| Paradigms are central to our ability to organize and make sense of everyday life. Embodying fundamental ontological truths, paradigms establish the boundaries of a particular view of reality—determining socially acceptable mindsets, expected behaviors, appropriate practice, and possible actions. In every field, current paradigms give way periodically to new paradigms in momentous transformations called paradigm shifts.; The complexity sciences, based on new understandings about the quantum nature of the physical and biological world, are causing paradigm shifts in fields as varied as finance, supply chain management, public relations, and medicine. It is not clear, however, if and how the complexity sciences might influence in higher education.; The purpose of this naturalistic, interpretive study was to explore the influence of the complexity sciences on organizational paradigms in higher education. Executive managers and senior faculty at one major institution in the Midwest were interviewed as part of this qualitative study. Snowball sampling was used to identify 14 participants who participated in semi-structured, open-ended interviews. The data were analyzed to uncover themes associated with participants' perspectives on the complexity sciences in higher education. Reflexive journaling, peer debriefers, and an external reviewer were employed to establish the study's credibility, based on the criteria of coherence, consensus, and instrumental utility. The study's findings were reported in thick, descriptive detail.; The major findings were: (1) Ideas about organizational change were met with skepticism, as participants felt that true paradigmatic shifts were rare in higher education; (2) While present and future interpretations of the complexity sciences were forthcoming, none of the participants believed that a complexity sciences paradigm is or would become the dominant paradigm in higher education; (3) Dimensions of organizational life were not uniformly thought to be influenced by the complexity sciences now, or considered open to the influence of the ideas in the future; (4) In both the present and the future, complexity science concepts were not consistently interpreted as having an influence on organizational life in higher education; (5) A few participants believed that the current organizational paradigm and a complexity sciences organizational paradigm co-exist in higher education today and that this co-existence would continue into the future; (6) If the complexity sciences were to become the dominant paradigm in higher education, participants believed that managing the human dimensions of perpetual change would be a challenge; and (7) In a complexity sciences organizational paradigm, approaches to leadership and management would be significantly different. |
