Chapter 1: Complexity Theory For Organizations And Organizational Leadership

Complexity theory offers unique perspectives of organizational behavior and of the generation of dynamic adaptability. Those perspectives challenge both reductionist and systems theory assumptions regarding change and importation of energy from the environment; it challenges reductionistrelated notions of predictability, planning, and coordination. Complexity theory argues that complex organizational behavior is characterized by nonlinear, emergent change; interaction and interdependency; unpredictability; autocatalytic behavior; and dynamic movement. An important role of leadership (what we call, enabling leadership) in complex systems is to enable the conditions in which complex dynamics can emerge.