Why is there complexity in management

Why did it get so complex? What were the triggers and why wasn’t it like that “earlier”? For this I found the picture above. It seems that this dynamic has only slowly increased since 1970 and has peaked again in the past few years. The reasons for the high density and the increase in competition appear understandable. In addition, many authors mention the digital transformation, Industry 4.0 and Big data . Take a look at the book “Organizations for Complexity” by Pfläging! or in the article “ Frameworks for agility “.

What actually is complexity?

Simply systems contain few elements, are stable and predictable. So you have a unique behavior. Chaotic systems are characterized by many elements, extreme dynamics, many relationships and a lack of “cause-effect” relationships. So no patterns can be formed.
Complicated systems are understandable. Their behavior is predictable and it is often just a matter of what information is available to understand. The system consists of many logical parts. This can be an extensive algorithm, for example.
Complex systems are open-ended. Their behavior is unpredictable and the unexpected determines their development. The system consists of many elements whose behavior cannot be planned. The system is therefore full of contradictions and always has several options for behaving.

Facing complexity in management

Complexithodes

In 2015 Niels Pfläging wrote the second book “Complexithodes”. According to their own statement, 33 methods to reduce complexity in management are presented. Take a look at the book by Pfläging! In the next paragraph I evaluated these methods with 16 companies and came to an interesting result.

Practical examples

I saw results in the first interviews and case studies. Organizations have to change permanently, according to the test persons, these changes are becoming more and more complex and radiate more and more uncertainty on the employees. The experts gave me 4 methods with which to counter this complexity:
Reduction of complexity through:

• Creation of transparency and distribution of responsibility,
• experienced staff and “department heroes”,
• positioning and restriction to certain criteria as well
• IT tools and technology.

In the further course I investigate even more methods to reduce complexity. I am also looking into the question of how far we should reduce complexity at all. It was already clear in the first interviews that reducing complexity too much can also be negative.
[werbung] Verwendete Quellen anzeigen

Der Beitrag Complexity in management, agility and digital transformation erschien zuerst auf agile Companies.

Reinventing Organizations

In his book, Laloux gives an insight into his research on organizational development. In addition, the author even moves back up to 100,000 years. He assigned a color to each of the epochs and characterized them precisely. This is how we start our journey through time of over 100,000 years of organizational development. I will only go into the individual phases of development very briefly in the text, as I do not want to reveal too much of the actual content of the book.

Development stages of organizations

It all started 100,000 years ago. We put ourselves in people’s shoes at this time. The world was ruled by powerful tribes and chiefs. Laloux calls such tribes impulsive organizations and gives them the color red. This scenario can be compared with the structures of the Mafia or street gangs. Command authority and constant exercise of power were the order of the day. A tribal chief or alpha wolf in a wolf pack had to assert himself daily and fight his opponents as well as give clear instructions.
Let’s travel a few more years and go back only 1000 years. The world is dominated by the church and the military. Laloux defines these as conformist organizations and assigns them the color amber. Formalized roles in the shape of a pyramid and stability were the highest scores. This epoch was shaped by group norms and rules of the community.
A few centuries later we reach the industrial revolution and the time of the first real companies. We are seeing the first profitable organizations as we know them today. Innovation and reliability were the order of the day. You had to be better than the competition. The employees were now given initial freedom in how they could complete tasks.
But what’s next? Where are modern companies headed? What characteristics will modern organizations have to have? According to Laloux, this will affect the color “green or teal”: so-called pluralistic organizations, comparable to a family. Values, inclusion of all stakeholders and orientation towards a culture describe this new form.

Conclusion and colors

If you look closely at Laloux’s “Reinventing Organizations” diagram, you can see how quickly organizations change. It used to be several centuries, but now there are only a few years left to the next stage of evolution. Let’s summarize the development again based on the colors.

• Red: give me what I want
• Amber: rules and norms of the group
• Orange: Success and Innovation (Knowledge)
• Green: togetherness and harmony (values)
• Teal: purpose of organization, service to the world, identification

And what’s next?

Laloux even goes a step further and suggests the next color petrol. He calls such organizations “evolutionary”. According to color theory, the color petrol has a calming and powerful effect at the same time. However, Laloux has not yet disclosed any further information.

