in the workplace.
  There must be a place at the corporate table for
  all employees, regardless of physical
  characteristics or role or position in the
  corporate hierarchy.

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The Vision

• Our leadership mission is to create a setting in
  which human beings can flourish and are valued
  and recognized as the key to success. We will
  view employees as holistic versatile partners in
  the creation of enterprise.

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Characteristics of Successful Organisations

• Self-organizing or self-renewing
• Adaptive
• Flexible to internal and external change
• Feedback loops
• reflection, self-awareness, information
• Globally stable with local fluctuations
• Open system
• Self-referential

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Learning Organisations

• Respond to environmental changes
• Tolerate stress
• Compete effectively
• Exploit new niches
• Take risks
• Develop symbiotic relationships
• Evolve or perish?

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Organisational Change

• When system is far from equilibrium, creative
  individual can have a huge impact
• amplification of feedback loop
• presence of lone fluctuation gets amplified

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Organisations Self Organising Systems 1

• Portfolio of skills--not portfolio of business
  units
• Many levels of autonomy
• Need strong competency, identity, and vision
• Strong frame of reference (Self-referent)
• Capacity for spontaneously emerging structures
  that best fit present need
• Strong relationship to environment - as matures,
  more efficient, more adaptive

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Organisations Self Organising Systems 2

• Co-evolution with environment establishes basic
  structure facilitates insulation that protects
  system from constant, reactive changes
• Chaos forces organization to seek new points of
  view
• Organizations and their environments are evolving
  simultaneously toward better fitness for each
  other.
• Flexible response to changes

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Transformational Leadership

• Organizational beliefs (genetic code)
• Feedback loop reciprocal modification
• Guiding principles, shared vision
• Straddle both continuity and discontinuity
• Adaptable
• Aware of environment
• Reflective
• Self-transcendent
• Adhocracy

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Transformational Leadership 2

• Entreprenurial
• Visionary
• Build sustainable niche in emergent economic /
  political systems
• The Leaders task is to communicate shared values
  and guiding principles, keep them in the
  forefront, and allow individuals in the system
  random, chaotic-looking meanderings. (Wheatley,
  p. 133)

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Conclusion - Interconnectedness

• ...Whatever befalls the earth,
• befalls the sons and daughters of the earth.
• Man did not weave the web of life
• he is merely a strand in it.
• Whatever he does to the web,
• he does to himself
• F. Capra, The Web of Life, 1996.