Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

Self-emerging order
Synergetics helps us to understand that order in nature (and in human organizations, as they are
also features of nature) emerges from natural consequences of interaction. “Correlation is what
happens when two or more people exert an interactive influence one over another. Order emerges
naturally because of unpredictable interaction – interaction is the vehicle by which it occurs and
unpredictability is the stimulus to promote novelty.” (R.Marion, 1999)
Thus, the basic preconditions for a particular self-maintaining order to appear in a group are: 1)
interdependence, and 2) unpredictable interaction. The unpredictability supposes a certain
‘freedom of interaction’. At the same time, if elements are not interdependent – meaning each one
depends on another – there is no clue to build a system. The group will remain a set of odd,
isolated spices.
For interactions to be fully predictable, links between elements must represent univocal
correspondence and exclude any bifurcations. That means the structure is very hard and the
temperature (fluctuation of elements and parameters) is considerably low. If the temperature rose
– stochastic actions or fluctuation of elements would destroy this hard structure. But if
interdependence remains even at a considerably high temperature, which would allow certain
bounded chaos in the behaviour of single elements and ensure their coherence in the same time –
then the order will appear. Preliminary design, consultants, OD experts or formal regulations are
not needed for this.
Imagine a certain number of young hooligans, not educated, not recognizing any rules, hating any
control over them, full of energy, etc. are brought together and locked in a single room. What would
happen in a couple of weeks? Would they all kill each other? Probably not. Will total disorder result
and continue over time? It is hardly possible, because it would take too much energy and create
too dangerous an environment for everyone. What will happen then? Yes, an order will appear.
No preliminary pattern, scheme or design is needed for this - just a miraculous combination of
interdependence and freedom of elements.
Helena Knyazeva gives a very simple and convincing example in the above-mentioned article:
“I often happen to be in one of the overcrowded metro stations of Moscow. Each time I see a quite
peculiar picture. Because of a rather disadvantageous planning of this station, two crowds are constantly
confronting each other: those who enter the station and want to catch a train, arriving every 2 or 3 minutes,
and those who go upstairs. What happens then? Each crowd spontaneously dissipates into two or three
17