Facilitating Organization Change: Lessons from Complexity Science

Book Description

Looking for a highly effective alternative to traditional change models?
Finally, an alternative to traditional change models-the science of complex adaptive systems (CAS). The authors explain how, rather than focusing on the macro "strategioc" level of the organization system, complexity theory suggests that the most powerful change processes occur at the micro level where relationship, interaction and simple rules shape emerging patterns.
* Details how the emerging paradigm of a CAS affects the role of change agents
* Tells how you can build the requisite skills to function in a CAS
* Provides tips for thriving in that new paradigm "Olson and Eoyang do a superb job of using complexity science to develop numerous methods and tools that practitioners can immediately use to make their organizations more effective."
--Kevin Dooley, Professor of Management and Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University

Customer Reviews:

Universal Framework for OD Work.......2005-03-21

I read this book when it was written several years ago. The book has staying power. I find that I have adopted the concepts from complexity science as a framework for my organization development work. I think in terms of the simple, yet powerful, metaphor of breadmaking when consulting and facilitating.

The Best Practical Guide to Using Complexity.......2002-01-17

This is the best practical guide in existence for using Complexity to transform an organization. The authors give valuable tools and techniques for concrete processes which promote Complexity transformation, along with examples of real business situations where the tools have worked. Especially valuable for those who have a background in organization development. Highly recommended.

practical book about promising org. change approach.......2001-10-04

This is an interesting book about an approach to managing and changing organizations, which is quite different from traditional change approaches: complexity theory. You might think: "Ah, here we go again.... Is this just the next new management hype, destined to be forgotten soon?" I don't think so. I think complexity theory is to be taken a bit more serious than that. What is it? It is a rapidly developing theoretical framework that describes and explains fundamental processes of complex adaptive systems, like organizations. What is a complex adaptive system? The authors of this book, Edwin Olson and Glenda Eoyang, explain that in a complex adaptive system, a multitude of different players (called agents) held together by some cohesive force (called a container) and constantly interacting with each other in all kinds of ways (these interactions are called transforming exchanges).

The self-organizing nature of human interactions in a complex organization leads to surprising effects. Small actions, events and interactions can lead to dramatic outcomes affecting the whole system. Human interactions in complex systems lead to so-called emergent properties, which are features of the system that the separate parts do not have. (For example, brain cells don't have consciousness, but the human brain does). All of this explains why it is often impossible to understand let alone predict or control events and developments. This is a rather big departure from the traditional view, which tends to see organizations as understandable, predictable and ... controllable!

Then how exactly is the complexity theory approach to change management different from the traditional approach? Ed Olson and Glenda Eoyang summarize the main features of the CAS approach to change as follows: 1) Achieve change through connections between agents (instead of trying to control the change top-down), 2) Adapt to uncertainty (instead of trying to use predictable stages of development), 3) Allow goals, plans, and structures to emerge (instead of depending on clear and detailed plans or goals), 4) Amplify and value difference (instead of always directly focusing on consensus), 5) Create self-similarity (instead of difference between levels), 6) Regard success as a matter of fit with the environment (instead of focusing on one dimensional success measures).

It's hard to accurately summarize in a few words what's in this book. So, if you're organizational development consultant, perhaps you'd better read it yourself. What you will find is that the book is a nice mix of theory, case descriptions and practical tools which (some of which are very nice and handy). I think this is the first book that makes complexity theory so practical.

Intelligent Organizations: Powerful Models for Systemic Management

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Important concepts for up-to-date management
For both academics and practitioners

Intelligent Organizations: Powerful Models for Systemic Management
Markus Schwaninger
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 3540298762

Book Description

This book offers an innovative approach to overcome the crisis of management in the face of complexity. The systems approach to management will help to develop the new kind of intelligent organizations so urgently needed. This approach is a powerful tool, grounded in organizational cybernetics and systems dynamics. The approach will allow managers and advanced students of management cope with organizational complexity in an effective way. The book is a source for improvement of any kind of organizations, private or public, non-profit, large or small. The systems approach, on which this book is grounded, makes this book different from many conventional books on organizations.

