Organizational change at the edge of chaos: A complexity theory perspective of autopoietic systems

This qualitative phenomenological study includes explorations of organizational change phenomena from the vantage point of complexity theory as experienced through the lived experiences of eight senior level managers and executives based in Northern N.J. who have experienced crisis situations in their organizations. Concepts from the natural science of thermodynamics formed the guidelines for analyzing corporate events as autopoietic systems. Findings from this study used to establish an analogy to natural systems driven by universal order included four core themes of bifurcation stimuli and the ensuing applied actions. Themes that emerged while applying complexity theory to a model of organizations as autopoietic systems were categorized by repetitive suppositions formed from the participant's characterizations of naturally-driven organizational changes. An objective of the study was to help IT departments and other organizational leaders understand why they make decisions. Viewing organizational structures as autopoietic systems driven by universal order fulfills this objective by offering organizational leaders a new understanding of organizational change through the use of the complexity paradigm.