Ten years ago, one could expect technology to change every seven to eight years; five years ago, that became every three to four. Today, computer technology changes so rapidly that it's practically obsolete by the time it hits the market. The chaos ensuing from rapid change often breeds anxiety and frustration for organizations struggling to keep up. One wonders how to cope in such a world. Does rapid change necessarily have to mean chaos and if so, how do we learn or grow in this kind of environment? Finally, what, if anything, can be done to make transitions smoother?

Good Chaos?

Far from being something to eschew, "chaos" may actually be a state to welcome, according to some management theorists. The term is now routinely used to describe our current theory of the universe but emerged only a few decades ago when scientific discoveries transformed how we think about and experience the universe. In the 70's quantum physics, the progenitor of chaos theory, turned our perception of physical reality on its ear by establishing a new way of determining how our senses process information and reflect it back to us. The theory embraces five attributes (consciousness, connectivity, complexity, dissipation, and emergence) that work together to govern the entire cosmos as well as our experience of it.

Although an in-depth discussion of Chaos Theory is well beyond the scope of this article, suffice it to say that its underlying principles are now believed to rule all organic systems. In short, all human experience grows out of a process in which our consciousness engages in a never-ending dance between order and chaos--a dance which we ultimately choreograph into a body of work we call "knowledge."

A number of industrial experts have made the leap that Chaos Theory should also be applied to understanding and managing organizations, which are, after all, made up of multitudinous organic systems (i.e., human beings) and certainly rely heavily upon the acquisition of experience and the accumulation of knowledge. Accordingly, these theorists maintain that organizational functioning is merely a larger-scaled version of the dance--a dance that is neither linear nor, necessarily, predictable--a dance, nonetheless, that is both continuous and imperative for our survival.

Dr. Laurie Fitzgerald, Principal of The Consultancy, Inc., a US-based pioneer in the emerging field of organizational design and transformation informed by Chaos Theory, explains the theory as it applies to organizations and why it might not be so bad: "Chaos Theory is the science of the many `chaordic systems' found throughout our universe. A chaordic system is defined as a complex and dynamical [sic] arrangement of connections between elements forming a unified whole, the behavior of which is simultaneously unpredictable (chaotic) and patterned (orderly)."

In such a system, chaos and order are not opposites--one good, the other bad. Rather, they are flip sides of the same coin inextricably intertwined, both necessary for the system to work. Fitzgerald admonishes that "current views of management which believe in and vainly search for control are both outdated and dangerous. "The entire corpus of classical management we proudly call `scientific'," she says, "has been built upon the attendant values of continuity, certainty and control.... Our inveterate bias for order blindsides us to the roiling chaos lurking just beneath an ordered surface. Our arrogant compulsion to pursue control by imposing order at the first sign of turbulence is producing monsters (of our own making) that will inevitably consume us."

Surely, then, Chaos Theory (or simply, "Chaos" as it is now called) must be considered the new science of management, making its "specs," as Fitzgerald puts it, "without a doubt the most powerful navigational tool available to anyone who desires to thrive in far-from-equilibrium conditions."

Just what are those "specs?" In a nutshell, the never-ending, somewhat disorganized process whereby an organism is at the same time falling apart and coming back together again in a loosely unified, but malleable, whole--experiencing, altering, and re-experiencing itself and its environs in ways which cause it to better adapt to its ever-evolving world. And while it may be uncomfortable--even painful at times, this dance we call Chaos clearly motivates us to grow and to learn, arguably, the most significant exercises for survival in our constantly changing world.

Dr. Peter Senge, Director of MIT's Center for Organizational Learning, underscores the connection between learning and business success in his book, The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. He states, "the organizations that will excel in years to come will be those that understand how to gain the commitment of employees at all levels and continually expand their capacity to learn." Dr. David Garvin, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard University, agrees and in an article in Building Credit, highlights the importance of learning for growth: "Continuous improvement," he says "requires a commitment to learning."

As business becomes increasingly complex and globally competitive, improvement is critical, and nowhere is this more evident than in our universities where the use of technology will soon allow off-site educational programming to expand educational markets exponentially. Undoubtedly, the way we conduct business will be altered significantly as a result.

If we know that change causes us to learn and we understand the importance of learning to our continued growth and success, we must ask ourselves why it sends us into such a tailspin and what, exactly, we can do to turn that around.

