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informal networks, and willingly risking their position and
reputation to ensure its success. The act of championing in and
of itself generates some legitimacy with Administrative

Leadership. From an internal legitimacy perspective, the lack of
an external champion lowers commitment to the CAS process as

a whole as it is perceived by others as a sham.

Attractors and the Common Interest

Attractors are a construct in chaos theory, not complexity theory. But,
the term has gained some currency in business as a metaphor for the
organizing effect of a common interest or a shared vision.

In the mathematics of chaos theory as a chaotic system will
settle around a 'basin of attraction' spontaneously. This is akin to self-

organization and could be seen as the underlying driver of the
spontaneous organization in our collapsed building example earlier.
Manipulating the 'attractor' (vision) is, of course, a tool in

the transformation of a system.

Links to Other Constructs

Emergence: The spontaneity of Emergence is based on self-

organization

Requisite Complexity: Adaptation is being addressed by seeking

the low-cost approach of self-organization

Networks: The ability to communicate to achieve self-organization is
based on the links across networks

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