1. Autopoiesis (Maturana/Varela)
1.1. Problems do not come from changes in external environment
1.2. Living systems are organizationally closed systems of interactions that make reference only to themselves.
1.2.1. Living systems are characterized by autonomy, circularity, and self-reference
1.2.2. They are organized in ways that conserve for self-preservation and self-identity.
1.2.3. Patterns of interaction are always self-referential.
1.2.4. Interaction with "environment" is really self-reflection and part of the organization that conserves identity.
1.2.5. Closure (self-reference) is what defines a system as a system
1.2.6. Systems have no beginning or end because they are closed loops of interactions.
1.2.7. Self-referring systems can exist as parts within other self-referring systems
1.3. Challenges distinctions between a system and its environment.
1.3.1. We see systems as distinct because we see them from OUR point of view.
1.3.2. When we look at their inner logic, we understand that they are self-conserving and structurally coupled with other systems
1.3.3. Relations with any environment are internally determined
1.4. Examples
1.4.1. Bees
1.4.1.1. Individual bee as organism with self-referencing physiology
1.4.1.2. Bee society - self-referencing relationships
1.4.1.3. Society & environment - also self-referencing
1.4.1.4. Bee system is structurally coupled with insect, animal, agricultural, human, and social systems. A change in one can transform the others.
1.4.1.5. Changes are produced by variations within the overall system (not as a result of external influence)
1.4.1.5.1. There's no such thing as external influence!
1.4.2. The Brain
1.4.2.1. Organizes its environment as an extension of itself
1.4.2.1.1. A biological basis for social constructionism!
1.4.2.2. Does not hold a representation of the environment in memory
1.4.2.3. Does not process information received from the environment as an independent domain
1.4.2.4. Creates images of external reality as expressions or descriptions of its own organization, interacts with these images, and modifies them based on experience.
1.4.3. Organizations
1.4.3.1. Act to conserve for self-identity and self-preservation
1.4.3.2. Org problems are connected to the conservation of a particular identity
1.4.3.3. Understanding org change requires paying attention to the patterns that embrace both the organization and its broadly defined environment.
1.4.3.4. Enactment (how orgs function, what they pay attention to) is a core process that projects, defines & produces an organization's identity.
1.4.3.5. Examples?
2. Chaos & Complexity
2.1. Pattern is what evolves
2.2. Complex non-linear systems
2.2.1. Multiple systems of interaction that are both ordered and chaotic
2.2.2. Random fluctuations can produce new cascading patterns of systemic change
2.2.3. Coherence always emerges out of the randomness and surface chaos
2.2.3.1. Randomness, diversity, instability become resources for change
2.2.4. Attractors
2.2.4.1. Tensions that define the context in which detailed system behaviors unfold
2.2.4.2. Some pull system toward equilibrium
2.2.4.3. Others flip system into new configurations
2.3. Edge of chaos
2.3.1. Bifurcation points
2.3.1.1. Always exist as latent potentials
2.3.1.2. e.g. Butterfly effect
2.3.2. Energy within system can self-organize in unpredictable ways into different system states
2.3.3. If old attractor is dominant, system reverts to a version of its former state
2.3.4. If new pattern is dominant, system can move into a new configuration
2.4. Implications for Managing
2.4.1. Rethink what we mean by organization, especially the nature of hierarchy & control
2.4.1.1. Order is natural but cannot be planned
2.4.1.2. Order evolves under the influence of simple systemic rules
2.4.2. Learn the art of managing and changing contexts
2.4.3. Learn how to use small changes to create large effects
2.4.4. Live with continuous transformation and emergent order as a natural state of affairs
2.4.5. Be open to new metaphors that can facilitate processes of self-organization
3. Dialectical Opposition
3.1. Reversion is the movement of the Tao
3.2. Marxian Thinking
3.3. Dialectics of Management
3.4. Innovation as creative destruction
4. Mutual Causality
4.1. Magorah Maruyama
4.1.1. Positive & Negative feedback loops
4.1.2. Deviation amplification process
4.2. Contextual Analysis
4.3. Identify key patterns & system archetypes
5. Types of Orgs
5.1. Egocentric Orgs
5.1.1. See themselves as discrete, functioning to survive against the pressures of the outside world
5.1.2. Fixed notion of who they are or what they can be
5.1.2.1. Often enact identities in pursuit of short-term goals
5.1.3. Try to sustain unrealistic identities & create identities that destroy important parts of their context/environment
5.1.3.1. E.g. fisheries, large scale agriculture, chemical plants
5.1.4. May not see environmental changes as relevant to their identity preservation
5.1.4.1. e.g. watch makers, typewriter manufacturers
5.2. Systemic Orgs
5.2.1. Survival is always WITH the environment, never against it
5.2.2. Self-image held in a systems perspective
6. Limitations
6.1. If change is emergent, we're not in control
6.2. Powerless power is a challenging message
6.3. Negates the idea that it's possible to organize, predict and control
6.4. Can be hard to say if rules create a pattern or simply describe it
7. Strengths
7.1. Seeks to understand the nature, source, and logic of change
7.2. Potential for managing change at a higher (causal) level
7.3. Emphasis on seeing/working with patterns in systems
7.4. Fusion of organization and environment
7.5. Organizing rules of attractor patterns hold organization-environment relations in a particular configuration
7.5.1. Small changes can produce large effects
7.6. Change is self-organizing and emergent
8. David Bohm
8.1. The universe is a flowing and unbroken wholeness
8.2. Outward state of the universe at a given moment reflects its inward state.
8.2.1. Implicate (Enfolded) Order
8.2.2. Explicate (Unfolded) Order