Perhaps the first step in managing change is to recognize that it will cause chaos. Believing that change will not incur disruption sets up an unreasonable expectation that may contribute to our sense of anxiety. Once change and its concurrent confusion are accepted as inevitable, we may be able to shift our perceptions about it enough to manage our reactions to it and learn to work with, rather than against, it.

Fear vs. Creativity

One frustration with chaos may have its roots in the discomfort we feel when our life isn't predictable. As human beings we crave certainty and the uncertainty caused when things change may simply alarm us and trigger an emotionally fearful response. We may be scared of losing control, making mistakes or appearing foolish as we find ourselves in unfamiliar territory. Although illogical (who, after all, really has control over anything?), these fears can loom large and create tremendous obstacles to change.

Senge, in an article on learning in Organizational Dynamics, cites extreme focus on competition as the primary reasons for these particular fears and claims that they are antithetical to learning. "Our overemphasis on competition," he says, "makes looking good more important than being good. The resulting fear of not looking good is one of the greatest enemies of learning. To learn, we need to acknowledge that there is something we don't know and to perform activities that we are not good at. But in most organizations, ignorance is a sign of weakness; temporary incompetence is a character flaw."

False beliefs such as these can be incredibly damaging to an organization in the throes of change causing a slowdown in the process at best--at worst, a complete standstill.

To give a concrete example, suppose a company decides to move to a new computer system designed to reduce production time up to 20 percent. The system, however, is one with which employees have had little or no exposure even though many of its attributes are similar to the system currently in use. Installation takes place in January, but training won't begin until the end of March. Both fear and confusion may prevent employees from experimenting with the new product until they have been thoroughly and judiciously schooled in its use--a strategy that may stall the change process and squelch the means by which many creative uses of the new system are discovered.

Lisa Kimball, co-owner of Metasystems Design Group, a consulting firm that designs Intranets and author of Intranet Decisions: Creating Your Organization's Internal Network, advises her clients to resist the temptation to wait until they are familiar with new technology before using it, explaining that "things are moving too fast to take traditional approaches to learning.... Use the technology while you're planning... get experience with [it] from day one. Do something. Learn from the experience. Do something else. Adopt a strategy of continuous learning where training is integrated into the work processes on an ongoing basis...things are moving to fast to take traditional approaches to learning"

Trepidation also hinders playfulness, an essential ingredient in the change process. Joe Arbuckle, President of Phoenix Partnerships, Inc. and an expert in the field of organizational management, believes: "One of the most powerful tools for realizing change is inventiveness. So much good can happen if an organization allows its people to be inventive. Issues will be dealt with imaginatively...creativity will play a role in the change process."

Leading the Change Process

Whether the change is caused by emerging technologies or reorganization of personnel, it's the leader's responsibility to motivate the process. Resistance is likely if the person at the top isn't fully committed to and constantly reinforcing the change objective. Lasting change needs the cooperation of a large percentage (or critical mass) of an organization which it is the leader's responsibility to ensure. Fostering healthy change implies moving past old notions of simply managing, adapting, or coping with it, to the creation of environments in which people are encouraged to learn and able to work towards building a better community--a process Dr. Senge calls "change-ability."

A leader must help the organization accept a disquieting fact: that, inevitably, things will change. A perceptual shift about change must occur and engender experimentation so that the group's creativity is available to support the change process. A careful eye must be trained on long range goals with the understanding and acceptance that mistakes will be made from which a more effective course will be charted. If successful, inspiration, imagination and commitment will rise to move the organization in bold new directions and, hopefully, turn the chaos of change into the excitement of a brighter future.

References:

Garvin, David, "Building a Learning Organization," Building Credit, 96(1): 19-28. January, 1994.

Kimball, Lisa, Intranet Decisions: Creating Your Organization's Internal Network, Miles River Press, Alexandria, Virginia, 1997.

Kofman, Fred and Peter Senge, "Communities of Commitment: The Heart of Learning Organizations," Organizational Dynamics, 2(22): 5-19. Autumn, 1993.

Senge, Peter, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Currency Doubleday, New York, New York, 1994.

Arbuckle, Joseph, from an interview in "Achieving Change," Ontario Prevention Clearinghouse Newsletter, 5(3): 2-3.

Fitzgerald, Laurie, Webmaster,Chaos ThinkSite home page http://www.orgmind.com/chaos/

The Chaos Reading List: http://www.prairienet.org/business/ptech/full/book.html

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