Customer Reviews:

Important concepts for up-to-date management.......2007-04-11

This book is a very important book. Besides its solid theoretical foundations it is a very practical book. It will help managers to better understand their role in the complex world where companies and organizations in general have to operate. The role of managers in organizations is basically to design their organizations and to steer them so they are able to cope steadily with the complexity they have to face, in the outside environment as well as inside, in order to achieve their purposes. This means helping their organizations to be more "intelligent".

To show how to do this the author establishes an integrative Framework for the Design and Development of Intelligent Organizations containing five core components which are interrelated: Activities, Structure, Behavior, Basic Parameters (Identity, Ethos and Vision) and Time. Each of them is described in great detail and the implications of its adequate inclusion and design is thoroughly treated.

Three very important theories (The Model of Systemic Control-MSC), The Viable System Model-VSM and the Team Syntegrity model-TSM) are described and coherently incorporated into the framework.

Another very relevant aspect of this book is the great attention dedicated to the implications that three clearly identified necessary types of management (Operative, Strategic and particularly Normative) have on the companies and organizations' long term viability.

In summary I think that this book is a must for managers interested in knowing the very advanced concepts and tools which are today available and ready-to-use for helping them to steer their companies through the actual (and quite probably future) turbulent environments in which they operate.

For both academics and practitioners.......2006-08-21

It is hard to find in management literature books with the right mixture of theoretical rigor, empirical support, and practical advice. This book is one of such a kind. The book presents a novel integrative framework for management, using three well known academic models: The Model of Systemic Control - developed by the author -, the Viable System Model and the Team Sintegrity model. This schema allows to address the whole picture of several organizational issues that usually are treated separately: structure, behavior, functions, human/social conditions and time. What is known as the Systems Approach. As the author says in the first lines: "This is not a book about how to run a company. It is about how to look at the world differently". It is full with real-life examples and occasional exploration of other areas such as computer simulation and complexity theory which underpin the ideas in the book. And besides, the author's style guarantees a very pleasing reading.

The Paradox of Control in Organizations (Complexity and Emergence in Organizations)

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The Paradox of Control in Organizations (Complexity and Emergence in Organizations)
Phi Streatfield
Manufacturer: Routledge
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The Emergence of Leadership: Linking Self-organization and Ethics (Complexity and Emergence in Organisations)
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Complex Responsive Processes in Organizations: Learning and Knowledge Creation (Complexity and Emergence in Organizations)
Complexity & Innovation in Organizations
Complexity and Management: Fad or Radical Challenge? (Complexity Inorganisations)

ASIN: 0415250323

Book Description

In this book Philip Streatfield reflects on his own experience as a manager to explore the question - who, or what is 'in control' in an organization. Adopting the perspective of complex responsive processes developed in the first two volumes of this series, the author takes self-organization and emergence as central themes in thinking about life in organizations. He focuses on the tension between spontaneously forming patterns of conversation, and intentional actions, arguing that the order of organizations emerges through a combination of collective interaction and individual intentions.

Changing Conversations in Organizations: A Complexity Approach to Change (Complexity and Emergence Inorganisations, 6)

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A formal meeting will never quite be good enough ever again

Changing Conversations in Organizations: A Complexity Approach to Change (Complexity and Emergence Inorganisations, 6)
Patricia Shaw
Manufacturer: Routledge
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Binding: Paperback

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Facilitating Organization Change: Lessons from Complexity Science
Complex Responsive Processes in Organizations: Learning and Knowledge Creation (Complexity and Emergence in Organizations)
Complexity and Management: Fad or Radical Challenge? (Complexity Inorganisations)
The Emergence of Leadership: Linking Self-organization and Ethics (Complexity and Emergence in Organisations)
Complexity & Innovation in Organizations

ASIN: 0415249147

Customer Reviews:

A formal meeting will never quite be good enough ever again.......2007-03-02

I really enjoyed this book. It is very readable and very practical. I have a Masters Degree in Complexity Theory and this book beautifully complimented my understanding of the power of conversations to get to the deeper complexity of issues and the limitations of our traditional workplace meetings. I have been pushing for a conversational structure to my meetings at work (I work in organisational development), discussion and development groups that I run outside work and in my interpersonal relationships.

