Question

6.7 How would you design an organization so that it could, in Tom Peter’s (1998) words, “thrive on chaos”? What characteristics would such an organization have? What kind of people would you try to hire? How would the role of the manager’s differ from the traditional view of what a manager does?

Answer 1

6.7 Tom Peter’s (1998) words, “thrive on chaos” is assuming importance with the increase in complexity of human life that is thought to be convinient using technology. The side-effect of technology is not just complexity, but also unpredictability created by the complexity. So, “thrive on chaos” serves to be the effective mantra for dealing with unpredictabilty. It is important to note that if a problem cannot be resolved, one can survive only by staying with it. What one needs to do is develop strategies for living with, and in, chaos and complexity.

Organizations, today, have to designed to constantly face unpredictable situations. Therefore, organizations have to be resilient and enduring to adapt and adjust in the constantly changing world. The corporate credo of the organizations needs to be "learning" or "facing new challenges everday" that will drive the organization and its members to consider any new situation as an opportunity to learn and grow, rather than being demotivated by the novelty of the same. This will maintain involvement and engagement in the organization on a day-to-day basis. Unpredictable situations will be difficult to deal all alone. So, the organization should emphasize strongly on teamwork driven by the goal of learning via sharing. Organizations would need people with an appetite to learn, adapt, adjust, and accept challenges, thereby pushing their limits. They should be willing to accept and handle different roles and responsibilities, and should be able to work in a team situation. To thrive on chaos, managers would have to change their traditional leadership approach, which is often characterized by dictatorship. Managers would have to apply their leadership experience to sustain and retain the workforce in unpredictable situations. They should provide support, training and learning opportunities to the subordinates, and entertain their views on the given situation, which may lessen the burden of the manager itself. Managers should use their experience to generate a foresight, created by sound knowledge of the prevailing external and internal conditions. Such a foresight will help him generate ideas to guide the actions of the team members for stabalizing the situation, or overcoming it.