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vi I believe the sciences of chaos and complexity can define a set of questions to guide our actions when answers are completely beyond the bounds of prediction.
xi Use complex techniques when the problem is:
- New and unique in your experience
- Fuzzy or unknown
- Open to outside influences
- Related to a large number of persons or ones you don't know well
- One you've tried to solve before and failed
- Nonlinear, the inputs and the outputs are not clearly distinguishable
xiv To identify real solutions to real problems, we must consciously recognize that the environments in which we work are complex, nonlinear and chaotic... A chaotic system may appear to be disordered or random, but it is not. Scientists have described complex systems in weather, the economy, physiology, ecology and thermodynamics. All of these systems share a few fundamental characteristics. When we understand those characteristics, we can begin to work with and within the complex forces that shape our corporate lives. The purpose of this book is to help you recognize these characteristics in your organization, understand the implications of these strange system behaviors, and adapt to your chaotic environment responsibly.
p.45 Notice that changes occur in both of these physical examples, but there is no single controlling factor either internal or external to the system. The interdependencies of the parts "control" the behavior of the system as a whole. The same is true of feedback loops in organizational settings: Each part of the system responds to changes in other parts, but no single factor determines the behavior of the system as a whole.
p.46-47 The parts of the system are linked by a multitude of individual and unique feedback loops. The complicated network of feedback loops is the closest thing to a control mechanism that exists in a complex system because the network carries messages and influence for change from one part of the system to others.
p.117 Tragic heroes in Greek drama share one fatal flaw. They call it hubris, the belief that a human being can control fate. Sometimes it is translated as pride, other times it is translated as arrogance, but the message is still the same. Human beings should know what they can and cannot control. To attempt to control the unknowable is a tragic flaw.
p.118 The sciences of complex systems provides an alternative to this hopeless drive to control everything.
p.132 You cannot control self-organization, but you can influence it... if you are sensitive to the system
p.140 When working with or within an unpredictable environment, influence, rather than control, determines the process of change and the outcome of the leader's actions.
p.141 Influence, not control, is the driver in complex, adaptive systems.
p.141 a tight couple indicates a high degree of influence between two parts of the system... When parts of a system are tightly coupled, a small change on one side of the boundary results in an immediate and radical change on the other side of the boundary... This tight couple not only ensures an immediate response from the other side of the boundary, but it usually indicates the responding action will be unpredictable and potentially uncontrollable.
p.143 A loose couple results when a feedback loop allows transformation to be gradual and not radical. Influence is exerted by one part of the system on the other, but the responding transformation is also influenced by other factors in the system
p.145 Sometimes, the parts of a complex system become totally dissociated from each other. The result is an uncoupled system.
p.188 Recommendations. Advice here is simple: Try to maintain loose couples in all directions. They are easiest to maintain, provide best on-going information and support smooth adaptation when it is necessary. Shift to tight or an uncouple when there is a clear and distinct reason for more control or less interdependency.
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