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E-Matrix
Lexicon
Natural Living Processes
Copyright Material Ó –
E-Matrix Sept 2000 – Last updated Feb 2007. All rights reserved. E-Matrix is short for ‘Emergent Matrix’
which connotes ‘Life’. Last updated Feb 2007. The wisdom on the Laceweb website has been drawn
from the grassroots people of the East Asia Oceania Australasia Region. Consistent
with their way, this wisdom is freely available on the Laceweb Internet site.
Now a simple secure process has been set up, so people reading and
downloading this wisdom may contribute financially if they so desire. You may
send a tiny amount or as much as you desire. Information
about donating to Laceweb Way This Lexicon embraces Natural Business
Concepts and Artistry – ‘natural’ in that they have been drawn from Natural
Living Processes and systems. The eco-history of this Lexicon can be
traced to gatherings in Sydney of business innovators in the late 1960's and
early 1970's exploring businesses as living systems. These gatherings were
enabled by Dr. Neville Yeomans - a barrister, psychiatrist, sociologist,
psychologist, and zoologist. The Lexicon has emerged from PhD research into
these gatherings, network discourse and Yeomans' wider life work. The Lexicon also draws upon and adapts to
the business environment recent understandings in the natural sciences -
quantum physics, ecosystems, chaos, natural networks, complexity theory,
fuzzy logic and the like. It is a guide to possibilities. It holds forth
possibilities for extending thinking and action about businesses as complex
systems. This lexicon also applies to government and non government
organizations at all levels. It may be noticed that many of these
concepts imply a whole new way of thinking about using people and their capacities
and linking them to organizational systems as living systems - beyond
assigning people just to, for example, departments, teams, groups, or
assigning them to others as personal assistants or mentors, or just to be the
executive or management. In glossing this glossary it is possible
to get a feel for the frontiers of living systems thinking and action. This Lexicon is dynamic and being
continually reviewed and expanded. Terms listed in this Lexicon:
Business Ergotrophic and
Trophotropic Systems Business Surviving and
Thriving Causation of Business
Sickness Cybernetics - First and
Second Order Emergence and Sustaining
Innovation Emergence of Resonant
Strange Attractors in Business Geosocial Mindbody
Processes - Keyline and Cultural Keyline INMA - Inter-system
Normative Model Area Natural Systems -
Organisational and Operational Principles of Healthy Business-People Systems
Process and Outcome
approaches Social Re-constituting of
Business Realities Structural Coupling and
Eco-history Organizations tend to have 'usual'
challenges (performance challenge). Changing circumstances and contexts can
create 'unusual' challenges - different sequences. These may range from those
well within the competency domain of the organization to those that are well
beyond the competency range. Living systems disturbed by unusual challenge
adapt or die. Adaptation may be by incremental change or discontinuous
change. Organizations that seek to thrive
continually scan for and create Adaptive Challenge. Responses to Adaptive
Challenge are defined and refined in conversation. Traditional modes of power and empowering
tend to be based on a zero-sum equation - if you have more, I have less.
Power becomes constituted as a scarce resource that people compete to attain.
Traditional hierarchical organization structures have constituted the
zero-sum power equation because of a preoccupation with control through
delegated decision-making power. Power unconnected with Hierarchical structures'
zero-sum power has always being a bane of the powers that be. Examples are
the power of knowledge and wisdom possessed by a person without
decision-making power. Another is the person of influence by dint of social
charisma, length in the organization, or because of possessing important and
or sensitive information or connections – for example, the influential and
militant savvy shop steward. A traditional solution to the other-powered
troublemaker is to promote him into the formal power structure where he/she
can be neutralised by system leverage - 'Now you are one of us!' Within traditional zero-sum power
structured systems, like a modern day Shakespearean drama, we may find
ourselves drawn into a tangled web of artificial boundaries, territories,
enclaves and fickle alliances. In this context, power becomes the ability to
exert one's will over others. The upward mobile thrive on this non-thrive
process (refer Business Surviving and Thriving).
Others typically become ambivalent or indifferent. Some can transcend and see
the processes, and like the anthropologist in a strange land, notice most
things while never becoming one of the natives. While zero-sum power is attractive, it's
also a tremendous distraction, tending to derail everyone involved in it by
limiting their opportunity for expression to the principle dimension of
extending and securing territorial domination. Other capabilities and
capacities are neglected. Top people never miss enormous organisational
potential that they stifle without noticing! There was a model of the natural world,
about the time of the Industrial Revolution, which saw 'Nature, red in tooth
and claw' and described life in terms of a battle for survival. Business is
described as a 'jungle' and it entails the 'survival of the fittest'. Current
understanding in biology shows that while competition is indeed part of the
natural world, it is not a strategy which living systems adopt for
sustainable living and development. Rather, living systems will engage in
competition and conflict in times of crisis and emergency, moving through it
to new levels of synergistic, symbiotic and co-operative (living together)
relationships in the ecosystem. While evolutionists speak of the 'survival of
the fittest', natural systems tend to operate, in fact, on the principle of
the 'survival of the fitting'. Organizations could usefully learn from this! Competition and conflict are legitimate
survival strategies, good in the short-term crisis time frame, but becoming
detrimental in the long term. In seeking to thrive in their environment,
living systems develop strategies of increasing inter-relationship and living
together in sustainable ways. Living systems seek to do more than survive,
they seek to thrive: this is the drive to thrive and it's wired up to complex
neuroimmunoendocrinological pathways releasing bliss molecules like
endorphins (natural opiates) into the bloodstream as the system experiences a
deeper level of resonance with its network/ ecosystem. Refer Business Surviving and Thriving. The shared experience of
verve in vibrant organizations is the experiential correlate of the
endorphins (refer Stimmung). In contrast, when the system is fighting
to survive, the ergotropic system (which see) kicks in
and the system loses resonance and coherency with its network/ ecosystem and
goes it alone. The price the system pays for spending too long in this
unsustainable state is to lose sensitivity to internal and external cues for
growth (see Trophotropic) system). This is the battle
fatigue which every combatant experiences; the thousand-yard stare of the
combatant who is dislocated in time and space and cannot make it back to
life, spontaneity and joy. Living systems are naturally powerful.
This is the genuine and authentic allure and seductiveness of nature and
natural systems. Living things thrive and grow in ecosystems,
which nurture, support and enable them. They use freely available energy in
order to carry out the living autopoietic function and in
order to generate the conditions for more life. In reality, a living system is not a
separate entity; rather a node in a distributed network or web of life and
its thrival is a function of how it enables the thrival of its network (refer
holon). For hundreds of years, organizations have
typically had structures and processes, which have squashed authentic power.
Authentic power (re)constitutes power as a freely available property of a
living system's internal and external networks. In this context, personal
power becomes a function of enabling others to develop and exercise their
power in a positive feedback and self-amplifying cycle. Organizations that
seek to tap into their living systems authentic power may find that it is
there, and has always been there in abundance. Organizations seeking to explore
indentifying and evolving more authentic power within their systems may well
seek out people within their systems (if any) who have moved to transcendent
anthropological relating within the system (as discussed above). These people
tend to be the natural enablers. As they go quietly about their good work,
they may not stand out at first. Their good work is often subtle (refer micro-interventions and nano-interventions). An example from Natural Lexicon Processes,
let us say that our project is to bake a cake. We have assembled the best
team in the kitchen. We have spared no expense on the ingredients. We use the
best recipe, assembling the mixture most carefully. In other words, we have
attended to the personnel, the resources and the procedures. Now comes the
time to put the mixture into a preheated oven. But the oven stays lukewarm.
Why? Because the power that heats the oven comes from the way that all
the components (people, resources and best practises) work together. It may
well be that this connexity is dysfunctional. It may be that divisive power
and demarcation issues abound. It may well be that interpersonal issues
create tangled mess. In this murky manipulative mess, non-understanding may
have emerged as an indispensable technique! And so, the heat in the system is
faulty and the cake turns out an indigestible mess. Authentic power resides in and emerges
from the functional matrix. All the different components
form the structure of the matrix. The power of the matrix comes from the 'connexity - the pathways, relationships and processes that
bind and interconnect all the different parts into a living pattern of
organization. Without this power, even the best mixture will still turn out
as slop. The wisdom of Natural Lexicon Processes
comes from a focus on process and quality rather than on outcome (see 'structuring excellence' and 'process and
outcome approaches'). It may be seen that focussing on outcome, e.g. a
good cake, tends to obscure what's happening along the way. People get so
concerned about getting to the finish line that when they encounter dysfunction in their ability to perform their tasks they
will shut down shop, shut up and most importantly, not communicate their
dysfunctionality to the network. Enough of this type of behaviour accumulates
to weaken the matrix. A different approach is where dysfunctionality
is communicated, acknowledged and talked about, perhaps even welcomed - not
in the sense of fault-finding - rather, in order to evoke the wisdom of the
system to enable the challenged part to explore and develop new pathways and
strategies. In this way the 'connexity; the ability of
the system to nurture and enable a safe internal environment in which it can
explore and navigate change and complexity, supports its drive to succeed.
