Self-organization is a process of increasing complexity in an effort to evolve! I came across the concept a couple years ago during a presentation about process scheduling – Bucket Bridges. "Bucket brigades" are a way of organizing workers on a flow line so that the line balances itself. I decided I would read up on Self Organization. I came across a cloud fall of data, the part that struck me as the most amazing was the fact that nature does not like organization and structure! That’s interesting? Guess that explain Man proposes, god disposes.
I worked for an organization where we had a clean desk policy for various reasons… some of our data was very sensitive in nature and more than anything else it was always believed a clean desk reflected discipline. The paradox is… there are instances of articles like - Messy desk = ordered mind, expert says; and then we have Laurence J. Peter - If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk? A clean desk was a digression… it is interesting to note our obsession with organization. I once spoke with an executive who told me he wanted to put together an organization that delivered consistent breakthroughs! I have said this before… organization and breakthrough, oxymoron aren’t they? I have tremendous respect for organizations like 3M-Century of Innovation (US corp site) that consistently deliver innovation, but from the literature I have read I am convinced they thrive on chaos!
