Page 91 - The Complexity Perspective 20 02 18
P. 91
internal systems and agent behavior. The modifications can be at the
task level or at the system level where it is typically structural.
Hence, we have seen for decades, business experimenting with
structural flexibility including going virtual and the use of
partnerships instead of ownership, self-organization models of
operational adaptation, and shifting cultural traits toward continuous
learning and change tolerance, a flexibility of role and agility amongst
others.
Leadership intentions in DNA splicing are subject to the constraints of
any other modification of a complex system. The results are rarely as
intended, which explains in part the preference for using ideas that
have been ‘proven’ elsewhere.
The "Rules" Are and Always Have Been Forever!
The above has always happened. The 'rules' are not a phenomenon of
today. They are permanent.
Emergence was operating in Ancient societies, the Medieval period,
certainly, the Industrial Revolution and they operate today in the
Information Revolution, and will tomorrow. Ashby's Law operated in
those time periods as well. These are permanent features of
society. For example, the technical inventions that emerged in the
18th and early 19th century made huge shifts in business organization
possible including the multi-stage shift from craft production to mass
production. The difference today appears to be the rising pace of
Emergence.
In every case, the opportunities created by Emergence in the technical
context have facilitated shifts in the social system, so we saw changes
from near feudal management of the 19th century, to Taylorism and
the people-centric thinking of the Human Relations School. The same
is happening today as the Emergence of the mass communications of
the Internet rewrite the social conventions of discussion and stimulate
91
©Business Games Works 2018 (Version 1)