When the part is enabled to negotiate the challenge, the result may well be
that the system as a whole bootstraps itself upwards in power and
functionality. In reference to the example, all kinds of yummy stuff can come
out of a good oven linked to sustainable power - cakes, roasts, bread, and
puddings. E-Matrix (life) seeks to enable the emergent matrix so that
whatever is put in - cooks. In this way the system thrives in the
realm of greater possibilities, in contrast to mere surviving in the
realm of few possibilities. From Greek auto : self, poiesis
: making. Therefore meaning self-making. A network of producing/constituting
processes (refer co-re-constituting) in which the function
of each component is to participate in the producing and or
transforming/reconstituting of other components in the network. A business
unit/entity/network is socially constituted (refer reification),
and in this process the people and the people system are themselves
constituted (refer 'normative action research). In this
way, the entire network continually remakes itself. It is constituted by its
components and in turn constitutes those components. And also, the business
as system constitutes a permeable boundary specifying the domain of the
networks' operations. Business sub-systems likewise have permeable boundaries
for ebb and flow interaction between other subparts and
the wider world. In so doing, these boundaries help define the system and
sub-systems as units. Structure and process are
pervasively interconnected, interdependent, inter-woven, inter-related and
inter-constituting. Resonant concepts are Cleavered Unity',
Connexity, Dichter and Denken, Holon', Co-Reconstituting', and Reification. A system state leading to the potential
and emergence of sudden whole system transcending
transition to higher and more unpredictable complexity and improved
performance. Also see Holon. Normative action-research
embracing the wellbeing of the people-business system and its relating with
the wider business environment (refer Ecology, INMA and Business Ecosystem). Systems of related subsystems in their habitat; also refer holon). This raises the
issue, 'What is the natural place or locality for people, systems and
subsystems? What would occur in nature (refer Geosocial
Mindbody Processes)? How would things be interconnected? What 'free energy would be entailed? Business system designers in
the past have imposed on nature rather than perceiving the inherent wisdom in
nature, and incorporating nature's design principles in their action (refer
'Keyline' as model in Geosocial Mindbody Processes). Business Ergotrophic and Trophotropic
System These concepts are modelled on the bodies
Ergotrophic and Trophotropic Systems. The Business Ergotrophic system ensures a
business' long-term wellbeing. The Business Trophotropic system ensures a
business' short-term wellbeing. Both systems are in a 'Connexity'
relation. The Business Ergotropic system's
function: The principal function is the control of short range, moment-by-moment
adaptation to events in the world and the internal environment It gears the business or business part to initiate and carry out
action - often extremely quickly It's particularly connected to fight/flight/avoidance behaviours The system's activation shunts the system's metabolic energy (renewal)
away from long-range developmental activities, towards fast response, though
renewal is not ignored It enables the expenditure of vital resources Quick response energy pathways are opened and Quick
Response Networks are engaged It mediates stress relative to events in the World and the internal
environment Historically, it allows us to eat without been eaten The Business Trophotropic system's
function: the system operates to maintain the optimum internal balance of
business functions for continued good health and development of the business
as a people-system holon it controls the business functions responsible for the long term
wellbeing links to business and business part growth and longevity regulating all of the business's vegetative functions: reconstructing and growth of system 'cells' - sub-parts digestion of new input/output from within/without the system relaxing for renewal sleeping on aspects Business Surviving and Thriving To survive is to fight to maintain
relationship to the present reality. To thrive is to use natural
processes, available resources and emerging resources and motivation to
explore and constitute new possibilities, choices and realities that in turn
nurture future growth and ongoing success. Refer Autopoiesis,
Sickness and Disease Model, the Illness-Wellness
continuum, the Causation of Business Sickness, Self Organising and Self-help. Small changes having big unpredictable consequences
in complex systems far from equilibrium - hence having
system-wide capacity for scanning and identifying such effects Causation of Business Sickness We can use the metaphor of business
'sickness'. In most diseases prevalent in the industrialized nations, eg
degenerative diseases and autoimmune diseases, there is typically no single
causal agent identified. Furthermore, there is typically a large spectrum of
changes (signs and symptoms) that occur with the disease in joints, muscles,
attachments, organs, circulation, psychology and so on. Much effort and money
continues to be spent elucidating each and every pathway that deviates from
the expected norm. The assumption of the research strategy is
that eventually the experts will identify the critical pathway that can then
be modified to control the disease. This is a profoundly first-order 'cybernetic approach in which an expert, remaining 'outside'
the organization, seeks to steer a system. In the best case scenario,
in which a critical pathway has been identified and interrupted so as to
limit most if not all of the expressions of disease, the attractor(s) that
governs the system's behaviour has not shifted; only the system's
ability to express itself has been controlled. Refer 'Emergence
of Resonant Strange Attractors). Furthermore, the outside intervention
introduces multiple variances into the complex feedback processes which
maintain the integrity and 'connexity of the living
system. We call these 'side-effects' but they are really effects of
attempting to control complexity. An analogy would be trying to control the
environmental and social problems in Bangladesh with a large supply of sand
and hessian sacks. What do we do if the flooding is related to non-local
climate changes (see 'butterfly effect)? Or it may well
be that no matter how many sand bags we use, education and investment in
infrastructure are just as critical to development as flood control. Generally, the more ongoing intervention
that is required to control the 'disease', the poorer the quality of life
outcomes for the person/organization. A useful question may be, 'What options
are there which enable living systems to thrive, grow and evolve, and
organically respond well even if they happen to be in trouble or diseased?' A more natural and fundamentally different
approach to the traditional 'outside expert diagnosing disease and prescribing'
is the using of a second order cybernetic approach. This
approach involves using enablers who are embedded in the system, to support
the people experiencing 'sickness'. These enablers may come from 'outside'
the organization. However they have transcendent
perception, which enables them to quickly enter the organisations transcendent realities and become insiders. The focus is the
living system in all its connexity. The energy-consuming
feedback processes in the process of life are very dynamic. In other words,
the system is very actively engaged in these processes. Even when deep in the
basin of attraction of a sickness process, some subsystems are relatively
freely operational (refer using 'free energy). If the
larger system can entrain itself to, and enhance these inherent processes,
then it will tend to become sensitised to higher order attractors and will
make a global and spontaneous upwards shift in self
organisation. In other words, the system uses intrinsically available, or
endogenous (internal to the system) processes to steer itself towards better
quality of life outcomes, regardless of the presence or reversibility of
previous structural changes. Refer 'Structural Coupling. A second order cybernetic approach is
basically about enabling the living system to locate and enhance its innate
drive to thrive which in turn enables it to steer itself successfully through
change, crisis, catastrophe and chaos. Refer 'Cybernetics'.
Typically, people tend to think of 'chaos'
as a 'complete mess'. The essence of chaos is randomness with constraints -
the constraints of the context and system. Much of the
business world is chaotic. Chaos tends towards order. Chaos in nature often
unfolds into things of great beauty, design and symmetry. Chaos may be self organising (which see) and have emergent properties
(refer emergence ). For example the random build up of
calcium deposits on the seashell is constrained by being only able to attach
along the exposed edge. The shellfish can only enlarge the shell's opening in
constrained ways. This constrained randomness builds to make the wonderful
spiralling seashells.
Random events, within constraints, may
produce interconnected (refer 'connexity') self-organizing
systems - hence the practicality of having system-wide capacity for scanning
and identifying business opportunities and threats in the flux (refer 'danger alert'). Functional matrices may
take this form. Simultaneously apart and together -
dissipative/replicative - respect for difference enhancing unity - rich
implications (also see 'Colindivity', 'Connexity,
'Dichter and Denken' and Holon);
entails the joint engagement of both the following concepts: Dissipative (dis-sipative from the Latin dissipatus
- dis = apart, sipare = to throw) hence, 'to throw apart' Replicative (re-plicative: from the Latin replicare
- re = again, plicare = to fold) hence, 'to refold' Co-learning may take place in supportive
learning contexts that break down the artificial divide between teacher and
learner. All participants may bring capability, local knowing and capacity.
Everyone, including teachers and trainers, can be co-learners and all can
take on the enabler role in supporting each other’s learning. In these
contexts, learners can learn things that teachers have never dreamed of, and
participants may learn very different and personally relevant things. The pioneering Australian
barrister/psychiatrist, Dr. Neville Yeomans used the term 'colindivity' (col
from collectivities and indivity from individuals) to refer a gathering
of individuals and collectivities interacting as individuals and
collectivities. The most frequent collindivities would be those including
both the extreme individualists and extreme collectivists working together on
a common problem in interaction. The collectivists would tend to function as
parts of a team and for its stability, while the individualists would
function as single entities and for their own separate stabilities. Such a
subgroup of individualists could be called an indivity', that is, a
collectivity functioning under an individualistic ideology with its
individual units primarily fostering the reality of their own systems; for
example an international gathering of extreme nationalists. From the Latin com-plex : com
(with), plexus (ply or to fold) From the Latin con-nectere : to
join together; simultaneously having complex pervasive
interdependence, interrelatedness, interconnectedness and interweaving; a
system having all of these characteristics; a system design frame;
connexity is usefully explored using Dichter and Denken.
Also refer Logic for the link between 'reason' and
'connexity'. From the Latin con-scire : knowing
together, i.e., consciousness is essentially a social phenomenon - an example
of separated unity or cleavered unity From the Latin contexere : 'to
weave together' or 'webmaking'. The setting of experience which can shed
light on its meaning. We may use awareness of context, especially scope for
multiple realities (refer 'realities) as a frame
for dichter and denken and kennen.
See also comments on context in interpreting. Business people in line management are
accountable to shareholders. Line managers' control is associated with the
prerogative and power to make decisions and authorize action. This top-down
control is often accompanied by system resistance expressed as noise and
filtering in the up-flow of the feedback used in control (refer the concepts
'Fuzzy' and 'Fuzzy Logic'). Line
management is vertically linear. In contrast, matrix or network processes are
non-linear (refer Process and Non-Linear
Process), in that they involve multiple local, inter-local, lateral and
three dimensional (mainly horizontal) energy flows (refer 'connexity').
See also discussion on forms of power and control in authentic
empowering. Line managers are preoccupied with
protecting their prerogatives in relation to decision-making and delegation.
Worker participation by non-line managers in decision-making has been
resisted over the past forty of so years. Natural business concepts included
in this lexicon and 'Normative Action Research' may
subtly alter the absolute linear control of decision-making and action
authorizing. The nature of delegated accountability and action initiating may
shift. Delegated accountability and action initiating may be given more to matrices, networks and people systems rather than only to
line personnel. Even decision-making may have
complementary processes whereby, 'what to do' emerges from normative
action research (which see), so that all those involved sense what to do,
and begin doing it, without a 'let's decide' meeting even taking place. Refer
Authentic Empowering for a discussion on similar themes.
'Effectiveness' and 'does it work' are continually being monitored (refer 'Normative Action Research'). Action is continually
assessed for fit with other interconnected, inter-related, inter-dependent
aspects of the business (connexity). All of the prudent business checks and
balances as to resource access, allocation, review, and acquittal may be
built into the emerging matrix process. The traditional linear processes may
be supported and complemented by non-linear processes, with open flow of
information, negotiated meaning and action between the two modes (refer Process and Non-Linear Process).
Computer networks, email, e-groups, and the Internet may facilitate this
process. Social systems/realities are socially
constituted, and hence can be reconstituted. 'Co-reconstituted' implies an
interconnected mutual interaction for reconstituting system(s) (Refer 'Connexity', 'Realities' and especially,
'Reification'. Also refer Normative
Action Research). In the process of mutually constituting
and reconstituting social realities, this process folds back to constitute
and reconstitute the people involved as socially constituted products of the
process - a connexity based intertwining and
intermingling of causes and effects (refer Non-Linear Process).
