ORGANIZATION AS FLUX AND TRANSFORMATION

organization as flux and transformation

• Gareth Morgan viewed an organization as part of the ebb and flow of the whole environment, with a capacity to self-organize, change and self-renew in line with a desire to have a certain identity.

• this idea was reflected earlier by Heraclitus who address that the universe as in a constant stage of flux embodying features of both permanence and change.

Morgan's key beliefs about organizational change

• Order naturally emerges out of chaos.• Organizations have a natural capacity to

self-renew.• Organizational life is not governed by the

rules of cause and effect.• Key tensions are important in the

emergence of new ways of doing things.• The formal organizational structure

(teams, hierarchies) only represents one of many dimensions of organizational life

Four logics of organizational change by Gareth Morgan

• Autopoiesis

• Chaos & complexity

• Mutual causality

• Dialectical change

1. Autopoiesis:

• is the logic of self producing systems

• the theory which reflects that change originates in the enviroment

• Autopiesis systems are closed loops

• Morgan refers an organization as self referetial system that strive to shape themselves in their own image.

• Maturana and Varela believe living systems to be characterized by autonomy, circularity and self-reference. These three features allow the system to self-create or self-renew. The aim of autopoietic systems is to produce themselves and therefore their own organization and identity is paramount

• As organizations assert their identities, they can initiate managerial transformation in the social ecology to which they belong and they can creat conditions that will allow them to evolve along the environment.

Implications of Autopoiesis

• Organizations are always attempting to achieve ‘self-referential closure… enacting their environments as extensions of their own identity.’

• Many of the problems that organizations encounter are a result of their attempt to maintain a particular identity.

• Explanations of organizational evolution, change and development must give attention to the factors that shape patterns affecting organizations.

2.The logic of Chaos and complexity

• This is the view that complex non-linear systems like organizations are characterized by multiple systems of interaction that are both ordered and chaotic

• Morgan states that organizations and their environments to consider ‘chaos’ and ‘complexity’ to be parts of the same interconnected (evolving) pattern.

• The theory states that‘random disturbances can produce unpredictable events and relationships.’ However, ‘coherent order always emerges out of the randomness and surface chaos.’

5 ideas which Morgan suggest should guide management of change

1. Rethinking what we mean by ‘organization’ – especially in terms of hierarchy and control

2. Learning the art of managing and changing contexts

3. Learning how to use small changes to create large effects

4 Living with continuous transformation and emergent order as a natural state of affairs

5 Being open to new metaphors that can facilitate processes of self-organization.

3.The logic of mutual causality

it states that Individuals are able to influence system dynamics through examining the interaction of positive and negative feedback loops and shaping these as necessary.

• Change, according to the theories outlined above, does not unfold in a linear fashion but via circular patterns (loops not lines).

4.The logic of Dialectical change

It is a truism that we cannot fully understand something without knowing its opposite. You cannot truly know the meaning of ‘hot’ unless you understand what ‘cold’ means.

Dialectical principles

• Principle 1 – Whenever one person attempts to control another a process of resistance undermines that attempt. ‘The act of control itself sets up consequences that work against its effectiveness.

• It accounts for processes of self generated change whereby phenomena change themselves as a result of tension with the opposite

• Principle 2 – Negations of negations retain something from that form, leading to an evolution in patterns of control.

• It explains how change may become developmental in the sense that each negation rejects a previous form, yet also retains something from that form.

Principle 3 – Changes in quantity lead to changes in quality.

• It accounts for processes of revolutionary change whereby one form of social organization gives way to another.

strengths and weaknesses of the flux and transformation metaphor

• Strengths

• Offers new understandings of the nature and source of change.

• Offers new horizons of thought that can be used to enrich our understanding of management and leadership.

• Offers to leaders and managers a powerful new perspective on their role in facilitating emergent change.

weaknesses

1. Individuals that find comfort in controlling, organizing, and predicting system change may struggle with the concept of "powerless power".

2. The order of change only becomes apparent with hindsight