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.
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
1. Thoughts