Back to Terms listed in
this Lexicon First Order Cybernetics models close-to-equilibrium (refer 'equilibrium')
mechanistic systems. When first order cybernetics is applied to living
systems it typically treats the living system in mechanistic terms. The focus
is homœostasis - keeping the system on an even level and dampening of flux. A
thermostat is an example. First order cybernetics does involve a shift of
focus from the individual part to the system interaction. It views the
observer of the model as external to the system. Second Order Cybernetics models far-from-equilibrium living systems. The
focus is morphogenesis (the evolving of structure and pattern in living
systems) and integrative functions at the edge of instability. Second Order
Cybernetics recognizes that all people in the business are in a connexity relation - they are profoundly interconnected.
This raises the challenge of business people observing and understanding a
system of which they are, of necessity, an integral part. Second Order Cybernetic observers and
actors include themselves as a constitutive element in the system they are
observing and acting in, and recognize that their very observing has
constitutive and 'co-reconstituting potency. This view
changes the 'them-us' stance with the accompanying, 'We are right and they are
wrong'. Understandings and action take account of connexity.
Also refer Logic for the link between 'reason' and
'connexity'. It follows that attempts at knowing are
constitutive. The word 'fact' comes from the Latin word facere : to
make - hence manufacture, (from Latin manu : hand, fact : make)
originally meaning 'make by hand'. Facts, as meanings, are 'made' by people
in the role of factors, that is, as the maker of the facts. Facts are
extracted from the complex of human experience and the very process of
extracting facts, makes more facts. This process embraces 'kennen
as well as wissen (refer Process and Non-Linear
Process). Second Order Cybernetic thinking and
perceiving (making sense of our senses) gives up a relentless quest for
certainty. Uncertainty may be scary, or at least disconcerting, though it
liminally (refer limin) opens the door to many new
possibilities - possibilities for example, of scanning for gain, loss,
safety, and danger in the context of opportunity and threat (refer 'dichter and denken' and 'Fuzzy'). Second
Order Cybernetic thinking views things tentatively (refer 'Fuzzy
Logic') and has everything under continual review. It breaks down reified
(refer reification) dogma and sacred cows. However it fully
respects and draws understanding and inspiration from the businesses' structural coupling and eco-history without being bound by
these aspects. Pervasive among the web of life is a sense
of danger. Some people and groups have this sense blocked. Businesses can set
up network processes with the function of continually scanning for,
recognizing, and immediately responding to danger (refer Dichter
and Denken). From the Latin destino : the
weaving; hence the notion of weaving together future possibilities - making
futures These words combined form a German
expression. As an example, some great creative people are called 'dichter and
denken'. When using this term to refer to say a poet, the speaker is
suggesting that the listener merges in his or her reflection the poet, the
poem making and the poem. This is calling for us to engage in a very rich
form of reflective contemplating. It is about our intersubjectively
responding to the intermingling of the three elements, i.e., the poet, the
poem making and the poem. In the business context, an example is the merging
of firstly, system designers/reconstitutors, secondly, system
designing/reconstituting, and thirdly, the system(s); and perceiving these
three as a connexity/holon. Note that it is easy to think about any of
the three separately. Thinking of two simultaneously is more 'work', and
merging the three in contemplation (refer kennen) is
typically a challenge - though a worthwhile experience into a new (higher?)
more 'connexity based mode of reflecting/perception
(making sense of the senses). An example of Dichter and Denken is
simultaneously scanning for initiators of, the initiating process involved
in, and the unfolding of, gain, loss, safety, and danger and the interplay of
high/low levels of each - eg, safely doing dangerous things, while maximizing
gain and minimizing loss; another is spotting when relatively safe things are
being done dangerously for little gain and potential for high loss (refer Non-Linear Process). Another expression that is similar is
'connexity perception' (refer connexity). A part of this
in the visual sense is simultaneously attending to visual full field - the
ever shifting background-foreground distinction, the flitting point of high
acuity, the distant-close distinction and the peripheral; and including in
awareness the aware self as responding perceiving (sense-making)
mindbody-viewer, the viewing and the viewed (refer structural
coupling and eco-history). Using dichter and denken may be useful in Fuzzy contexts. Back to Terms listed in
this Lexicon Business organizations are open
dissipative structures - structures that dissipate energy. Far from
equilibrium, the systems flow processes are interlinked through multiple
feedback loops (refer Second Order Cybernetics). When the
system encounters a bifurcation point, it may branch off
suddenly into an entirely new state of greater potential. Put another way, a
special characteristic of dissipative business structures, is that as the
system moves further away from the equilibrium state, the system may develop
suddenly into forms of ever increasing complexity and capacity - a process of
neg-entropy, meaning the opposite of entropy. This is a wide spread
phenomenon in natural organic complex systems. Life is primarily innovative. In this
context, living systems are historically being challenged with levels of
environmental change that exceed their current capabilities and capacities. To be immersed in a situation which
exceeds one's present functionality is to be dysfunctional in that context.
Evolution happens when a living system innovates a new pathway or new
sub-system (see liminality) which can handle the
challenge, and the system as a whole moves to a higher level of functionality
and coordination between sub-systems. In this regard, refer 'agency' and
'transcendence' in holon. Adaptation has occurred.
Dysfunction is therefore an essential ingredient in the evolutionary process.
See incapability capability. When part of a system is challenged by an
event that exceeds its capabilities and capacities (the definition of
dysfunction) the system as a whole draws upon the resilience of its network
(see 'Connexity ) to enable the part to develop a new strategy/pathway
to handle the challenge. A key talent in this context is having incapability capability. If the process is successful, the system
as a whole grows and evolves to a higher order of interconnection, complexity
and functionality (see 'self organisation' , 'logic' and 'connexity'). If not, the
system either withdraws from that region of the environment or begins to
fragment. Systems in which none of the components
are exposed to dysfunctionality can be seen to be in a state of complex equilibrium. In living organisms
and organisations a state of equilibrium is not consistent with natural
evolutionary processes - both ecologies and markets are characterised by
dynamic non-linear change and far-from-equilibrium states. Naturally occurring forces eventually
select out such unresponsive systems from the ecosystem. The process of 'structuring excellence (which see) enables the
organisation to develop strategies for identifying, amplifying and nurturing
its network and 'connexity in order to navigate through
dysfunction towards adaptation, innovation and growth. As an example, a bodybuilder works
specific muscle groups - to challenge them. What's happening in this process
is that the muscle is being worked to the threshold of physiological
dysfunction, i.e., it is deliberately exposed to demands, which exceed its
capability and capacity. As a relevant metaphor to business
contexts, at the physiological level - the muscle begins to break down -
catabolism - hopefully, a limited process. Now the next phase is critical -
traditionally called the recovery phase, but actually much more. During this
time the muscle is rebuilt bigger, stronger, and faster, depending on the
kind of training. But what enables this process? What rebuilds the muscle?
The rest of the system! The ability to handle the challenge and provocation
depends upon the rest of the system being able to support and nurture the
muscular component through its 'crisis' so that it can emerge at a higher
order of functioning. Nutrition, rest, stress and a myriad other things which
affect the bodymind also affect the training outcomes for the individual
muscle. In terms of the phase
portrait - the map of all the potential behaviours of the system - it grows
to reflect the new capability of the system as a whole. Depending on the
quality of the training - how the phase portrait evolves may vary. For
example, one type of training is appropriate for Mr. Universe, another for a
competitive rock climber. This also ties in with the ebb and
flow concept - flow is the doing - on the out breath -and ebb is the
integrating of experience - on the in breath. Learning, co-learning,
evolution, and growth depend on this coupling. Capability means the potential to perform
behaviour. For example, strength capacity means the potential to sustain
behaviour, e.g. stamina. So there's a twofold process- we can call
the first a 'primary enabling' - the challenge that puts us squarely in the
realm of dysfunctionality. The second we may call a 'secondary enabling' -
when we draw upon internal and external resources to meet the challenge of
developing new pathways and strategies. Dysfunction tests the resilience of
the network - this is 'connexity. In terms of self - when I face a challenge
that reveals dysfunction, what is my response? I may recognize a choice:
either self-enabling (nurturing the networks and PRONOIA), or self-negating
(defending against the change and PARANOIA). Our E-Matrix (Emergent Matrix) is all
around us - it is life itself. Life creates us. Every moment. How is life
supporting me to face the challenges? Where is the 'free
energy? Is my neurophysiology going into defence/survival mode, or
growth/thrival mode? There is nothing wrong with defence. Sometimes it's the
most appropriate response, especially when survival is the issue. In evolving
and using Natural Business Concepts in this lexicon we're focusing on
enabling growth strategies, not trying to eliminate defensive strategies. The concept 'ebb and flow' is drawn from
the ebb and flow of the tide. In some business exchanges, such as negotiating
and mediating context, it may be appropriate to slowly withdraw (ebb) from
interacting and then at an appropriate moment begin to flow back again
(flow). There may have a series of these ebbs and flows as appropriate to
context - like peeling layers of an onion. Interact a bit and recede and then
return again. Coastal and Estuarine people living close to nature are
familiar with the mingling flow of the fresh water and the salt water with
tidal changes, and others may experience the muddy water of a creek or river
flowing into the clearer water of another waterway. Each of these contexts is
a useful metaphor for negotiating, understanding, and
respecting of meaning within and between people and their respective, and
typically differing realities. From the Greek oikos meaning
household; study of relationships linking all members of the Earth household.
Coined in 1866 by Ernst Haekel: 'science of relations between organism and
the surrounding outer world'. Systems of related organisms in their
habitats (see 'Business Ecosystem' and 'Habitat')
Embodiment is a central Lexicon concept.
There is pervasive interrelating, inter-depending, inter-connecting and
inter-weaving (connexity ) between organisations, ideas
and feelings about organisations, and our bodies. Each of the ideas in this Lexicon may be
embodied. In embodying these concepts our 'mindbody' functions differently.