Experiencing Emergence in Organizations Local Interaction and the Emergence of Global Pattern (Complexity as the Experience of Organizing)

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Experiencing Emergence in Organizations Local Interaction and the Emergence of Global Pattern (Complexity as the Experience of Organizing)
Ralph Stacey
Manufacturer: Routledge
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Experiencing Risk, Spontaneity and Improvisation in Organisational Life: Working Live (Complexity as the Experience of Organizing)
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Complexity and the Experience of Managing in the Public Sector (Complexity as the Experience of Organizing)
Changing Conversations in Organizations: A Complexity Approach to Change (Complexity and Emergence Inorganisations, 6)

ASIN: 0415351332

Book Description

The perspective of complex responsive processes draws on analogies from the complexity sciences, bringing in the essential characteristics of human agents, understood to emerge in social processes of communicative interaction and power-relating. The result is a way of thinking about life in organizations that focuses attention on how organizational members cope with unknown as they perpetually create organizational futures together.

Providing a natural successor to the Editors' earlier series (Complexity and Emergence in Organizations) this series Complexity as the Experience of Organizing, aims to take this work further by taking very seriously the experience of organizational practitioners, and showing how taking the perspective of complex responsive process yields deeper insight into practice and so develops that practice.

In this book, all of the contributors work as leaders, consultants or managers in organizations. They provide narrative accounts of their actual work addressing questions such as:
· How do widespread or global patterns, such as government or corporate policies, emerge and evolve, in the local interactions between people?
· What actually happens in global change programmes such as installing competencies, managing diversity and assuring quality?
· What does this imply about the relationship between the local and the global?

In considering such questions in terms of their daily experience, the contributors explore how the perspective of complex responsive processes assists them to make sense of their experience and so to develop their practice. Experiencing Emergence in Organizations offers a different method for making sense of an experience in a rapidly changing world by using reflective accounts of ordinary everyday life in organizations rather than idealized accounts. The editors' commentary introduces and contextualizes these experiences as well as drawing out key themes for further research.

Experiencing Emergence in Organizations will be of value to readers from amongst those academics and business school students and practitioners who are looking for reflective accounts of real life experiences of researching in organizations rather than further prescriptions of what like in organizations ought to be like.

New Directions in Education Policy Implementation: Confronting Complexity

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Ground breaking book on Implementation

New Directions in Education Policy Implementation: Confronting Complexity

Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Standards Deviation: How Schools Misunderstand Education Policy
Distributed Leadership (Jossey-Bass Leadership Library in Education)
Politics, Ideology & Education: Federal Policy During the Clinton and Bush Administrations
The New Meaning of Educational Change, Fourth Edition
Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools (Jossey-Bass Education)

ASIN: 0791468208

Book Description

Provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive review of contemporary research in education policy implementation.

Customer Reviews:

Ground breaking book on Implementation .......2006-08-10

Anyone interested in policy implementation should read this book. This book should be the main text in every education policy class and required reading in some government agencies. The introductory chapter provides a concise and compelling review of what we know about how policies get implemented (and why sometimes they don't). The following chapters demonstrate the lessons highlighted in the first by delving deeply into one or two theoretical lenses for understanding policy implementation, while discussing a contemporary policy case. This structures helps the reader make sense of different theoretical lenses with the context of practice. My only complaint is about how the book is marketed: It is not a companion volumne to the Odden book, but after 15 years, a replacement.

Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier

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too generic and hard to put it into practical use
Harnessing complexity... without the harness
A beginner's view
A beginner's view
Full of Fluff

Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier
Robert Axelrod , and Michael D Cohen
Manufacturer: Free Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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The Complexity of Cooperation
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ASIN: 0684867176

Book Description

Recent advances in the study of complexity have given scientists profound new insights into how natural innovation occurs and how its power can be exploited. Now two pioneers in the field, Robert Axelrod and Michael D. Cohen, provide leaders in business and government with a guide to complexity that will help them make effective decisions in a world of rapid change.

