Contents

Introduction

Miracles and Nasty Surprises

The Failure of Models & Labels; the Success of Experience & Emergence

Two Kinds of Coherence – Ascribed and Emergent

Models, Homologies & Simulacra

The Ascribed Coherence of Thagard and Weick

Coherence and Business Success

Emergence, Coherence & Narrative

Affordances and Organization

Homology: Sense-Making Revisited

But Experience is Different

Complexity Tools: the Semiotic Square & Homology

Steps to Implementation

Sample Chapter

Practical Applications

Applying Social Complexity Theory to an Organization

Certainty is a willingness to act. Applying Social Complexity Theory can help create that willingness within a organization by asking its members critical questions: How do I look at the world? What values am I enacting/embodying? What boundaries am I drawing to determine relevance? What time frame am I considering? What languaging and embodiment choices am I making? Am I considering the context of the others with whom I must deal?

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Overview of Social Complexity Theory

Social Complexity Theory examines the role of coherence and emergence in organizations. Coherence is regarded by many psychologists as critical to day to the day productivity and effectiveness of individuals. Both scholars and managers have adapted this belief to the world of management and organizations. Coherence is regarded as a sign of a well-run organization. But, the concept of a coherent thought defined as how well an idea holds together as a single entity gradually breaks down as the scale shifts to individuals, groups, and ultimately larger organizations. Adapting to and dealing with emergence is perhaps the most important task facing managers and organizations. Coherence as traditionally defined interferes with that task. By restricting the concept of coherence to measurement against definition (what we call ascribed coherence) managers and organizations implicitly are restricting their ability to deal with the unknown, the uncertain and the emergent.

Social Complexity Theory provides another perspective on coherence -- rooted in the felt experience of coherence and in the importance of emergence. Richard Rorty tells us: Knowledge is not a matter of getting reality right, but rather a matter of acquiring habits of action for coping with reality. In common parlance such coping mechanisms are called models. The aim of Social Complexity Theory is to teach managers and members of organizations to make use of some very different models as part of their coping mechanisms.

The Authors

HUGO LETICHE

Hugo Letiche is a Research Professor at the Universiteit voor Humanistiek, Utrecht, The Netherlands, where he has directed the mid-career practitioner PhD program. He has published in Organization Studies, Culture & Organization, JOCM, E:CO / Emergence, Revue Sciences de Gestion, Society Business Review etc.; and (co-)written seven books; and had chapters in some forty others.

MICHAEL LISSACK

Michael Lissack is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence (ISCE) and a serial entrepreneur. He founded both a non-profit research institute and a charity for artists, launched an international PhD program in corporate anthropology, has written half dozen books, been a successful Wall Street banker, and a candidate for public office.

RON SCHULTZ

Ron Schultz is Founder and Executive Director of the microfinance/micro-lending program, the Social Enterprise Zone and Lending4Change and the author of a number of books including Adjacent Opportunities: Sparking Emergent Social Action, and Unconventional Wisdom, Open Boundaries: Creating Business Innovation through Complexity.

Available for Consulting

The authors are available for both speaking and consulting assignments.

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Video Presentations

Hugo Letiche on Affordances

Video to come

Michael Lissack on Codes and Cues

video to come

Ron Schultz on Resilience

video to come

Available for Consulting

The authors are available for both speaking and consulting assignments.

Send Email