The latest research in neuro-psycho-biology has 'mindbody' as the appropriate
single word. Everything is profoundly linked. E-Matrix has a forty-five year
history in researching and enabling others in embodying Lexicon concepts in
thinking and acting as a living system. Embodiment is about evolving as a
living system. Take a dysfunctional extreme example -
Nazi Concentration Camp Staff - cold, deadened emotion, rigidity, standing to
attention, unquestioning obedience - ideas, feelings, body functioning and
action merge. As an entry point, notice the expressions
we use. When a person says they're 'up tight', typically they are raising
their shoulders and are holding them rigid (experience what this feels like
and then let go and notice the difference). Other expressions are 'bitter and
twisted', 'on the back foot', 'down', 'that's heavy', 'stiff upper lip',
'depressed' and 'shut down'. Each of these is a descriptor of how people shut
down in response to aversive contexts. While each of these body shifts has
survival value, there are more adaptive things we can do with our bodies!
There’s no ideal state rather flexibility to move between different adapt
states appropriate to context happening at appropriate times – and this is
sustainable - as we are not going for an ideal, rather we may better adapt to
challenges and contexts. Reflecting mind-body split, organisational
stereotypes have leaders as the 'brains', the workers are the 'brawn'.
Further splitting has leaders as 'left brain' - logical, linear and rational.
Others may be derided as 'right brain' - non-logical, non-linear and
irrational. A touted ideal is 'to be objective'. 'Being subjective' is a term
of abuse. In this regard refer Objectivity and Subjectivity.
There tends to be strife with the people side of organisations - with the
intersubjective. All of this splitting or disintegrating
has aversive consequences for people and organisations. Consider all of the
ways used to split mind from body. Loud music, alcohol, body tension, holding
one’s head on an angle, drugs, addictive behaviour, hyperactivity, amusement,
TV, radio, books, using the linguistic form 'you' when referring to myself
(eg., 'You feel so disconnected') - the list is long. Organisational norms
further the splitting. There may be sanctions against being subjective and
emotional; there may be unspoken protocols on what is unmentionable and
undiscussable. We must use channels for communicating and there are sanctions
against 'going outside the channel. Research has shown that the hard driving,
high job involvement Type A personality often found among business leaders
correlates with heart trouble, ulcers, divorce and marital breakdown, as well
as mental breakdown and early death! Illusion by splitting is that ideas are
real. What is real is the experience, the feeling and the emotions connected
to mindbody whole system complexity - useful for adapting new behaviours. This Lexicon is all about integrity and
connexity - thinking, sensing, perceiving, feeling and acting as a living
system imbedded with others in social living systems and all that that
implies and involves. This is not a metaphor. It is the way it is. We can
recognise and remember this - as in re-cognise and re-member, that is, to
change our thinking and to get it into our members - our arms and legs. We
can realise this in a two-fold sense - as understand, and as in 'make
real'. Think of a particular people challenge you
have been involved in - how did you respond? From a personal perspective?
From an atomistic perspective? From a fault finding, scapegoating, blaming,
judging, and demanding perspective? If so, how is this frame embodied? What
is the emotional tone and resourcefulness? What happens if we change to
sensing and thinking like a system? What if we look for what is the freer
energy? Looking for what works? What if we begin working with the free energy
close to what is working? Add more of the Lexicon concepts as internal
resource states and modes of responding and we are evolving a very new type
of person and a new type of organisation. Also refer Eco-history.
Emergence and Sustaining Innovation When a system advances to a minimum level
of complexity, emergent properties arise that were not evident at lower
levels of complexity. For example the taste of Glucose can’t be ascertained
from the individual Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen particles. 'Self-organisation
occurs naturally in far-from-equilibrium systems, manifesting as dissipative structures. The emergence of dissipative
structures in these systems is congruent with the concept of innovation
described as new effective and efficient strategies to get a system where it
needs to go. Dissipative structures are sustained when
the far-from-equilibrium systems that produce them are sustained. If the
system is allowed to fall back to equilibrium then the resultant downward
shift in organisation and complexity will tend to cause the emergent
phenomena to disappear. Emergence of Resonant Strange
Attractors in Business? Within complex multivariable systems of
motion there may be one or two points in the phase plane that 'attracts' the
system energy, as in the rest point of a simple swinging pendulum. Some more
complex multivariable systems may have their movements restricted to what are
called 'strange attractors', having say three variables. Do Businesses, as
multivariable systems in motion, have something approaching a 'strange
attractor' as an essential aspect adding/influencing form(s)? What, if any,
person or group, or aspect would be a 'strange attractor' in business? What
would be their/its function and effect? Is this at least a useful metaphor?
For example, how may nodal people influence the complex shape of
self-organizing systems by a few strategic interventions? Community is a potent resource within
organisations. Typically, organisations have many aspects that may disable
and limit the forming of 'community' among participants (refer Authentic
Power). Knowledge based protocols tend to
eventually annihilate natural, spontaneous and vivacious emergent processes
of self-organization. Community is formed in relational conversation fostering
authentic power, mutual respect, openness, trust, respect for diversity of
opinion and creative use of conflict. Emergent Communities continually scan for
and foster strange attractors, and emergence.
Those complex system properties that
emerge at a certain level of complexity but do not exist at lower levels, and
hence can never be found by looking at smaller and smaller parts. (Refer 'Connexity' and 'Holons'). 'Enablers' as the name suggests 'enable' –
the support people to be able. They endeavour to create the physical and
social 'context, 'frame and 'stimmung within the person or group that maximises worker's
capacity for personal, group and network empowerment. Enablers identify and
create possibilities for extending other people’s abilities - in making
effective responses, and in taking cooperative and effective action to enrich
business system wellbeing together - self help. Typically every large group
of people naturally have people who are enablers. They are an integral aspect
of both formal and informal systems. From the Latin equi-librium: 'aequus':
make same (level as in even); libra: to balance. Most phenomena that
we encounter in the universe, including ourselves, are embedded in, or are
actually are far-from-equilibrium systems. The dynamics of far-from-equilibrium
systems tend to naturally produce spontaneous 'self-organisation
with 'emergent properties. If our heart is in equilibrium
we are dead or about to die; living hearts have rhythms far from equilibrium.
Businesses in equilibrium are inflexible. Vibrant businesses are
characterized in part by being far from equilibrium. In conditions of instability,
far-from-equilibrium systems tend to spontaneously self-organise as emergence unfolds linked to the capability of the system to
maintain its integrative functions at the edge of chaos. As a context, evolution tends to occur as
a boundary phenomenon where chaos becomes maximal. The global ecology (Gaia)
has thrived for the last 3.5 billion years due to the ability of its
subsystems to self-organise and innovate in response to crisis, catastrophe
and chaos (far-from-equilibrium). The effect is ongoing upward shift in
complexity, self-organisation and connectivity (refer 'connexity').
Businesses can learn from this. Back to Terms listed in
this Lexicon Repeated form/process
- holons within holarchies (refer holon)
Frame - a border, edge, setting something
apart, creating a space, place and/or context with a
particular mood (stimmung), meaning, and ways of looking,
hearing, seeing, feeling and savouring. A frame 'sets off' and enriches a
painting. A frame may put a 'boundary' on a context - as a context of a
'particular kind' - this is what is going on - this is the 'definition of the
situation'. The stage border frames the context of the
play and the rise and fall of the curtain frames the beginning and end of the
play reality.
A frame may assist in clarifying the
meaning of behaviour. For example, a person sees another jumping around
outside in a 'crazy' fashion - clutching his shirt. Having the additional
piece of information that an acid has fallen down the front of the shirt
'frames' what's going on, or reframes 'crazy' into 'self care'. Framing and
reframing may be extensively used in business, for example, in fuzzy
contexts and where interpreting is required. Frames may be 'set up' or 'made' in many
ways. Example A: By using signs as markers and signifiers,
eg. putting up a sign:
Example B: By using verbal and non-verbal behaviours,
eg. by simply saying, ''X' is what is happening ', or using the language of
assuming, possibilities, presupposing, implying, and arousing curiosity. Example C: After meeting an acquaintance in the lift,
saying: 'I heard that the emergence response team
have made a break through - get in contact with Harry directly'. This may
reframe the acquaintances action for the ensuing few minutes. A meta-frame is a frame on a higher
logical level. It is the frame in which other frames take place - like the
'first quarter' within the 'game'. Example: The 'Weekend retreat frame System energy may be potential, emergent,
free, or blocked. A useful mode is to work with free energy near blocked
energy - its easier than working with the blocked energy. The people system
may have positive and negative aspects. Work with the positive aspects of
each person and group. As an example, one section which had been very
successful at the expense of another section of a business in gaining
budgetary funding and resources was given the challenge of using their
strengths to assist the other section. In accepting this challenge the
successful section strategically gave up some of their position without
weakening themselves, and greatly assisted the other section. Refer 'Matrix'. In
talking about a functional matrix, no specific entity is being referred to.
Rather, it is the focus or function of the action. The term 'functional
matrix' is used to refer to the generative and formative developing and
shaping of functions, fields or foci of system action. For example, a
functional matrix may be set up within a business or government organisation
to foster and enable possibilities for emergence. Others
foci may be 'Business Ecosystems', 'Connexity',
'INMAs', fostering 'Dichter and Denken
perception'. In turn, each of these functional matrices may be interconnected
and inter-related - sharing insights, concepts, designs and the like.
Functional matrices may be short or long term. Having people enter into possible futures
and engage together to resolve presenting issues and attend to outcomes
(refer 'Hypothetical Realplay'). 'Fuzzy' is a term being applied to
situations and experience involving uncertainty, ambiguity and doubt. Much of
life is neither 'black' nor 'white'. Most falls into the 'grey' area. Much of
our thinking, feeling, speaking, and writing is inevitably fuzzy. The interpreting of subjective and inter-subjective experience
is typically fuzzy (refer Objectivity). Business and Government take place in a
very complex milieu containing much that we can't be certain about. Fuzziness
is pervasively present in our quest for understanding of this complexity.
Together we create and are a part of this complexity and fuzziness. We are
immersed in fuzziness. Much of business life is pervasively
inter-related - parts effect the whole. The whole is linked to other wholes
and their parts (refer Holon and Holarchy). This complex
linking and network extends in all directions and each link can add another
'layer' of fuzziness. We can't eliminate fuzziness. However we can
learn to live better with it. We can learn to recognize the sources and ways
fuzziness is manifest. Somethings are just so complex we cannot know for
sure. The behaviour of others is often unpredictable. One source of fuzziness
is that people set out to deceive others. We can learn to avoid the
manipulation of those who use fuzziness as a means of hiding suspect motives
and secret agendas, and as a way of maintaining power and control. In some contexts some things may be
undiscussable. Any attempt to discuss them would 'up the ante' so much that
it is considered by all involved to be not worth the risk. It may be that
this undiscussability is also undiscussable. This situation can be
fuzzy-toxic and virtually impossible to resolve. One approach that may work
is to structure excellence. Another source of fuzziness is in making
inferences and then making further inferences based on these inferences.