Building on evolutionary biology, computer science, and social design, Axelrod and Cohen have constructed a unique framework for improving the way people work together. Their approach to management is based on the concept of the Complex Adaptive System, which can describe everything from rain forests to the human gene pool, and from automated software agents to multinational companies. The authors' framework reveals three qualities that all kinds of managers must cultivate in their organization:

Variation What is the best way to manage the development of software? Should the problem be broken up into small pieces for programmers working independently, thus enhancing variation, or should there be a centralized hierarchy of programmers ruled by a chain of command? The authors show how the decentralized creation of variation combined with the centralized maintenance of standards was the key to the success of the Linux "open source software" project, which brought together thousands of volunteers in cyberspace to produce an operating system that can outperform Microsoft's.
Interaction Why did northern Italy prosper while southern Italy remained poor? Recognizing the internal interactions of a Complex Adaptive System -- be it a national region, a company, or a nonprofit group -- reveals vital networks of trust. Axelrod and Cohen explain that in successful adaptive systems, rich networks of horizontal linkages foster cooperation and provide an advantage over other less cooperatively networked groups. In the case of Italy, voluntary associations created networks of trust in the Middle Ages that became northern Italy's critical advantage over the south.
Selection Is a Pulitzer Prize better than a National Book Award? How can foundations and corporations design competitions that have a positive effect on the evolution of excellence? The authors' framework makes clear that the worst selection processes are mired in orthodox standards that have not adapted to a new environment. The best selection processes, on the other hand, are created and run by leaders who understand how the standards they use can transform their organization and its environment.

This simple, paradigm-shifting analysis of how people work together will transform the way we think about getting things done in a group. Harnessing Complexity is the essential guide to creating wealth, power, and knowledge in the 21st century.

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Robert Axelrod is one of the world's leading experts on game theory and cooperation. Together with Michael Cohen he now reveals what makes a complex group of individuals into a productive team. Harnessing Complexity will be indispensable to anyone who wants better ways of thinking about how people and organizations can adapt effectively in the information age. The authors' paradigm of "bottom up" management -- the Complex Adaptive System -- is fast becoming a tenet of twenty-first-century science and management.

Axelrod and Cohen use many fascinating real-world examples to illustrate their model of complexity, but their book is more than a manual for success in Silicon Valley. Managers in any business, not-for-profit organization, or the public sector, can go step by step through the processes of variation, interaction, and selection that are at the heart of every Complex Adaptive System -- whether it is the ecology of a rain forest, an innovative banking system in the villages of Bangladesh, or the frenetic but efficient world of Wall Street trading. Their simple, paradigm-shifting model of how people work together will change forever how we think about getting things done in a group.

Customer Reviews:

too generic and hard to put it into practical use.......2003-07-10

Overall, I think the book is too generic, only touching the surface of complexity/organizational theory. Hard for me to get any good action steps/tips for my practical job.

The author pointed out three points of "Complex Adaptive System"
- variation
- interaction
- selection

It looks like something new. However, the author only talks on the very surface level of these three concepts. He explained why variation/interaction/selection is good to corporate organization, just as it is good for living beings. Yet, you can't find specific action steps to work on. In addition, if we do not go into deeper level (or new meaning), these three concepts will be just like old concepts with new names (i.e. diversity/teamwork/performance evaluation).

Net, I find this book is hard for practical use, and only recommend it to people who are extremely interested in complexity theory.

Harnessing complexity... without the harness.......2003-01-28

In the first paragraph of the preface of this book, Axelrod and Cohen ask, "In a world where many players are all adapting to each other and where the emergring future is extremely hard to predict, what actions should we take?" As a "reader from Boston" recommended, providing recommendations for practical application (7 Habits of Complexity?) would have helped answer this question.

Unfortunately, even the authors' anectodal examples provide little insight into HOW to "harness" complexity. While this book is primarily aimed at "designers and policy makers," it may actually be most useful to consultants looking to add new buzzwords to their bs lexicon.

I would recommend Briggs and Peats's "Seven Life Lessons of Chaos" for those who are looking for a more nuts-and-bolts approach to these issues.

A beginner's view.......2002-12-01

As my first venture into the world of complexity and complex adaptive systems this was an interesting book. A lot of what I anecdotally thought about complexity was reinforced through the authors' own anecdotal examples. The examples were from a wide variety of situations, but were explained in a way to be understood by someone without a background in those various areas. However, I think the title was somewhat misleading. It seemed that a lot of the value of the book depended on having at least the initial, possibly intuitive, understanding of the interrelatedness of events, structure, and environment.

