A633.3.3.RB - Complex Adaptive Systems

A633.3.3.RB - Complex Adaptive Systems

Find a company which reflects Morning Star and St Luke’s image of a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) and reflect in your blog what the implications are for you and your present organization (or any organization you are familiar with). Identify what you believe are appropriate actions to move your organization forward.

The definition for complex adaptive systems seems to change with the different attempts at application. In the CAS system, traditional management levels have been removed, flattening the organization’s hierarchy. Employees, at all levels, now have increased responsibility and greater control over how they perform their job.

St. Luke is a small British company that has adapted an aggressive CAS strategy. Some business critics have described this company as experiencing a monumental growth spurt. The approach that Morning Star uses is that everyone is empowered they are not employees they are colleagues. Everyone has a say in pretty much every aspect of the company from writing their version of a mission statement to ordering supplies to helping with the hiring process. When everyone feels that they have input into the company people may take more initiative and take more personal pride in their job.

The example I would like to compare to this innovative companies is Apple.  The business model of Apple goes beyond the empowerment of employees and embracing innovation. Apple’s generic strategy and intensive growth strategies directly relate to the company’s strategies in giving its employees the freedom and responsibility to create and be innovative. Apple isn’t a fully Complex Adaptive System (CAS) company. it has a board, CEO, and department heads but the power to ideas and innovation remains with the employees. While there still may be an informal hierarchical structure in place at Apple, the internal value of the hierarchy will be as Obolensky suggests, "more about safeguarding the internal culture to ensure in can be sustained". (Obolensky, 2014)

My organization is a century old and very much so a hierarchy. It has some of the issues described in the text. It is a multinational company that has been doing business the same way for a 100 years and in my option afraid to move from the norm.

Works Cited

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership. Burlington: Gower Publishing Company.