Chaordic Systems Thinking as a Basin for Organisational Novelty

Chaordic Systems Thinking (CST) is a framework that uses chaos as a lens and as a metaphor for change. CST is developed as a successor of Open Systems Thinking (OST) [5] [6]. Its basic terms and concepts are described below. Complexity is defined neither as a theory, nor as a lens, but rather as one – among many – characteristics of whole systems [3]. We take this position as point of departure for this paper. So, we don’t focus on chaos theory – which is a mathematical construction – but use Chaos as a metaphor, which recognises the fact that systems are complex, dynamical, and non-linear. Although chaos thinking already implies both chaos and order, we prefer to use the term ‘chaordic’ to stress the simultaneous presence of both chaos and order. According to Fitzgerald a chaordic system can be defined a complex and dynamical arrangement of connections between elements forming a unified whole the behaviour of which is both uncontrollable (chaotic) and patterned (orderly), simultaneously [7]. Chaordic Systems Thinking (CST) is a way of thinking and subsequently, an approach to designing a complex organisational system that recognises the enterprise not as a fixed structure, but as ‘flow’ [5] [6] [8]. CST offers new concepts in order to deal with uncontrollability, uncertainty and complexity in an enterprise, in a better way.