Chaos Theory and Autopoeisis

Lately I was asked in a class discussion how I would explain the relationship between autopoiesis and the theories of chaos and complexity? To be sure it's a tough question. 

Chaos theory is something most people might be familiar with, but not so much autopoeisis. According to Wikipedia "the term autopoiesis refers to a system capable of reproducing and maintaining itself by creating its own parts and eventually further components."

When reading Morgan (2006) and considering autopoiesis, and the theories of chaos and complexity, there were several lines that I noted but the most relevant to chaos and complexity is when Morgan discusses what Goldstein notes with "much of the literature on organizational change has focused on the problem of "resistance," instead of focusing on how new "attractors" can "pull" the latent energies of a system to a point where then can organize into a new form" (p. 259). This reminds me of people or leaders who have entered into organizations who pull the organization in new directions. I'm reminded of a new lieutenant who came into our platoon when I was an Army team leader. He had been in the military for more than 10 years, and had experience everything everyone in our platoon wanted out of their own careers. Most of the platoon mimicked everything he did, to the point that everyone started to wear Chuck Taylor Converse High Top shoes in combatives training because that was what he wore. 

Then there is this; "innovations create the basis for their own downfall" (Morgan, 2006, p. 285). This is a factor that my organization is grappling with right now. Our competitors have changed the standard for training course development within our industry. Now, we are being asked to meet that new standard. We are ramping the team up to that point where we can be competitive, but now our own members and clients are demanding that same level of course development. This is a standard that will be hard to maintain in the long term.

This is a perfect example of where these two quotes have merged to create a problem. A new competitor has created an attractor event that is new course development standards and through that innovation they have started to lose market share to other competitors in the market who are now trying to meet that new standard. 

References

Morgan, G. (2006). Images of organizations (updated edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.