Often we have second, third and higher orders of inference - a context where (typically
unrecognised) fuzziness abounds (also see 'interpreting').
By learning to recognize and live with
fuzziness, we empower our capacity for creative action in uncertain times. Businessmen are learning to use fuzzy logic as a way of living with fuzziness. Fuzzy logic is now used extensively in
engineering and robotics. An example is having multiple sensors responding in
certain ways to a range of probabilistic conditions. In this way the system
can cope with variety, uncertainty and complexity rather than being limited
to an 'if X then Y' rigidity. Now business people are learning to apply
fuzziology in the subjective and the inter-subjective 'people side' of the
business. This Lexicon contains a simple model that refers to this. The upper
left and lower left quadrants in the model refer to subjective and
inter-subjective experience. Fuzziness does apply in all four quadrants (see Objectivity). Geosocial Mindbody Processes - Keyline
and Cultural Keyline Cultural Keyline - adapting natural
placeforming and placeforms - link between people, processes, place and
landform. Example: isomorphic (of identical form) relation between primary
and secondary ridge systems and some business networks and the implications
flowing from this, eg., the key position of nodal points at the junction of
network pathways for flow of information and energy) (refer Natural
System Design and Free Energy). Copying nature for
example, where are things placed relative to other system parts and place -
for maximizing functionality and use of free energy in the system - eg
gravity in Keyline agricultural design.
The concept 'Cultural Keyline' was
developed by Dr. Neville Yeomans from his father P.A Yeomans' 'Keyline'
concept. The above panorama is of the property at Richmond (out of Sydney)
where P.A. Yeomans developed 'Keyline'. Notice the design features adapting
natural placeforms. The closest dam is sited so it is in the highest point in
the valley floor where the steep landfall first begins to flatten. This
allows storage at the highest point in the valley so the free energy of
gravity can be used to distribute water for stock and irrigation. The dam
wall as a specially designed and constructed pipe that comes out at the base
of the middle of the dam wall with a valve on it. The second dam is situated
so that overflow from the higher dam can flow by gravity into it. The
irrigation channels are filled from the valve outlet by gravity flow. The
irrigation channel is sited below the overflow channels. Keyline has many
design features all resonant with natural system connexity. This is discussed
more fully in other places. P.A is viewed by many as making the greatest
contribution to sustainable agriculture of anyone in the world for the past
200 years. None the farmers through all time had
noticed what P.A. noticed. P.A. used many of the concepts in Natural Lexicon
Processes - seeing how everything was interconnected, inter-related,
inter-dependent, and how he could design landscape to merge with the natural
design features of nature. Once under way, P.A. allowed nature to be his
guide so that he, his farm design and nature were self-organising. Thirty
years after P.A.'s death the system works with little maintenance required.
As can be seen from this photo taken in Oct 2001, the farm still looks like
sweeping gardens or golf course. In social contexts themes may emerge that
have resonance for all participants. There may be a divergence of views about
the themes. However, the resonant themes may have the resonance because of
the defining quality of being conducive to coherence as keypoints
of discourse. Keylines of discourse may usefully follow on these
themes. Staying on theme while group energy sustains it has value. Individual
energy desirous of prematurely shifting theme may have salience for change
agents hinting at defensiveness in those seeking to shift theme, perhaps
relating to unresolved and distanced issues entangling these people and the
theme. The astute change agent may pick up on this. This paragraph is an
aspect of cultural keyline – tapping into inner landscapes. Back to Terms listed in
this Lexicon Natural local abode or locality of living
things (refer 'Natural System Design') Refer Holon The philosopher scientist Arthur Koestler
used the term holon for each whole thing within nature - a whole made up of
its own parts (refer 'cleavered unity), and
simultaneously this whole thing is itself part of a larger whole. Every holon
in nature, as whole/parts, has drives or tendencies to maintain its own
wholeness and partness, and its fit within other wholes in the environment. A holon seeks to maintain its part/whole
for and through its own agency - survival/growth/identity/autonomy - and
through its communing as part of other wholes. If it fails at agency
or communing it dies. Holons may disintegrate into sub-holons or they
may increase in complexity by small changes or sudden transcendence
(refer Bifurcation). In a social system, the growth phase
creates new norms and values. These are codified, formalised and elaborated
in the mature, stable phase. They are then meaningful rituals and ceremonies,
which provide a stable background to human interaction and organisation. In the phase of decline, norms and values
lose their relationship to the reality of the system's behaviours. They
become meaningful rules, which people do not follow. During transcendence,
holons differentiate and integrate (refer cleavered unity).
Transcending to a more complex functioning typically brings scope for
different contextual dysfunction. It may bring
repressing, denying, dissociating (non-attending to aspects of the social and
natural worlds) and alienating action. Typically, during a people system (holon)
decline/disintegrating phase, the system disintegrates and dedifferentiates -
divergent parts become similar. The system shifts towards dynamic inertia -
unchanging action/increasing rigidity - and towards fatal equilibrium. The term 'holarchy'
denotes a universe of such holons within holons - (from the Greek: a source
of wholes.) Refer 'Realplay'. Entails setting up a
group assignment that creates a context which involves
participants engaging with very real issues which are not directly part of
the ongoing business. It is ideal for having participants explore and engage
with very 'real' possible futures, to develop skills and maybe constitute
that very future or steer clear of it, as appropriate - a form of future pacing. Incapability capability is the ability to
navigate well, environments that exceed one's current capability. Stagnation - even functional crisis - may
set in when organisations/people are subjected to environments to which they
are totally capable; that is, when there no stimulus for growth and
innovation. Typically capability is recognised and
rewarded. The incapable are disregarded. People who are capable at working in
contexts where they (and everyone else) are incapable are rarely recognised
or sought. These people have incapability capability. Shortage of intrapersonal and
interpersonal incapability capability is an important limiting factor for
growth and abundance in organisations and the wider world. Traditional education attempts to minimize
incapable states by rewarding and recognizing only capable states. The
familiar adage goes that 'people are promoted till they exceed their
competence'. Conventional institutional vocational learning gears the student
towards 'organisational death'. It vocationally guides and equips students to
work in environments to which they are capable. It does little to prepare
students to work effectively in environments beyond their capabilities. When
organisations are being stretched beyond capability only new people capable
of working within the new environments are sought. We suggest that people
with incapability capability could useful be sought or generated from within.
Streetwise, life-based learning may gear
the exceptional individual to acquire intrapersonal and interpersonal
incapability capability. Such people are adept in fuzzy
contexts. They may be skilled in entering and using liminal
states, as well as using kennen, and dichter
and denken approaches. They tend to flexibly use a variety of thinking
styles as appropriate to contexts. They use their current abilities such that
these are functional and not dysfunctional (using highly refined abilities in
dysfunctional ways and in inappropriate contexts tends to be widespread and
often not recognised). People with intrapersonal and interpersonal
incapability capability tend to have persistence, tenacity, and pervasive
curiosity. They recognise when they are confused and value this state. They
add 'being curious' to it. They recognise, value and regularly use this state
of being 'curiously confused' - recognising that this is a potent learning
state in fuzzy and novel contexts. Preconceptions and prejudices may be
suspended so that the fuzziness of the novel context can be connected with
and its flux and flow experienced for possibilities. All aspects of the flux
and flow is recognised as an enabling matrix, which may be sourced
non-linearly in real time and recognised as being omnipresent and freely
available. These people with intrapersonal and interpersonal incapability
capability are adept at merging with the fuzzy and the novel - establishing a
connexity relation with them. The people side of a business may have
varying degrees of wellbeing. The illness-wellness continuum frames a person's
and collectivity's direct lived experience. Wellness is a state in which a
person feels tremendously alive, fully inhabiting the present moment of life,
able to boldly think in new ways, to consider fresh possibilities, to explore
new choices with a heightened sense of personal generative power and
vitality. Similarly, a collectivity of people can have a vibrant energy and
shared vital mood (refer 'stimmung'). By contrast, illness is the state in which
a person feels overwhelmed by their current circumstances, a pervasive and
complicated sense of inhibition, frustration and worry about all sorts of
things. Again, a collectivity can also exhibit these responses. Wellness cannot be delivered through
expert intervention. Rather, it emerges as a person/organisation develops
uniquely situated (refer 'context') complex
strategies for recognizing and enhancing what works. See 'Free
Energy. Also refer the 'Sickness and Disease Model. Refer 'Colindivity' INMA - Inter-system Normative Model
Area A business INMA is a vibrant psychosocial system
having an ecological frame and culture for the sustained emergence and
exploration of wellbeing possibilities – a model area for exploring
emergence. The 'I' in the term may also mean, 'intra-system',
'inter-business', 'intra-business' and 'inter-sector'. Innovation can be operationally defined as
that activity which results in a change that has usefulness beyond a current
application and that alters the ability of the system as whole. Innovation
increases the flexibility, functional capability and/or computational
complexity of the larger system. Innovating behaviours occur as an innate
drive within living systems. Clearly, not all systems are innovative to the
same degree. It seems that it is the capability of the system to engage
itself (integrate) (refer 'co-reconstituting') in
far-from-equilibrium conditions, which largely determines whether or not it
will develop new emergent dissipative structures. How does a system learn to
support itself and to maintain its integrative functions at the edge of chaos
where the probability of innovation and evolution are optimal? Seems that a person who experiences what
self-organising phenomena feels like in their own physiology tend to have the
potential to be able (as an emergent capability) to scan for these phenomena
in their relationships and activities. They may become sensitised to the
self-organisation phenomena in a far-from-equilibrium world. They may so
surrender to this process that they can catch their slide into defensiveness
and challenge this by exploring edge experience. The natural drive of such an
individual may tend towards acting to support and amplify this
self-organisation perceived against the history of 'structural
coupling' recorded within their unique biological architecture. We all experience our internal experience
of our internal and the external world. Refer interpreting
and Objectivity.
