11.29.2022 - By Boundaryless SRL
Alicia Juarrero is founder and president of VectorAnalytica with a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Miami, where she is also currently a research associate. She is the author of the book Dynamics in Action (2008), and the upcoming Context Changes Everything (2023), both at MIT Press.
We've all heard about how organizations are like natural organisms, but is that really true? And if it is, how can we get inspired from nature in designing and understanding them?
In this episode, we talk to Alicia about her work in complexity theory and how it applies to organizations. Alicia takes from Aristotle the image of the organization as a natural organism and unpacks the biological reality of organizing.
Parts of a natural organism - for example a cell - are different from just parts of a material mass: a complex organization is a system where members and teams define themselves by their role and through interaction with other parts of the system. This has specific consequences on the hierarchy and management of teams embedded in various contextual layers. In these complex organizations, boundaries and enabling constraints have a role to steer the direction, and managers should act as catalysts, not applying coercive forces.
Remember that you can always find the full episode and transcript on our website: https://boundaryless.io/podcast/alicia-juarrero/
Key highlights