The diversity of the areas affected by complexity would seem to make it difficult to formulate a simple step by step approach for using complexity. However, it would have been helpful if the authors spent some time on what initial or environmental conditions might have been changed in their examples and how those changes would have affected the end system.

A beginner's view.......2002-12-01

Full of Fluff.......2001-02-22

How anyone can rate this book at 5 stars is beyond me. This book is not only one of the weaker contributions to the literature on complexity in the past two years, it fails to live up to the title. No one who reads this book will know how to take the first step toward "harnessing complexity." At best, they will have the broadly useful idea that it's good to experiment with new ideas (exploration) every now and then, and then pick the ideas that work (exploitation). That hardly seems like a great breakthrough. Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier?! Get real.

Complexity and Creativity in Organizations

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Highly Recommended!
Great application of chaos theory to organizations
Save your money...
Disappointing in light of Stacey's other work in this field.

Complexity and Creativity in Organizations
Ralph Stacey
Manufacturer: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1881052893

Book Description

Complexity and Creativity in Organizations is the most comprehensive and thorough book yet written on how the new science of complexity can be applied to organizations. In it, Ralph Stacey invites you to explore how this new science might provide us with more useful frameworks for making sense of life in organizations than the approaches that currently dominate our thinking.

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommended!.......2001-08-04

Organizations are adaptive structures that respond creatively to changing circumstances. This responsive evolution takes place on an official, surface level, and also on a deeper, personal level composed of interactions between people. So says Ralph D. Stacey, who combines insights from psychoanalysis, behavioral research, the new science of complexity and other disciplines to suggest ways for your organization to become better at learning and adapting. While the basic concepts of complexity theory presented in this book are steadily gaining popularity, the actual complexity of the book's content might make it difficult for non-experts to follow. Although the book's tight organization keeps chaos at bay, some of the language might leave you at "the edge of disintegration." Nevertheless, we at [...] strongly recommend this book to executives and managers looking to build a theoretical foundation for their organizational approach, in addition to the many academics who will appreciate its systematic explanation of the organizational consequences of systems thinking.

Great application of chaos theory to organizations.......2001-03-24

Stacey did a good job applying chaos theory to business in this book. He develops a very convincing and interesting conceptual framework for organizations in the future. Although the book mainly focuses on theory, he does provide some practical guidelines and case studies. He repeats the theories quite often and thus, the book is especially appropriate for students who really want to get the jist of the theory. If you read it for fun, all these repetitions might become tedious. All in all, a great book!

Save your money..........1998-04-27

While the content should have some value, the cost to the reader to extract the information is so high that the author should pay the reader to read his book. In the first 25 pages of "At Home in the Universe", Stuart Kauffman sucessfully introduces more than Stacey stumbled over in 282 pages. If it's an organizational perspective you want, buy Margaret Wheatley's stuff.

