The Edge of Organization: Chaos and Complexity Theories of Formal Social Systems / Edition 1

by Russ Marion

Overview

Russ Marion describes formal and social organizations from the perspective of chaos and complexity theories. The book is generously illustrated and includes references plus an annotated bibliography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761912668
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	01/14/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.84(d)

Table of Contents

The Edge of Organization
Chaos and Organization
Organization at the Edge
Shifting Historical Premises to the Edge of Chaos
A Nonlinear Redaction of Open Systems
Structural Contingency Theory
Differentiation and Awareness
Footprints of Complexity
The Nature of Order
Resource Dependency
The Emergence of Order
Organizations in Wonderland
Enacted Environment
Coupling at the Edge
Darwin and Organizations, Goats and Monkeys
Pushing the Envelope
Limiting Organizational Expansion
Changing Complex Organizations
Stability and Change at the Edge
Researching Social Chaos and Complexity
Epilogue on Einstein's Island

Editorial Reviews

Describes formal and social organizations from the perspective of the new sciences of chaos and complexity. The author argues that interacting entities--atoms, molecules, people organizations--tend to correlate with one another because of their interaction and to catalyze aggregation, i.e. that order emerges not because someone or some thing expends energy to create it, but rather from the natural, unpredictable consequences of interaction. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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