Complexity
science is a must for global organizations in today’s connected world. A global firm will provide goods and/or services
to peoples to different nations, cultures, religions, geographical regions, etc. In addition, the firm’s employees, vendors,
business partners will also be of different nations, cultures, religions, geographical
regions, etc. Consequently, there are
exponential factors (the “x”s) that collectively affect the business strategy
and the firm’s operations. Yet, when a
problem or issue (the “y”) arises, a clear connection to any one (or more) x’s
may not be evident. Thus, complexity science
is the study of a complex system, such as a global firm, where the interaction
of all the x’s do not clearly show a ‘cause and effect’ on an outcome (Obolensky,
2014, pp. 56-57) . The notion of ambiguity can be daunting to
leaders. Leaders generally want to
reduce or mitigate risk and/or to reduce or eliminate variation. Yet, Obolensky (2014) asserts that, “the
underlying nature of things is chaotic, uncertain and hard to understand…” (Obolensky, 2014, p. 67) .
In a complex system with many parts,
a single approach or focus to problem solving will not work. Each factor, the “x”, must be considered and
addressed as applicable. I had a former mentor
once tell me, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer was, “One bite at a time.” Now this idea could be approached in two
ways. In an oligarchy, the tasks are
actioned sequentially (i.e. step A, B, C, etc.) with a few decision makers. While this method provides a lot of control,
it takes a lot of time and is inefficient.
In contrast, in a polyarchy, the tasks are disaggregated and
compartmentalized and managed by many separate decision makers. The tasks can then be actioned concurrently. However, with this method, “control” moves
towards anarchy end of the spectrum and the actions may not be coherent in achieving
the collective goal.
An implication of complexity theory
is that every “part” of the system, i.e. a global organization must understand the
vision or mission statement, and each part works to collectively achieve the
goal. Another implication is that
knowledge should be documented and shared e.g. a knowledge management system. For example, in my previous organization (the
U.S. Army), subordinate leaders (from any organization around the world) could
submit their “lessons learned” to the Center for Army Lessons Learned
(CALL). Interestingly, many solutions to
complex situations came from the bottom up.
This is one example of which “small changes yield large results” – where
the input of a soldier from the field can have widespread Army effects. The collective sharing of knowledge and
experiences certainly helps in reducing ambiguity. For instance, my unit may encounter a problem
for which we have no solution but another unit may have already been through it
and fixed it. It reminds me of the
adage, ‘Don’t reinvent the wheel’. Another
example of the butterfly effect in business is impact of using a Lean methodology such as 5S. 5S stands for sort, set in order, shine,
standardize, and sustain (Kaizen Institute Consulting Group, n.d.) . 5S methodology is meant to be used at the
lowest levels (at the individual employee at his or her workspace) with
benefits to the entire enterprise.
References
Kaizen Institute Consulting Group. (n.d.). Retrieved
from us.kaizen.com: https://us.kaizen.com/knowledge-center/what-is-5s.html
Obolensky,
N. (2014). Complex adaptive leadership - Embracing paradox and uncertainty.
New York, NY: Taylor & Francis.
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