Is green or petrol the same as Holacracy, sociocracy or democracy?

So does one of these last two colors stand for the concept of Robertson and Co.? I already detailed about Holacracy, democracy or sociocracy Written in another article and in summary I have to say that basically any of the models can be the color petrol in Laloux’s model. This can be seen in the strong focus on the purpose of organizations. But the similarities with biology based on the case studies of molecules and atoms also sound like exactly this evolutionary form of company to me. So have we already reached the next level? This should become a topic of the roundtable on agility, because we cannot currently be sure whether these model companies can really shape evolutionary or whether the change actually depends on other factors.
[werbung] Verwendete Quellen anzeigen

Der Beitrag Reinventing Organizations: Organizations Yesterday and Today erschien zuerst auf agile Companies.

The agile company

In principle, the agile company is a company that has committed itself to striving to adhere to the agile principles. In terms of research, it is also a company that is agile outside of IT. An overview of agile departments see another article on my blog. However, agility is not yet precisely defined and so I try to define the term more precisely and clearly in the course of my research. But in short: an agile company is ready to scale classic agility and its principles in the company.

What does holocracy mean?

Robertson’s (2015) concept is currently on everyone’s lips. It regulates the management of organizations despite transparency, which makes it possible to get involved at all levels. It puts the purpose of the organization first, not profit. Robertson shows impressively how managers in a holocracy do not assume the position and the pompous status of the manager, but the role and the responsibility of the manager.
I don’t want to just use the next definition from Robertson’s book ( here is the current Amazon link ), but try to use the interviews that arose in the course of the research to explain the holocracy using the example of the illustration by Pfläging (2014, p. 59). As a reading tip: Pfläging published 2014 “ Organizations in Complexity “and the 2nd part in 2015: Complexity methods . Imagine a small 8-person consulting house.

At the center of this little holocracy we have a leadership group that controls all activities and problems. Anyone who wants to get involved in the company can take part in it and play a role there. Various other roles have been set up around the management team, B. the business developer or the consultant. These roles can consist of one or more people and change constantly. If there is an effect from outside, i.e. from the customer, the respective group (the persons concerned) takes a corresponding reaction and makes a decision about it autonomously and independently. The customer would like B. award a new order and person X changes from the role of Consultant to the role of Sales. If desired, the management team can now support this person (e.g. looking for a suitable employee). As soon as the situation has been resolved, this person takes on the role of IT consultant again. However, a new group has now formed, which consists of 2 people (person X and the new consultant for the job) and is clearly assigned to the customer. This model is illustrated again in the abstract in the illustration by Robertson (2015, p. 64). So we have different circles in the company that deal with a specific topic that helps the organization. The entire organization is also to be understood as a circle. Aside from the circles, there are many different roles. As an employee, I can be in several circles and always contribute something to the purpose of the organization.
In this way, the company is controlled dynamically and is primarily oriented towards the purpose of the organization. Roles replace positions and hierarchy, and there is a lively structure above rigid organizational charts. So we are always able to change our current organization and react to any changes. We already know this shape from somewhere, right? Exactly – from biology. The holocracy is made up of different circles called holons that enclose other things. In a holon there are several molecules (roles) and a molecule has several atoms. The atoms and molecules in a holon do not change, but they can develop new properties through a new combination. This has worked in nature for millions of years. Just imagine that these molecules first have to ask a management whether they are allowed to reunite.
Reading tip: Extensive article on Holacracy and Sociocracy

Agile companies and holocracy

Holocracy and agility have a lot in common – the former can in any case be seen as one of the agile frameworks. However, the model is still very abstract and requires some observation and use case formation. In the course of my research, I will report on it further at this point. The focus is primarily on practical examples for implementation. An absolute reading tip for you is the book “ Reinventing Organizations “. Here, the author examines how organizations have developed over the past 50 years and what stage we are now at. I also have the key messages in discussed in another article and compared to the concept of holocracy.
[werbung] Verwendete Quellen anzeigen

Der Beitrag Agile companies and holocracy erschien zuerst auf agile Companies.