From the Latin interesse (inter
meaning: to enter and esse: the essence, or god energy). This is the
original meaning of the word. Back to Terms listed in
this Lexicon All understanding of inner experience
within and between people (subjective and inter-subjective experience)
involves interpreting. The context is
important when interpreting. As an example, the meaning of the word ‘bark’ in
speech depends if we are talking about trees, dogs, musical composers (Bach)
or manner of speaking (as in ‘his bark is worse than his bite’) (Refer 'Objectivity'). The German language distinguishes two forms
of knowing. Both have a role in business. 'Kennen' is a word meaning to know
in the sense of becoming acquainted with other people and things. It is a
knowing linked to forming business friendships and relationship. Kennen is a
knowing which is always unfinished and unfinishable. It is an ever-unfolding
mutuality. It denotes something that 'interests' me, as
in inter esse - to enter into the essence or spirit of the other. It
denotes something very personal and subjective - entering into a relation
with empathy, respect, deference and openness. The German language has a different word,
'wissen' for the form of knowing that seeks to grasp the other so that
they can be known, predicted, and controlled. Kennen is contemplative. Wissen
is manipulative. Wissen is a technical knowing, which can get people to the
moon and back. Kennen is a knowing contributing to the astronauts living and
working well together during the challenges and stresses of the trip. These forms of knowing are very different
(cleavered). Used together they can be very useful (unity). Refer 'Cleavered Unity'. Also refer Objectivity and
Subjectivity. From limin (Latin) meaning the
threshold at the doorway - the last step before the entrance. 'Liminal'
experience is 'at the threshold' - being open to change - a turning point
(refer bifurcation). Staying and 'working at the
threshold' is to stay in liminality. The steps that lead up to the limin are
'pre - liminary' - i.e., the familiar word 'preliminary'. Liminal experience is a peak state for
being creative and innovative. One can be creative and innovative without
entering liminal experience. At this stage of business evolution it may be
fair to say that few business people enter liminal states. Being 'liminal'
may have the feeling of 'safe abandoning' of the old - to safely surrender to
the 'moment' in that word's two meanings - as in 'small amount of time' and
as in 'turning power'. It may embody the shift from ordinary reality to an
altered internal way of processing of ideas and images - dissociating and
profound engrossment in increased awareness of awareness and creativity flow.
. For some experiences it may involve leaving the familiar grounded here and
now to a state characterized by super awareness. 'Enablers may set up
liminal contexts and liminal spaces. People in liminal states may be for the
time 'threshold people'. In these states, their attributes are necessarily
ambiguous. This is because the condition of 'liminality' and being a 'liminal
person' elude or slip through normal classifyings that locate places and positions
in social space. 'Liminal people' are neither here nor there; they are
betwixt and between the normal. Liminal states are enriched with
possibilities. Typically liminal people are able to quickly return to
everyday states of functioning and function and bring with them peak skills. The ambiguous and indeterminate attributes
of liminality may be expressed in rich metaphors and symbols such as being
invisible, being in darkness, being in the womb, being in the wilderness,
metamorphosis, forgetting, floating, drifting, the light at the end of the
tunnel, the dawning, the new dawn, flying, and as one person characterised
it, the merging together the following three metaphors: the underground mole, the sheep huddled together for warmth on the cold day, and the lone far-sighted eagle on the high mountain Gateways, doorways and the proverbial,
'light at the end of the tunnel' as liminal places are excellent metaphors
for change. The term 'logic' comes from the Greek word
logos meaning 'reason', originally denoting 'the universal principle
through which all things are interrelated and all natural events
occur' (refer Connexity). The word matrix has the following
meanings: 'A place where anything is generated or
developed; the formative part from which a structure is produced; a network
or web-like structure; intercellular substance; a mould, a type or die in
which anything is cast or shaped'; a womb; Also see 'Functional
Matrix'. Back to Terms listed in
this Lexicon We regularly use metaphors to make sense
and understand. We recognize that something is like something else. Also refer
comments on metaphors in On being Tentative' and Limin‘. Below is a list of metaphors resonant with Natural
Business Terms Organizations as Living Systems Adapting Autopoiesis Being Dynamic Being Well Developing Energizing Environment interfacing Flowering Food Fruiting Generating Germinating Grafting Growing Healing Homœostasis Life cycle Metabolising Nourishing Nodes Nodal point Renewing Resources Second Order Cybernetics Seeding Vibrating Organizations as Biological Systems Adapting Autopoiesis Being ecological Developing Food chain Interacting systems Natural selecting Niche Nourishing Reproducing Self organising Survival of the fitting Sustainable comparative advantage Symbiosis (associations advantaging two or more organisms Organization as an environment Biological systems Boundaries Climate Contour Ecology Emergence of shared futures Environmental ecology Geosocial Habitat Health Niches Place Placemaking Population ecology Ridges Rivers Self organizing Supply Terrain Valleys Organization as a Brain Chaos Creating Intelligence Left brain/Right Brain Logical Memory Networking Random access Sensing Viral networking Organization as Holograph · Chaos · Connexity · Dynamic thinking · Fractal · Holarchy · Holon · Multidimmensional · The whole in every part Organization as culture Co-reconstituting Creating cultural contexts Culture shift Cultural mapping Definition of the situation/context Intercultural awareness and action Multiculturalism Paradigm shift People and people systems as socially constituted realities Placemaking and event making Recognizing multiple cultures within/without the organization Respect for cultural diversity Shared realities Socially constituting realities Organizations as New Physics All is flux Bifurcation point Chaos - randomness with constraints Creating energy Energy and matter are interchangeable Holding ourselves up with our bootstraps - No fixed foundations Influencing chaos Its all rhythm and dance Spotting changes and trends Strange attractors Symmetry, design and functionality emerges from chaos Things have a tendency to exist Organizations as Community Belonging Caring Community Cooperating Developing each other Helping you helps me Mutual respect Nurturing Self help Self organising Sustaining We all serve each other We are all in this together Micro-interventions seek to capitalize on
the self-embedding and non-linear
nature of complex systems, so that optimal output and change is achieved with
minimal input. Nano-interventions are
super-micro-interventions that are resonant with the 'butterfly
effect'. Sometimes a very deft nano-intervention can have major
implications including creating emergent possibilities. They are akin to
substance super molecules that may emerge and form when a micro amount of a
substance is added to another fluid. Interventions that seek to manage and
control (pre/first-order cybernetic approaches) living systems may
drastically limit the richness of transactional possibilities and feedback. Preferably, micro-interventions by
enablers are as minimal as possible, in order to maximize possibilities for
self-help consequence, including learning and co-learning gains, developing
new strategies, engaging peoples' and collectivities' sense of
personal/collective safety and opportunity, and the capability and capacity
to utilise available resources and networks to help steer the larger system
towards successful outcomes. Natural, because design follows the
patterns inherent in nature (refer, connexity', 'Geosocial Mindbody Processes' and 'self
organizing systems') Natural Systems - Organisational and
Operational Principles of Healthy Business-People Systems Self-creation (autopoiesis) Self-help Self-evolving Self organizing Self-reflexivity (autognosis-self-knowledge) Self-regulation/maintenance (autonomics) Communications among all parts Empowerment - full employment of all component parts Coordination of parts and functions Complexity (diversity of parts) Reciprocity of parts in mutual contribution and assistance System redundancy enhances connectedness and potential (c/f
traditional way - where increased redundancy requires that more of system
energy is diverted to the control function) Embeddedness in larger holons and dependence on them (holarchy) Co-re-constituting part and whole (self and community) in continual
flux with other communities and the web of life context Input/output of matter/energy/information from/to other holons
Relational networking within nested networks Response-ability -- to internal and external stress or change - emergence of new response-abilities as system feature Transformation of matter/energy/information Use of free energy - metabolism, gravity, solar energy, subtle
energies, the bodies' short and long-term wellbeing energy systems - (ergotropic and trophotropic) Balance of Interests (from Latin: inter-esse, meaning to enter into
the essence of the other in its relation with me -- negotiated self-interest
at all levels of holarchy Feedback and the surviving of the fitting Conservation of what works well In a context of continual change, continual mutual nurturing towards
stability (not equilibrium) Symbiosis Connexity - cooperating inter-dependence, inter-connecting,
inter-weaving, inter-relating For humans - Respecting, nurturing and celebrating the diverse web of life cooperating with and being mindbodyful of other people, life forms and
matter in finding and using niches and places in the landform See 'Dissipative Structures' Research into Network Care of the body's
Central Nervous System (CNS, i.e., brain & spinal cord) holds forth
promise as a model for the care of business networks. The central nervous
system is a complex, dynamic, far-from-equilibrium system capable of autopoiesis, self-organisation and
evolution (morphogenesis). It is also congruent with second order cybernetic modelling
of living systems as autopoietic and self-steering (refer cybernetics).
Concepts in this lexicon are being used
effectively in central nervous system care. An example is that excellent
results have been obtained by working with the 'free energy'
near blocked spinal energy. One useful business functional
matrix can be the Business Network Care Matrix. Other concepts in this
lexicon may be tapped into to create business network care and network
emergence. In a world where people are increasingly perceiving everything as
inter-related, network care of workers' central nervous system has potential
as a business wellbeing strategy. When referring to 'process', people
typically think of linear process - a sequence of actions, a series of
'things to do', how things are done - step-by-step. In using natural business
concepts, action may unfold as non-linear process. Multiple related bits may
be happening simultaneously. The 'beginning' may be added in later. Stuff
that seems unrelated may suddenly have relevance and be added into action. Emergent properties may arise in non-linear action (and
linear action), which were not evident at lower levels of complexity. For
example the taste of Glucose cannot be ascertained from the individual
Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen particles. These holons may
then be fitted into the ongoing non-linear process. Action may have no
preplanning and pre-organising. What to do next or later may emerge from
ongoing non-linear action. Linearity - describing relationships in
which change in one factor is reflected in change in another. Linear
relationships belong to the Newtonian world of simple machines; an input
produces a proportional output. Non-linear relationships characterize most
of the world in which complex systems interact; in this case output is
disproportional to input and vice-versa. Refer 'normative action
research' In using a normative action research way,
people take action based on shared local knowings and tapping into emergent
possibilities (refer emergence). In the process
of action, people are consensually assessing outcomes - hence the term
'action research' (refer also non-linear process).
Actions that may apply or be adapted to suit in similar contexts are also
implemented and outcomes assessed. If these adapted ways do not work, they
are discarded. What 'works', is repeated and tends to become the norm until
something better emerges. What continues to work becomes policy. Policies
formed in this way work, as they have emerged from actions that work. Norms and policies are continually up for
review - so everything is viewed tentatively (refer 'kennen)
and reviewed continually (refer 'Second Order Cybernetics').
