The Edge of Organization; Chaos and Complexity Theories of Formal Social Systems

by Russ Marion

• ISBN13: 9780761912651
• ISBN10: 0761912657
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-01-14
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc

Summary

"What Newton's Principia was to his natural science colleagues, Russ Marion's The Edge of Organization is to today's social scientists. This book clearly elucidates the arrival of the social sciences at the end of the alley of modernism but then presents us with the tools and ideas to climb out of a dead end, rise above old limitations, and take flight for new horizons bright with promise for advancing both theory and praxis. . . . For social scientists, it is both the most relevant and most easily apprehended treatment to date of the totality of chaos and complexity theory and technique." --Raymond A. Eve, Editor, Chaos, Complexity, and Sociology The Edge of Organization offers a readable, comprehensive, and integrated overview of the new sciences of chaos and complexity. Author Russ Marion describes formal and social organizations from the perspective of chaos and complexity theories. His multidisciplinary approach will appeal to students and scholars across a wide range of social sciences. This book is generously illustrated and includes comprehensive references plus an annotated bibliography of useful books and articles. The Edge of Organization will appeal to students and professionals in sociology, management/ organization studies, management studies, marketing, political science, public administration, and psychology.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
1. The Edge of Organization	1	(10)
Einstein's Island	2	(3)
A Brief Overview of Chaos and Complexity	5	(3)
Implications	8	(3)
2. Chaos and Organization	11	(12)
The Blind Scientists	13	(1)
An Alternative Explanation of Complex Behavior: Chaos Theory	14	(9)
3. Organization at the Edge	23	(16)
Complexity and Chaos	23	(16)
4. Shifting Historical Premises to the Edge of Chaos	39	(24)
God of the Gaps	39	(1)
Pervasive Problems: Order, Randomness, and Causality	40	(2)
The First of Newton's Legacies: Social Physics	42	(2)
Kant and Teleology	44	(5)
Darwin, Spencer, Social Darwinism	49	(6)
Structural Functionalism and Homeostasis	55	(6)
Nonlinear History	61	(2)
5. A Nonlinear Redaction of Open Systems	63	(20)
Holistic Systems	64	(6)
Systems and Environment: Interaction and Energy Transfer	70	(4)
Feedback	74	(5)
Living Social Systems	79	(1)
A Model of Complex Systems	80	(3)
6. Structural Contingency Theory: Differentiation and Awareness	83	(16)
Structural Contingency Theory	84	(4)
Differentiation in Organizations	88	(7)
Formalization and Integration	95	(2)
Criticisms of SCT	97	(2)
7. Footprints of Complexity: The Nature of Order	99	(14)
Size and Structure at the Edge of Chaos	99	(1)
Order From Disorder	100	(5)
Social Systems and the Square Root Principle	105	(8)
8. Resource Dependency: The Emergence of Order	113	(24)
Organization and Daisies	113	(3)
Controlling the Organizational Environment	116	(6)
Complex Alliances	122	(8)
Complex Natural Teleology and Deliberate Behavior	130	(5)
Intermission	135	(2)
9. Organization in Wonderland: Enacted Environment	137	(16)
Organizations in Wonderland	138	(5)
Interaction and Causality	143	(7)
Irrational Humans and Complex Structures	150	(3)
10. Coupling at the Edge	153	(24)
Loose Coupling at the Edge	153	(17)
Decisions in a Garbage Can	170	(3)
Organizational Learning	173	(4)
11. Darwin and Organizations, Goats and Monkeys	177	(20)
PEO and Environment	180	(2)
Natural Selection	182	(2)
The Three Sides of Evolution	184	(5)
Refining the Order	189	(6)
PEO and Complexity	195	(2)
12. Pushing the Envelope: Limiting Organizational Expansion	197	(14)
Organizational Growth	198	(10)
Carrying Capacity and Structure: Generalists Versus Specialist	208	(3)
13. Changing Complex Organizations	211	(24)
Star Trek and Change	211	(1)
From Paint Jobs to Core Technology	212	(3)
Do We Change Events or Do Events Change Us?	215	(20)
14. Stability and Change at the Edge	235	(38)
The Wild Side of Change	235	(1)
Change That Doesn't Change and Change That Does	236	(4)
The Mechanics of Change: Complexity in a Sandbox	240	(11)
Organizations at the Edge: The Microcomputer Industry	251	(7)
Change and Networks	258	(7)
Organizational Structure and Patches	265	(4)
Change and Star Trek	269	(4)
15. Researching Social Chaos and Complexity	273	(36)
Growth in Organizational Populations: A Chaotic Model	273	(4)
Finding the Order: First We Need a Map	277	(7)
Organizational Growth (Revisited): Competition Model	284	(10)
Testing Social Systems for Chaos	294	(9)
Complexity Analysis: Counting the Groups in a System	303	(4)
Research on Chaos and Complexity	307	(2)
16. Epilogue on Einstein's Island	309	(8)
Complex Systems Theory	313	(1)
Other Puzzles	314	(3)
Notes	317	(2)
Annotated Bibliography of Books and Articles	319	(10)
References	329	(14)
Name Index	343	(4)
Subject Index	347	(10)
About the Author	357