- Particle physics, expected to be the bastion of certainty for a logical and solid universe, instead revealed a probabilistic, energetic, and fluid cosmos.
- One of the greatest challenges of business management is the loss of perception of the consequences of actions and decisions, together with the loss of an intrinsic sense of connection with the whole.
- Conceiving organizations as living systems - complex nonlinear networks - implies that a company can regenerate itself, promote changes, and evolve naturally.
- In the biological paradigm now taking hold in organizations, order and change, autonomy and control are no longer great opposites, because continuous change and creation are themselves ways of maintaining order and capacity.
Today, nothing is predictable and almost everything is imponderable — even in the field of particle physics, which was expected to be the fundamental bastion of certainty for constructing a logical, physical, and solid universe. What was found instead was a probabilistic, energetic, and fluid cosmos. Uncertainty, unpredictability, and constant change imply disruption, interruption, rupture, and discomfort, depending on their intensity.
What is lost when systemic perception disappears?
In organizations, this shift results from the learning process. One of the greatest challenges in the complex field of business management is the loss of perception of the consequences of actions and decisions, as well as the loss of an intrinsic sense of connection with the whole. It is as if the world and the organization itself were made of separate forces with no relationship to each other.
Life is the ultimate teacher of change. Authors describe the probability of conceiving organizations as living systems, that is, as complex nonlinear networks, which offer new ideas about the nature of complexity and help us deal with the complications of today's business environment.
What does it mean to see an organization as a living system?
The vision of the company as a living being implies, in a sense, that it has the capacity to regenerate itself, to promote changes, and to evolve naturally. There exists a simpler way of leading that requires less effort and generates less tension than current practices. This new knowledge is beginning to crystallize in applications, though it will still need many years ahead.
It is possible to manage even in a world of constant flux and unpredictability, through a new vision arising from quantum physics that offers a glimpse into processes of change, their deeply structured nature, and their dense networks of connections.
Beyond the Conventional
Current modes of organization are outdated, and the more leaders cling to conventional formats, the further they will drift from the understanding of the world that science calls "refinements." The layers of complexity, and the sense that all things lie beyond human control, obscure a deeper reality of organizational life.
Books on the new science in the fields of biology, chaos theory, evolution theory, and quantum physics discuss the inherent order of the universe, of creative processes and of change, which, though constant, preserve that order. Studies in quantum physics are growing while those in classical physics are being replaced, giving way to complex and open systems featuring infinite interactions, probabilities, and quantum fields.
How is the biological paradigm taking hold in organizations?
The biological paradigm is taking root and gaining strength in organizational environments too, where changes occur with minimal human control. People must adapt and keep pace with the currents of transformation and the new ways of seeing and interpreting events.
This is a world in which order and change, autonomy and control, are no longer seen as great opposites, but rather in which continuous change and creation are ways of maintaining order and capacity. A world in which complexities compose a vast range of information to be deciphered, generating countless interpretations where nothing is ever entirely settled.
The short answer
Physics and biology change how organizations can be understood because they replace a predictable, mechanical universe with a probabilistic and fluid one, made of open systems, infinite interactions, and dense networks of connection. Seen through that lens, an organization is a living system - a complex nonlinear network able to regenerate itself, promote changes, and evolve naturally. The practical consequence is that it is still possible to manage amid constant flux, and that there is a simpler way of leading, requiring less effort and generating less tension than current practices.
References: Capra, F. (2003). The Hidden Connections. São Paulo: Cultrix. Wheatley, M. J. (2002). Leadership and the New Science. São Paulo: Cultrix.