1st Edition

Leadership in Chaordic Organizations

By Beverly G. McCarter, Brian E. White Copyright 2013
    311 Pages 21 B/W Illustrations
    by Auerbach Publications

    Supplying a clear vision of how to build high-performance teams, Leadership in Chaordic Organizations presents methods for improving operations through the application of complex systems engineering principles and psychological counseling techniques. Ideal for systems engineers, organizational managers, coaches, and psychologists, it addresses the fundamental issue of the human condition in systems development.

    The book considers the dynamic variables inherent in the human condition and how they impact group dynamics. Helping you to demystify complex system behaviors, it details an approach to leadership that integrates elements of neurobiology, systems engineering, complexity science, philosophy, and evolutionary and social psychology. It defines complexity and its impact on the organization and also explains how conflict can actually be constructive in group settings. Sharing helpful tips on how to build trust in today’s environment, the book also:

    • Describes how the human condition affects group dynamics
    • Lays out current problems and outlines workable solutions
    • Shares a new vision of high-performance teams
    • Illuminates theory with applications

    Illustrating what teams and collaborative groups look like in a decentralized environment, the text introduces a highly effective group communications process invented by Richard Knowles—describing its use in designing 3D Immersive Learning Environments that enable complex emergence in dynamic interactive simulations. It also discusses complex human systems (Wicked Problems) and the potential of multi-user virtual environments to provide the transformative vision needed to fully engage all employees in your drive to make your organization more effective, efficient, and sustainable.

    Definition of Complexity and Its Impact on Organizations; B. E. White
    Definition of Complexity
         Complex System Behaviors
              Surprising Emergence
              Evolves on Its Own as a Whole
              Acts Robustly
              Thrives on Diversity
              Many Factors at Play
              Stimulates Different Perspectives
              Ever Changing
              Informs the Observer
              Performs Openly
              Internal and External Relationships Are Key
              Self-Organized
              Sensitive to Small Effects
              Exhibits Tight and Loose Couplings
         Complex Systems Engineering Principles
              Bring Humility
              Follow Holism
              Achieve Balance
              Utilize Trans-Disciplines
              Embrace POET (Political, Operational, Economic, and Technical) Aspects
              Nurture Discussions
              Pursue Opportunities
              Formulate Heuristics
              Foster Trust
              Create an Interactive Environment
              Stimulate Self-Organization
              Seek Simple Elements
              Enforce Layered Architecture
         Human Behavior
    Impact on Organizations
         Overarching Fragility Concern
         Recognize That Complex Systems Can Do Better than We Can

    The Nature of Being Human; B. G. McCarter
    Mind and the Brain: An Overview
    Basics of the Brain
    Mind, Body, and Environment Interaction
    The Mind and Emergence
    Images and Knowledge: What Is Reality?
    Innate Dispositions for Survival
    Beyond the Non-Conscious
    Emotions
    Reason and Decision Making
    Synopsis

    How to Build Trust; B. E. White and B. G. McCarter
    Perspectives on Trust
         World Politics, Religions, and Fear
         Biases of Individuals, Groups, and Organizations
         Learning in Organizations
         Storytelling
         Perceptions of Reality and Power
         Applying Laws of Power and Getting Inside
    Types of Trust
         Persistent Trust
         How Your Emotions May Affect Your Trust
         Interpersonal Trust When Not Face to Face
         Trust and Inter-Reality Systems
         Trust in Mental Health
         Trusting with Limited Interpersonal Contact
    Implications for Leadership
    Recapitulation

    Collective Group Dynamics: A New View of High-Performance Teams; B. E. White
    Introduction
    Characteristics of Traditional Teams
         Enneagram©
         Cynefin Framework
         Examples and Level of Commitment
         Behaviors
    Distributed Team Models
         Serious Games/Virtual Worlds for Training
         Difficulties in Distributed Environments
         X-Teams
         Exploration of Dissenting Individual Mindsets
         Program/Project Management
         Information Sharing
         Guilds
         Organizational Learning
    Implications for Leadership in Chaordic Organizations
    Summary
         Takeaways

    Application of Theory; B. G. McCarter
    Complex Adaptive Systems: A Reprise of Previous Chapters
    Conflict
    Process Enneagram©
    Change
    How to Facilitate Change in Organizations
    Counseling Skills and Techniques
    Specific Techniques
         Core Values
         Ground Rules
         Evaluating Group Processes
         Social Systems
         The Individual
         Changing Our Behaviors
         Views of Reality
         Human Systems:—What Makes Them Complex
              Today’s Problems Come from Yesterday’s Solutions
              The Harder You Push, the Harder the System Pushes Back
              Behavior Grows Better before It Gets Worse
              The Easy Way Out Usually Leads Back In
              Faster Is Slower
              Cause and Effect Are Not Closely Related in Time and Space
              Small Changes Can Produce Big Results, but the Areas of Highest Leverage Are Often the Least Obvious
              Dividing an Elephant in Half Does Not Produce Two Elephants
              There Is No Blame
    Summary

    Wicked Problems and MUVEs: Understanding Human Interactions through Multiuser Virtual Environments; B. G. McCarter
    Dynamics of Living Human Systems at Work
    Psychology of Virtual Worlds
    Next Level of Interaction and Learning
    Narrative Structures and the Underlying Psychological Dynamics

    Appendices:
    Mini-Lexicon of Selected Terms
    INCOSE Working Group Sidebar on Complex Systems
    Quotations from The 48 Laws of Power
    Research for Virtual Worlds’ Promotion of Oxytocin
    On the Information Explosion
    On the Deeper Impact of Virtual Worlds
    Web Collaboration, Workspace, Blog Platforms

    References

    Bibliography

    Index

    Biography

    Beverly Gay McCarter is an award-winning architect of immersive virtual environments whose company, Human Mosaic Systems (www.HumanMosiacSystems.com), is located in Cary, North Carolina (Research Triangle Park). She received her MS degree in counseling psychology and human systems from Florida State University and her MFA in studio art from the Memphis College of Art. She is also certified in the areas of facilitating self-organizing systems for complex environments (the Center for Self-Organizing Leadership) and the design and architecture of virtual worlds (University of Washington). While working as an independent contractor at the National Defense University in Washington, DC, she instructed faculty and Pentagon leadership in the navigation and use of virtual worlds, in addition to coordinating and executing the efforts of the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds to bring the federal government into virtual worlds. McCarter is an architect/designer of 3D immersive virtual environments focusing on the psychology of the avatar and virtual worlds, the inherent complex dynamics involved, as well as the impact of the aesthetics of 3D immersive environments on complex human systems. She has advised the Pentagon virtual simulation teams, a solution provider for Linden Labs' Second Life virtual world, and currently works in a variety of other immersive virtual platforms. As a facilitator, McCarter has worked with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, among others, facilitating group discussions untangling the wicked problems of social interactions that overwhelm today's organizational structures.McCarter is an award-winning artist, focusing on human dynamics and the inherent effects of complexity and the edge-of-chaos on human consciousness. Her work emphasizes the ability to see multiple perspectives and the complexity of who we are, and our relationships with others.Through the int

    For this book, Beverly Gay McCarter, and Brian E. White have gathered, organized, and interpreted an immense amount of information. They bring together the thinking from chaos and complexity theory, psychology, neuro-linguistic programming, and neuroscience, helping readers better understand the nature and challenges of leadership … .
    —Richard N. Knowles, Principal and Organizational Anthropologist, Richard N. Knowles & Associates, Inc., Youngstown, New York