Disappointing in light of Stacey's other work in this field........1997-01-03

Ralph D. Stacey (strategic management, U. of Hertfordshire, England, and management consultant) has contributed for years to our knowledge related to organizations and management. His previous publications primarily served to illuminate the relevance of applying strategic approaches and complexity theory to organization and management in a rapidly growing environment (see for example, Stacey, 1991, 1992, 1993). His latest installment, Complexity and Creativity in Organizations, represents a significant step forward in his thinking by reviving systems theory and integrating insights from a variety of disciplines to create, he proposes, an original perspective. More precisely, Stacey combines his acquired acumen from the fields of chaos and complexity, organizational behavior, biology, and psychoanalysis to demonstrate how complexity concepts may be used to create a framework for understanding organizational processes and learning. During the course of his presentation, Stacey reviews current knowledge in the nature of human networks and complexity theory. He explores the place of complexity in individuals, groups and organizations. He also discusses the implications of applying the complexity paradigm for management research and practice. Complexity and Creativity in Organizations is aimed at "consultants, and managers, those concerned with life in organizations, to new efforts being undertaken to understand life in nature." It is organized into ten chapters divided into four parts: Part I: The Complex Nature of Human Networks, attempts to demonstrate "that human systems are indeed the kind of system that the science of complexity deals with." Part II: The Science of Complexity, reviews literature on "the dynamics of deterministic feedback networks," and explores how some "scientists have come to understand adaptive feedback networks." Part III: Mapping the Science of Complexity onto Organizations, "seeks to locate the space for novelty in human systems and explore the process of evolution in that space." Part IV: Implications of Complexity Theory for Organizations, attempts to illustrate that by adopting the complexity perspective, our understanding of organizational life is "completely different from today's dominant frame of reference." It includes a brief glossary; some expected references; and an index appropriate to the depth of this work. This book is well intended, but falls short of stated goals and purpose. This reviewer was unable to discover sufficient value in Stacey's recent contribution to merit its recommendation. A genuine disappointment considering his earlier, value-adding writings. Stacey's Complexity and Creativity in Organizations fails in areas ranging from the timeliness of his information--it is out dated; to lack of contribution--it's an unfortunate attempt to repackage existing knowledge; to coverage and depth of his subject; to the tone and presentation of the work. His writing style and tone are that of lecturer dealing with elementary school students as he avidly invokes the royal "we" to connect with his readers. He offers paragraphs of immoderate length, some consisting of one sentence. (This reviewer became discouraged trying to decipher some sentences ranging from seventy to ninety-five words. She had to edit them into four or five sentences so she could follow his points. Points which, when understood, were not worth the editorial effort.) As a combined example of "we"-ness in a two sentence paragraph beginning with a ninety-five word sentence advancing too many concepts at once, "let us" consider the following. We have now mapped the novelty onto organizations, and we have found . . . nonlinear feedback system: . . . phase transition . . . stable and unstable zones . . . control parameters . . . at a critical point . . . the edge of system disintegration in which paradox is sustained . . . archetypical behaviors are actualized . . . creative destruction. This is followed by a 33 word sentence which includes two "we"s and the phrases "peculiarity of human dynamics of anxiety-inspiration," "individuation-conformity," "leadership-followership," and "participation-observation render mapping invalid (page 183)." This reviewer places part of the blame for Stacey's presentation on the publisher who seems to have been remiss in the discharging of editorial responsibilities. Stacey may also confuse some by not offering comparable terms from different fields. Those less inter-disciplinarily trained may not recognize, for example, that the term "Shadow system" (to which he has apparently developed a fondness owing to its usage every few pages), is not discernibly different from the concept of "Informal organization" which he does not mention, but is often speaking about. While his book is presented as inter-disciplinary in nature, me thinks and "feels" that Stacey's study of psychology and psychoanalysis have overly influenced his writing. He frequently discusses "how we feel" or "feelings" in relationship to how consultants might analyze a complex organizational situation. His current writing is rich in banality and incomparable comparisons. My personal favorite is when he compares schools of psychology. In one paragraph, he discusses with equal fervor the work of Berne, Freud and Jung. Specifically, he discusses Transactional Analysis (TA) brought to you by Berne in Games People Play. TA was never much more than a popular 1960s parlor game. And Games People Play primarily served as the textual reference to inform the Friday night pop-psychological critiques bandied about by those who had one too many beers. Stacey then proceeds to Freud as relates to anal retentive, anal explusive and orally fixated scripts; and to Jung as it relates to personal archetypes and personal behaviors activated by specific experiences. There are many other problems with this book which "we" do not have the space to discuss. Those deeply interested in chaos and complexity theories as applied to management and organizations are better served by examining earlier, and in my opinion, more informed writing on these topics. See, for example, works by Gleick, 1988; Waldrop, 1992; and Wheatley, 1992. Moreover, a search on the internet concerning chaos and complexity will yield much information on current states of theories, research and practice, as well as discussion groups and detailed bibliographies. Bottom line, this reviewer gained little from this book, but did have a few chuckles. Read Complexity and Creativity in Organizations at your own risk. REFERENCES: Berne, E. (1964). Games people play. New York: Grove Press. Gleick, J. (1988). Chaos: The making of a new science. London: Heinemann. Stacey, RD. (1991). The chaos frontier: Creative strategic control for business. Oxford, England: Butterworth-Heinemann. Stacey, RD. (1992). Managing the unknowable: Strategic boundaries between order and chaos in organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Stacey, RD. (1993). Strategic management and organizational dynamics. London: Pitman. Waldrop, MM. (1992). Complexity: The emerging science at the edge of chaos. New York: Simon & Schuster. Wheatley, MJ. (1992). Leadership and the New Science: Learning about organization from an orderly universe. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler. [Note: the above was excerpted from review by Susan Phelps that appears in "Personnel Psychology

