David Peat

From Clockwork to Chaos 143ample) with a measure of individuality (fluctuations within the regularbeats).The same applies to human behavior itself. We often think of“madness” as being irrational and without any order. But generally theopposite is true. Those who suffer from severe mental illness, psychosis,and so on often have restricted and repetitive behavior. An obsessivecompulsive, for example, cannot tolerate the least degree of uncertaintyin the environment and so such people engage in elaboraterepetitive rituals such as arranging the objects in their room and touchingeach one in turn. By contrast, those who are mentally healthy arecapable of a wide range of responses and forms of behavior. They canadjust to changes in their environment, tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty,take intuitive leaps, and make plans even when they do not havefull information as to a particular situation.Organizing OrganizationsThe individual who knows many things is more likely to survive andprosper in today’s rapidly changing world than the highly specializedexpert who has restricted his or her knowledge to one skill alone. It ispossible, for example, to design a system in a rigid way so as to protectits inner functioning. Provided the environment is stable, such systemscan survive indefinitely. Evolution is full of such examples of insects,plants, and animals that have evolved to fill a particular ecological nichewithin an unchanging environment. For them, fluctuation, chaos, andchange would present a real danger. Others, including the rat and thehuman being, are able to exploit change and uncertainty to their ownadvantage.The same is true of human organizations. Some businesses haveevolved to do one thing extremely well and to go on doing it in responseto a relatively constant demand. It would make no sense to introducesweeping changes or a new range of products in some circumstances.Yet, when the environment in which these businesses operateundergoes a major change, they will die out and be replaced by somethingentirely different. Dynamically changing environments, which