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Leadership and the New Science:
Learning about Organization from an Orderly Universe
By Margaret Wheatley
1992, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco, CA
ABSTRACT: An examination of current thinking in science and the ways it
effects what we know about the world. These ideas are developed around the impact on
management thinking.
Key
Points: |
Mechanical Age Thinking
New Scientific Thinking |
Control |
Order |
Machine |
Chaos |
Boundary |
Open Borders |
Reacting to the environment |
Creating the environment |
Pre-planning |
Just-in-time |
Task description |
Process Facilitation |
Rugged Individual |
Team Player |
Unconnected |
Relationships |
Analyze parts |
Awareness of whole |
Cause & Effect timelines |
Rhythm, Flow, Direction, Shape |
Problems, Issues and Decisions without solutions |
Solutions and choices looking for a place to be used |
Manager as a crafter of organization |
Broadcaster of messages; messages we care about. |
Assembles pieces |
Fields develop |
Personal Position |
Personal Integrity |
Fit into existing structures |
Use new information to determine choices |
Look for big, statistical trends; Major variances |
Encourage slight variations |
Limit control and information |
Allow all information to flow where it needs to go |
Measurement |
Qualities |
Activities/Quantities |
Shapes/Motions |
Isolated causes |
Themes/Patterns |
From Newtonian To
Quantum Physics |
Key Point: Quantum physics gives an
entirely different view on the world that can be incorporated in our thinking. |
We have structured our organizations around Newtonian ideas
and as a result they have taken on the characteristics of the machines we have envisioned
them to be. We move pieces around and rely on being able to fully understand and control
the parts.
With the advent of quantum theory we see that structures and
the boundaries between them dissolve. We begin to get a truer picture of the universe, but
still have no descriptors or guideposts to make sense of where we are or where we are
going. We can no longer predict our universe, which is both unsettling and exciting.
In the quantum world, relationships are everything. We must
learn communication and nurturing and build relationships. Power in organizations is the
capacity generated by relationships. It cannot be stuck in one place, but must flow
throughout the organization. Love in organizations is the most potent source of power.
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Fields And The
Holographic Universe |
Key Points: The universe is totally
connected and our best course is to foster the connections and relationships that are
important. |
It is important to remain aware of the whole. Do not rely on
cause and effect anymore. Do not try to describe what is "real". Instead of
planning, focus on facilitating relationships. The universe laughs at determinism.
Fields are the connections in this quantum world. They are
recognized by the qualities we experience in an organization. Vision, culture and
direction affect the field of an organization. Creating fields are essential and the
fields must involve everyone. Managers must broadcast the messages everywhere by stating,
clarifying, discussing, modeling and filling space with the messages we care about. If we
do not create fields, employees will latch onto the existing, unintentional and casual
fields instead. It becomes an act of faith to plant seeds and let them develop.
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A Participative
Universe |
Key Points: A participative
universe means a multitude of perspectives and there is constant change and exchange of
information. |
The universe is a participative one. There must
be a broad distribution of information, viewpoints, and interpretations. Equilibrium means
you are heading toward a death. Self renewing systems create structures to fit the moment
(phenotypic plasticity?). An organization must have new information if it is to act in
this fluid fashion. Useful boundaries develop through openness to the environment. As
participators, they create the environment.
The entire system displays a stability as it develops a rhythm
to the fluctuations. Small disturbances are not suppressed, but tolerated. Freedom and
order work together as partners. It is not the law of large numbers that drives change,
rather a small disturbance which becomes amplified.
Information is not a thing. Information cannot be controlled and
quantified. Information is a dynamic element. Information gives order, prompts growth, and
defines what is alive. If there is to be a self-organization , information must be
unencumbered and flow everywhere. Whereas we try to build systems layer upon layer,
natural systems unfold.
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