Average customer rating:

Good information, how to implement?
"The best business plan is only a best guess"
Undistinguished
An interesting read
puffed up self-important view of the world

The Complexity Advantage
Susanne Kelly , and Mary Ann Allison
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Strategy & Competition | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Amazon.com

Staggered by third-world debt, Citicorp turned to a new management tool to help thwart growing international competition. According to authors Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison, the company adopted "complexity science," which helped Citicorp learn how to evolve more effectively in its business environment. In the mid 1990s, they became a great turnaround story: profits rose again, debt was reduced, and its stock price rocketed. In The Complexity Advantage, Kelly, a Citibank vice president, and Allison, president of a consulting company, describe a complexity-based program that empowers employees and gives them the freedom to organize and manage themselves better. The authors write that this new management technique can help any company thrive in an increasingly chaotic business environment. The authors argue that managers who give company divisions the means to self-organize "will have enthusiastic employee contribution, better information, dramatic increases in both productivity and creativity, lower costs, and the ability to respond rapidly to change in direction." Kelly and Allison go on to describe step by step how the science of complexity can be applied to business. They give four simple rules to follow for successful self-organizing: Trust, learn together, commit deeply, and embrace change. The Complexity Advantage is a useful manual for company leaders interested in complexity science and its applications to business. -Dan Ring

Book Description

In today's rapidly changing global market, a growing number of organizations are turning to the science of complexity theory and successfully applying its principles to dramatically improve the way they do business. Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison draw on their extensive research at Citibank, a recognized pioneer in the successful application of complexity science to the business world, showing managers how to use complexity's self-organizing techniques to increase efficiency and creativity, inspire new ways of leading, and predict the behaviors of employees, customers, vendors, and competitors.

Customer Reviews:

Good information, how to implement?.......2002-04-24

Don't get me wrong, I like the book. It is just that it is difficult to translate it into an initiative. Even if I ask members of the team who need to understand the concept and come up with ways to advance the concept, we will be spending time on "I don't understand this line here". My point is that the writing seems to be targeted to the decision-makers who are well-educated or well-read but it would be simply too difficult for the actual implementers - middle managers, task leaders, team members, etc. This is even more apparent at the global scene where English is the second or third language. This is probably why I can buy the brand new hardcopy on sale at a cheap price and the stack remains tall for many days (no one else is buying it).

"The best business plan is only a best guess".......2001-04-25

"Your business comprises self-organizing systems whether you know it or like it. You can cut costs and improve profits dramatically by learning to work with these systems rather than against them. So, what is self-organization and how does it work?...In this book," Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison write, "we build on complexity science to explain and apply the principles of self-organization to business and organizational behavior. We discuss the enterprise environment and energy that leaders must provide to generate the power and precision of laser-sharp business performance"(p.4).

In this context, in Chapter 1, after defining complexity science and complexity advantage, they argue that "Complexity advantage companies address today's transition in business-plagued by rapid change and increasing uncertainty. For approximately a century our manufacturing model was comparatively stable...The Information Age has turned previous 'knowns' upside-down...The best business plan is only a best guess." And hence they summarize the old and new business paradigms as following:

I. Manufacturing Age Business

* Game: Bulk-material manufacturing.

* Goal: Commodity product.

* Domain: Regional.

* Future: Predictability, deterministic.

* Change Periodic nuance, steady rate, digestable.

* Rules: Linear cause and effect.

* Game plan:Five-year strategic plans.

* Leader: Manages strategic plan to end state.

* Ownership: Centralized decision-making and responsibility.

* Challenge: Demand versus capacity to deliver.

* Resources: Material and financial capital.

* Risk: Moving too quickly-out of control.

* Approach: Quality, low cost of production. Branding, emergent price standards. Diminishing returns.

* Role of Team: Optimizing of quality and productivity. Application of raw energy. Repetitive day-to-day operations. Processing of resources.

