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Week10LectureSlides.pptxWeek 10: Matching Leadership with Situations II
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Complex Adaptive Systems
A complex adaptive system is one which:
Order is emergent as opposed to predetermined
The system’s history is irreversible
The system’s future is unpredictable
In complex adaptive systems, agents, events, and ideas bump into each other in somewhat unpredictable ways, and change emerges from this dynamic interactive process (p. 302)
What is the difference between something that is complicated and something that is complex?
Leadership in the Knowledge Era (Uhl-Bien et, al. 2007)
Success lies in social assets (people and learning) not physical assets
Need to create an environment in which knowledge accumulates (OL) and is shared at low cost
Focus on adaptability not efficiency and control
To achieve fitness in this environment, organizations must increase their complexity to the level of the environment rather than trying to simplify or rationalise their structures (p. 301)
Limitations of Current Leadership Theory
Grounded in a bureaucratic framework appropriate for the industrial age
Dominant paradigm focuses on how leaders influence to achieve objectives
Heavy emphasis on rationalising for alignment and control
The inability to move beyond formal leaders and control inherent in traditional bureaucratic mindsets limits mainstream leadership theories for the knowledge era (p. 301)
Complexity Model of Leadership
Much leadership thinking has failed to understand that leadership is not merely the influential act of an individual but rather is embedded in a complex interplay of numerous interacting forces
Under conditions of knowledge production, managers should enable, rather than supress or align, informal network dynamics (p. 302)
Change can’t be managed in a complex system
Change must be supported
Leaders must encourage people to learn how to adapt and flex
Open Connection between the different parts of the organisation is essential for self-organisation and embracing diversity of thinking, ideas and approaches
Feedback loops and Information flow is essential to prevent the organisation from falling into chaos.
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