This normative action research becomes the 'way' of all action. All action is
'action research' and action research enables emergence. This 'way' emerges
as a normative action research culture of continual action, adapting,
renewing, and emergings, towards maintaining and improving wellbeing in all
its forms. New action, norms and policies emerge from the flux. The business
is constantly being 'co-re-constituted. This 'way' is
typically pioneered in INMAs - Inter and Intra Network
Normative Model Areas; also refer, 'control'). Four Aspects of an Organisation The following segment is adapted from Ken
Wilbur. Organisational people (and other) systems have both internal and
external aspects. Organisations consist of individuals linked into
collectivities. Combining these aspects we can use the following model. Note
that the two left quadrants have the interior aspects and the two right
quadrants have the exterior aspects. The two upper quadrants have the
individual aspects and the two lower quadrants have the collective aspects.
The upper left quadrant uses 'I' language. The lower left quadrant involves
'We' language. The right hand quadrants involve 'It' language.
Note that most business people focus on the
right hand side of this model. Typically, the left hand side is often where
difficulties and fuzziness are nested. Context
based interpreting is fundamental to left side knowing. Action that embraces and links all four
quadrants is required for completeness. There is a connexity relation between and within the
three worlds. It is pervasively entangled. Note that each quadrant has its own way of
knowing and its own bases for confirming validity claims. Often change away from dysfunction
in one quadrant can be facilitated by action from within other quadrants. For
example, getting interpersonal matters resolved (lower left) can improve
individual internal functioning (eg, concentration, peace of mind, feeling
confident and the like)(upper left). In turn both of the foregoing may lead
to more appropriate chemical balance in the brain and less stress chemicals
in the system (upper right). These changes may facilitate the refining of a
people system's functioning so that dysfunction in technical systems is
resolved (lower right). Fuzziness -
uncertainty, ambiguity and doubt - is pervasively an aspect of ongoing stuff
occurring in each of the four quadrants. In respect of the claim of being
'objective' typically used in the two right quadrants, a quote from the above
segment on second order cybernetics is germane (and well
worth revisiting). 'Second
Order Cybernetic observers and actors include themselves as a constitutive
element in the system they are observing and acting in, and recognize that
their very observing has constitutive and 'co-reconstituting
potency.' From this perspective, to be 'Objective'
with a capital 'O', we have to include the subjective with the objective, and
to take account of the observer and the observing. The way of knowing of the
left quadrants may add aspects to the understanding of the right-hand
quadrants that the right-hand ways of knowing would never find out. In a world where little is 'black' or
'white' and most is 'shades of grey', where so much is fuzzy
and uncertain, being tentative and valuing tentativeness can have value. This
also applies in complex contexts placing demands on people and collectivities
beyond their current capacity. Recognising when we are being dysfunctional,
and evolving and using incapability capability is a way through
to a higher functionality. Being tentative is also an essential phase aspect
of creativity and innovation. The incompetent thinker, certain that his poor
solution is the best and selling it, and in the process collapsing the
creative states of talented creative peers, is sadly an oft-played scenario.
Another oft repeated scenario is very competent people using their
competences incompetently – for example using devil’s advocate competencies
in the middle of a group brainstorming session. Being too quick to judgement
in order to eliminate tentativeness is dysfunctional (refer dysfunctionality).
An oft-used metaphor to suggest
certainty is a building with strong foundations. In fuzzy
contexts, which are pervasively complex and uncertain, the building metaphor
is misleading and a potential source of distortion and deceit based
fuzziness. Perhaps in these cases more appropriate metaphors are 'shifting
sands', quicksand', 'mire', 'bootstraps' and 'flying by our bootstraps'. It is
for this reason the lexicon uses the expression the 'social constitution
of realities' rather than the sociological expression 'the social construction
of realities', with the term 'construction' implying, 'building' something
'solid' on 'strong' 'foundations. The language, which respects,
acknowledges, conveys, and expresses fuzziness, uncertainty and
tentativeness, is the passive voice and 'softener' words and expressions
like, 'perhaps', 'may', 'maybe', 'it may be', 'we could' (rather than 'we
will'). The verb 'to be' is avoided ('He is', 'They are'). This 'soft' 'language of tentativeness'
has been used extensively throughout this lexicon. This 'soft' language has
been traditionally spurned by business people. It is immediately derided as
weak and wishy-washy. The only thing that has been acceptable is expression
that conveys absolute certainty and a certain future, even when contexts and
futures are far from certain. The computer spell and grammar check is
set to point out and by implication, eliminate, every sentence in the passive
voice. As an example of using fuzzy language,
let's say that an enabler is setting up possibilities for self-help among
members of a dysfunctional matrix called the 'Innovation Matrix'. These
people are currently out of their depth in a challenging complex context. The
enabler may say: 'Ideas
are emerging for a gathering to explore possibilities. An open agenda may
evolve with themes like: finding the edge, living with fuzziness exploring 'butterfly effects' emerging from fuzziness recognising abuse and misuse of fuzziness Perhaps other
themes may be added if this gathering gets under way.' Notice that the person or persons possibly
initiating action have been omitted from all of the foregoing sentences. The
'flavour' is that these are 'ideas floating in space' and that members of the
matrix may pick up and run with them, if they fully accept ownership of them
and do it all themselves. Notice the difference in feel if the above
is translated to the alternative, certain, zero-sum authority language (refer
authentic empowering). 'I
am arranging a gathering of the Innovation Matrix so that you can learn
skills in handling fuzziness. The agenda is as follows: How do we find the edge, Seven ways we can live with fuzziness Ten ways to increase clarity in our communication Nine ways to recognise when fuzziness is being misused and abused Please advise
me of other themes you want me to include. This later version will have a familiar
ring to most people. It is what tends to happen. 'I
am the expert with the solution. One way is strong and imposing. The other
ways is weak and natural. Water beats rock every time in the long haul -
naturally. Consistent with the rest of this lexicon,
and because the taken-for-granted is so strong, perhaps we may be
explicit here - we are suggesting that the weak and fuzzy may, in certain
circumstances, be far far and away better than being strong and imposing in
our imposing. The tentative suggestion of ideas that staff take up and
develop themselves tends to create 'ownership' far ahead of ideas derived by
and imposed by outside experts. A few words in a sentence surrounded by
brackets are said to be in parenthesis. Being parenthetical means that you
bracket yourself off from being immersed in the taken-for-granted of the
organization or subsection. You have not ‘gone native’ as in the
‘anthropological’ (a similar metaphor to parenthesis). Being parenthetical
may support attending to and perceiving dysfunctional processes and
meta-processes being used by the locals. It may support sensing and
identifying the taken for granted and the undiscussable. A phase portrait is a picture of how a
system dynamically behaves across multiple dimensions. In other terms, a
phase portrait is a map of (all) the potential behaviours of the system. A
phase portrait has the potential to grow to reflect the new capability of the
system as a whole. 'Phase portrait' is a term that derives from the
mathematics of chaos. It may have useful business applications. A particular pattern of oscillation, which
the system tends to remain in, is called a basin of attraction. Complex phase
portraits contain many different attractors. For example, a pendulum shows
different patterns of oscillation in relation to impulses it receives.
Occupying the centre of a basin of attraction is an attractor. (Refer 'Emergence of Resonant Strange Attractors). Attractors do not control behaviour so
much as exert a field of influence that the system responds to. In the course
of its life, a complex system moves between constellations of attractors. The
movement from one phase portrait to another cannot be ascribed to a random
phenomenon; rather it seems to be determined by some kind of 'complex’
interactive computation, and this holds true from single-celled organisms to
multi-celled beings like us. The phase portrait may be a valuable concept,
which may help us to look at the superficial behaviours and 'mechanisms' of
the system as well as the underlying living processes (refer 'Objectivity).
Could phase portraits be made of our
organization, and the way energy flows - the patterns of oscillation? The
fields of influence? If so, what would they look like? How useful would they
be? 'Phase portrait' is also discussed in the context of dysfunction
in that entry in this Lexicon. From polis the gatekeeper (see limin). In older times the gate was the growth point for
exports and imports and the gatekeepers primary function was ensuring the
growth of the system. Refer 'Normative Action
Research' From processus/procedere - to go
(into procession). It typically connotes a linear sequence of actions, a series,
how things are done. In using natural business concepts, action may unfold as
a non-linear process. Process and Outcome approaches In seeking change, are we attending to
what is happening along the way? A focus on final outcomes may lead us to non
attend to current process. A focus on final outcomes may tend to lead us into
control-oriented ways of thinking and doing, which may be appropriate for
transactions with machines but generally inappropriate for transactions with
and within living complex systems (refer 'self-embedded
phenomena', 'kennen' and 'objectivity').
Often we end up producing the opposite result
in the long term to what we achieved in the short term because living systems
are highly resistant to control-oriented transactions (refer discussion on
top down imposed control compared with natural system control in 'Authentic Power'. Including a focus on process in our
approach to enabling change helps us to attend to the quality of interactions
in real-time as well as developing depth of mutual sensitivity and awareness
that can lead us to new possibilities and emergent pathways of growth which
we could not separately imagine. Refer 'dichten and denker',
'interpreting', 'kennen', 'logic' and 'objectivity'). Attention to process enables possible
access to the realm of all possible outcomes. Fixation on predetermined
outcomes tends to constrain awareness of possibilities and quite often
retards emergent processes (refer 4 quadrant sensing in 'Objectivity'). Attending to and perceiving the processes
being used to carry out a process (metaprocess) is typically not a
competence in business people. Processes are available to acquire metaprocess
attending competencies. There has been along history of Australian
business people attempting to do business on the naive assumption that their
Asian counterparts live in the same world as they do. While trivially true,
the reality of everyday life differs radically between the Asian and
Australian. There are different cultures, values, norms, protocols, beliefs,
ways of doing business, frames of reference etc. We tend to not notice that we in Australia
do experience multiple realities. In the cartoon reality the coyote always
bounces back to have another go at the roadrunner. The rise and fall of the
curtain marks the beginning and end of the play reality. This hints that we
do mark boundaries. Snoopy does not leave the cartoon frame and run around on
the finance pages. The blue-collar workers' reality may be profoundly
different to the reality of senior management. It is possible to move between
realities. Realities are social constituted and hence can be re-constituted
(refer co-re-constituted). Similar to roleplay with the change to
engaging in real-time business process as if it was roleplay - hence
increased focus on attending to process and metaprocess, with some/all
participants assigned to observer and feedback roles, with a shared
understanding that ongoing action can be frozen at anytime to go into a
feedback/review mode for a short time. Realplay may be an aspect of normative action research and INMAs. Natural systems typically have massive
redundancy. Think of the abundance of healthy sperm counts or the release of
an egg a month through childbearing years. It is natural to have resources superfluous
to requirements. We are told we use a minuscle portion of our brain and
central nervous systems capacity. Now we find that the very micro-tubular
material at the core of our structure also has mind-boggling 'information
carrying and processing capabilities'. This magnifies beyond imagination our
information processing capacity. Our personal redundancy is astronomic! Natural system connexity
thrives by living well with redundancy (refer Business
Surviving and Thriving). In natural systems, an increase in redundancy
adds to the system's richness. Increasing redundancy in traditional
hierarchical organisations requires, of necessity, more system energy to be
diverted to the control function. Traditional hierarchical organisations have
made imposed control through zero-sum authority a central aspect (refer authentic empowering). In natural systems, control is pervasively
woven in with all the other pervasive aspects (refer autopoiesis,
connexity and holon). A simple example of redundancy in business
is multiskilling. Business organisations may usefully
explore new ways of working with system abundance and control. To reify a system is to assume that system
aspects are 'god given and immutable (unchangeable). Reifying is a prevalent
view and a distortion (refer 'reconstituting').