* Process Perspective: Parts interact in sequence of steps. End-to-end effiency key, standardization the answer.

II. Information Age Business

* Game: Design and use of technology.

* Goal: Knowledge-based products.

* Domain: Global.

* Future: Uncertainty, probability, possibility.

* Change: Way of life - accelerating, overwhelming.

* Rules: Nonlinear complex interaction.

* Game Plan: Three-year probability scenarios.

* Leader: Envisions and coaches on direction.

* Ownership: Distributed decision-making and responsibility.

* Challenge: Demand versus capacity for change.

* Resources: Human, social, or intellectual capital.

* Risk: Moving too slowly-out of the running.

* Approach: Be first-best if possible, high-cost R&D. Market lock-on, high margins. Increasing returns.

* Role of Team: Quality:productivity:adaptability. Application of ideas. Quest for innovation. Processing of information.

* Process Perspective: Whole emerges from interacting parts. Micro-to macrointegrity key, feedback the answer.

Finally, they write that "By the way, if you are part of a start-up or a small-to-medium-sized business, don't be fooled by the adjective global. Today, satellite communications, the Internet, and air transport move information, materials, products, and people rapidly from place to place. All of us are now connected through a global market comprising mail-order customers and suppliers, supply chain partnership, and international franchise competition. Even our local pizza parior has installed a fax machine and is designing a Web site. They must compete not only with the deli down the street, but also with global fast-food chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Pizza Hut. Without the complexity advantage, they risk the fate of dinosaurs."

Highly recommended.

Undistinguished.......2000-05-25

The authors and the text come highly recommended but I must say that the book is a profound disappointment. What I expected was a book blending complexity science with applied business experience. What I received was another undistinguished business book. For a study based on nonlinear principles, Susanne Kelly and Mary Ann Allison rely excessively on linear lists and programs. Much like any other business text, there are the five levels in the fitness model, the fourteen steps to success, the four simple rules, and so on. In short, the authors appear to be thoroughly grounded in linear thought. There was very little on growing complexity thoughts, behavior, and actions in your own portion of the business organization. Instead, the authors have written a book that should appeal to corporate training departments everywhere because of the focus on simple steps, simple progressions, and simple solutions. My advice is to save your money because The Complexity Advantage is too easily forgotten.

An interesting read.......1999-10-04

This book reveals how complexity theory (CT) can be used in today's complicated organization. However, it lacks the tools on how to achieve what it intends to do. The steps and levels of organization 'maturity' described by author is clear. It has interesting sections and good lessons to teach. The book does not stand on its own. It needs help from other disciplines to put the plan into reality. Perhaps, readers may find more in Theory of Constraints than what is expected in Complexity theory in business world at this point in time.

puffed up self-important view of the world.......1999-05-03

Despite all of the hype, I found this book to be wordy, convoluted, and devoid of clarity. Sure, some of the concepts are useful, but they are presented in such a self-important and unconvincing style that they are useless. Any normal person would get lost in all of the acronyms and made-up new language. Phrases like "autocatalytic loops generating stable, healthy memes for robust self-organization" abound on every page. This book is for Ivory Tower theorists, not for somebody trying to run a business and manage a business. These may indeed be "big ideas", as a recent WSJ review states, but those ideas need a new voice....

COMPLEXITY, ORGANIZATIONS AND CHANGE (Routledge Studies on Complexity in Management)

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COMPLEXITY, ORGANIZATIONS AND CHANGE (Routledge Studies on Complexity in Management)
Elizabeth McMillan
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

Complexity, Learning and Organizations
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ASIN: 041539502X

Book Description

Complexity science has seriously challenged long-held views in the scientific community about how the world works. These ideas, particularly about the living world, also have radical and profound implications for organizations and society as a whole. Complexity, Organizations and Change, available in paperback for the first time, describes and considers ideas and insights from complexity science and their use in organizations, especially in bringing about major organizational change. It is about transforming the way people think about organizations, about their design, the way they operate and, most importantly, the people who co-create them. This book explains the history and development of complexity science in an accessible way for the non-scientific reader, describing key concepts and their use in theory and practice. These concepts are fleshed out with real-life examples from organizations in the UK, Europe and the USA.

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