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Self-Organizing Systems
Business writers such as Fritjof Capra, Margaret Wheatley, and Peter Senge, have been drawing parallels between phenomena in the natural world and the ways we structure our human systems for years. The work of these thinkers has focused on the similarities between organizational life and natural systems in biology, chemistry, physics, and the environment. These living systems share several characteristics in common.
They are…
- Self-Maintaining: Living systems, while depending on the environment, are not determined by it. They have the ability to flex and adapt to changing circumstances.
- Self-Renewing: Plants, animals, and ecosystems constantly repair and replace tissue, parts, and individual members. Each cell in your pancreas is replaced on a 24 hour cycle. There is continuous structural change but the stability of the system is maintained.
- Self-Transcending: A living system not only maintains itself but also has an inherent tendency to reach out and create new forms. Evolution is not merely reactive adaptation to environmental changes. Instead, evolution happens when organisms act upon the environment in creative ways. Every system has the potential for creativity; for surprising and transcending itself.
- Self-Referencing: Living systems have mechanisms to learn about their influence on the environment. These feedback loops serve as alarms. Faced with negative feedback, living systems can reconfigure.
Of these characteristics, "self reference" stands out as especially relevant for organizations. When people know the goal and purpose of an organization, they can use that to prioritize and focus their own activities. It becomes easier to determine what is important or decide whether a new idea is worth perusing. Having strong and consistently communicated values, traditions, aspirations, competencies, and culture all allow the organization to be somewhat independent from the environment. There can be fluctuations at the individual level yet the whole system remains stable.
A recent article about Apple computers in the Christian Science Monitor September 19, 2011, offers an example of the effects of self-referencing in an organization. Apple never cared what the competition was doing. "I'm not sure Apple even thinks about the competition." says Keith Yamashita, a consultant with Apple. "They're uniquely themselves without worrying about anyone else. When I worked for Steve [Jobs] there was little discussion about the competition." (page 31). Apple set the bar for itself and always tried to exceed its own standards and expectations.
Similar to people in Vermont working through the crisis of a flood, employees at Apple achieved consistently high results by staying focused on goals and being true to their values.
Once again, a common purpose makes collaboration contagious.
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Here are the books Mr.Brian Remer has referred.
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Here are the books Mr.Brian Remer has referred.
For More Information:
- Leadership and the New Science by Margaret J. Wheatley, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., San Francisco, 1994.
- Mindwalk directed by Bernt Capra, staring Liv Ullmann, Sam Waterston, and John Herd, 1991. (Based on the book The Turning Point by Fritjof Capra.)
- The Quantum Society by Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, William Morrow, New York, 1994.
- Chaos: Making a New Science by James Gleick, Penguin Books, New York, 1987.
- The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by Peter Senge, Doubleday, New York, 1994.