Reification is sustained by distortion and the language of distortion -
especially, 'necessity' and 'impossibility' - 'We have to' (necessity), and
'We can't' (impossibility). From Latin Religio to reconnect Refer Cybernetics Natural systems are self-organizing. The
random falling rain makes a groove.
This groove increases the chance that some
later falling rain will run into the groove and deepen and widen it. These
groove systems expand to become complex creek and river systems. Creek and
river systems have self-organised.
During the past decades of tightly
controlled business organizations, there has always been what has been
called, 'the informal organization' - the grapevine, the buddy network and
the like, which were self-organising. It is possible for a business entity to
encourage self-organizing structures and still hold these less formal,
non-linear structures accountable for results. Connexity
based business networks (matrices - refer matrix) tap
into the energy and capability of self organizing action where local-knowing
driven action-research contains an inherent control function - evaluation and
assessment of outcomes is an integral aspect (refer 'Normative
Action Research'). Act, and if it works, replicate. Consensually
validated 'outcomes that work' become policy. That is, policy becomes, 'that
which works'. Self-organisation manifests as dissipative
structures: the spontaneous emergence of new behaviours and relationships
that were not evident in the system in its close-to-equilibrium state. These
new behaviours and relationships allow the system to get where it needs to go
more effectively and efficiently. An example from nature is a vortex that
forms as water escapes through a drain. Things which in their organisation and
structure reflect the bigger systems which they are part of, and the
subsystems which they consist of (refer 'Fractal' and 'Holon'). The unfolding of these phenomena in time
and space reveals rich layering of meaning (laminas), movement and context. Living systems tend to be nested in this way -
interconnected by dense networks of feedback processes. 'Self-help' and 'self
organisation' are resonant natural biological process. In natural
systems, knowing how to act is intrinsic. Typically, those who are part
of the system (the parties) know it best. They are familiar with the local
contexts. This has become apparent to many senior people in 'lock out of
staff' contexts. Much of the wisdom is at the floor level. Expressed differently, actual 'expert'
level knowledge and wisdom typically exists within a system, not
outside of it. Both enabling strategies and the natural flow of self-help may,
in fertile contexts, evoke and enable people to make the transition from
inhibiters and conservers of rigid rule bound organizations to designers and
redesigners of fluid functional and adaptive systems and organizations. Over the pass forty years there has been
constant resistance to the notion of worker participation. Many processes
have been set up to give the workers a token 'sense' of participation. That
is - only sense of participating - not actual participating. Almost
invariably workers could see through this. The consequence has often been a
withdrawal of wisdom contribution, ambivalence, indifference, and non or
token cooperation. A pervasive issue flowing from imposed
change on people is 'lack of ownership' of the change. The outside expert
that comes in and 'does it for people' can disempower people. An alternative
is for an outsider to assume an 'enabler of possibilities' role and a 'co-learner' role in supporting and fostering self-help. Self-help is the most potent process for
constituting ownership of a process. Natural Business Concepts tend towards
creating contexts where, while all prudent control is maintained by senior
people, innovative ways are constantly being explored towards actually
tapping into the potency of living systems natural propensity to use
self-help for 'self organising' - with the consequent
diversifying of control prerogatives and processes. As an example, in some
contexts accountability has been delegated to a matrix of peers working in a
network. As an example of self-help in nature, a
bird like a kookaburra is not 'taught' to fly. Rather, it is continually
provoked by its parents to push the boundaries until it 'discovers' its own
capabilities and capacities (see 'Structured 'Dysfunction). A key operating principle is that
self-help optimises learning, learning-to-learn and co-learning.
Features of the self-help paradigm include context based process-driven
approaches and context based 'micro-interventions'
including micro-experiences. Social Re-constituting of Business
Realities See Realities A shared mood that attunes people together
Structural Coupling and Eco-history The experiences of living systems -
eco-history - are recorded in their structure (structural coupling) (refer 'embodiment', 'connexity' and 'dichter and denken'). This experience-structure
connectedness occurs at the sub-system structure-experience nexus as well.
Often it has a fractal or repeated quality. Whilst
individual complex adaptive business systems and business sub-systems may
rise or fall, the experimental experiences they acquire, as they 'boldly go
where no-one has gone before', tend to be recorded in the complexity of the
suprasystems they are nested in. The Web of Life of the planet has
consistently responded to conditions of dynamic complexity, crisis,
catastrophe and chaos by self-organising and experimenting in order to
produce higher orders of relationship and integration (refer 'emergence').
All complex adaptive business systems must grapple the dynamic complexity of
territories, markets, ecologies and environments. Being creative and using
sustained innovating have significant survival advantages. Similarly, using
adapt-ability appears to be a significant factor in the success of our
species, rather than specialising into one role. At an individual level it's
our using our capability of learning rather than any amount that we have
learned that delivers advantage in dynamic conditions. People often speak of a business or an
organization being ill or sick and needing a 'cure'. Typically, to say that
an organisation is 'diseased' is deemed too strong a term. Some contexts are
said to be 'toxic'. Sickness is a perception that a person enters into when
they become aware of dysfunction and/or decrease in quality of life. A medical disease is 'produced' in
the process of encountering a medical professional when objective and
standardized tests and other diagnostic practice show significant deviation
from accepted normal values. Without this deviation from normative values no
expert diagnosis is possible, even though the person continues to experience
sickness. In the medical encounter a filter is
placed over the person's direct lived experience, through which the expert
views and analyses disease. A critical separation is introduced between lived
experience and the identified disease problem. Refer Objectivity
for a discussion of an exploring of an alternative form of Objectivity, which
includes the subjective, and the inter-subjective. Also refer Second
Order Cybernetics 'Treatment’ of the 'diagnosed disease'
focuses on 'attacking' the problem so as to normalize deviation, which is
deemed success. But there is often little or even a negative correlation
between treatment of disease and a person's perceived quality of life
changes. A similarity exists with business, when
people in different levels of an organizational hierarchy, perceive problems
often in widely divergent ways (refer 'realities'). These
shared and differing realities together form a rich and complex picture of
the organisation as an organism (complex living thing). Following diagnosis,
organisational 'doctors' prescribe solutions. These are often sought through
outside-in, top-down driven interventions, which seek to solve identified
problems through prescribing. These interventions may do little to enable and
enhance the connexity, wellness and the organic drive to thrive
of the organisation, for some good reasons (refer the origins of the term logic). Typically business diagnosticians look at
objective criteria. They have historically given less attention to the lived
life experience (the subjective and inter-subjective) of the organisation. In
terms of the four-quadrant model (refer 'objectivity),
they restrict themselves to the right-hand quadrants only and use
pre/first-order cybernetic approaches rather than second
order cybernetic approaches. As an alternative to the 'diagnose and
prescribe' approach there are natural enabling processes for fostering an
organization's natural thrive capacities. This entails immersing oneself in
second order cybernetics using kennen and dichter
and denker approaches. Also used is an Objectivity
Four Quadrant model approach to connexity with the organisation. See also the
'Illness-Wellness Continuum'. From Latin structura = a fitting
together Complex adaptive systems, including living
systems and corporate organisations exhibit two kinds of internal
relationships. Structure describes relationships between actual physical
components. Pattern (Organisation) describes relation-ships and overall
interconnectedness, which determine the coherency, integration and function
of the system. The Western scientific approach has tended
to emphasise structural analysis and neglect exploration into context,
organisation and pattern. Complexity science heals (literally makes whole)
this artificial separation (refer 'connexity' and 'dichter and denken'). The effective functioning (physiology)
of a complex adaptive system is a property of its structure and
pattern. It is determined by the quality of physical components plus
their connexity and the ability of the system to
integrate itself in order to act effectively in a dynamic environment. A change process where people are placed
in a context structuring functional behaviours and preventing/interrupting
the dysfunctional behaviours which specific participants tend to use. This
context structuring may create scope for the constituting of new patterns of
interaction. This can allow a group to achieve functional outcomes and be
very aware of this, and then adopt their new blend of behaviours as a new
group norm. This bypasses even mentioning the previous dysfunctional
behaviours, and also bypasses the attendant possibilities of setting up
justifying, blaming, fault-finding, scape-goating and the like, which in turn
could sabotage the change-work. A simple example may be having a person who
always jumps in and begins selling her idea during a brainstorming session,
assigned to ensure the brainstorming of suggestions remains a flow of people
calling out suggestions, with no judgement or idea selling. On contexts where
the recognition of dysfunctional behaviour is functional, refer dysfunctionality. Quick Response Networks are sometimes
called Emergency Response Networks. As the name implies, these are networks
of people with a range of skills, resources, and access to authority,
available to swing into action at very short notice. There is a familiar saying, 'He could not
see the wood for the trees'. From deep within a paradigm or world view some
things become so commonplace they are not noticed and hence never questioned.
Some people however have special perception whereby they can transcend and
see things that are never noticed by others, and like the anthropologist in a
strange land, notice things that the 'natives' never do, while never becoming
one of the natives. Also refer 'parenthetical' and
transcendence in the context of holons and bifurcation',
See 'kennen'. Back to Terms listed in
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