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Complex Organisations
Organisations whether they are in the public, commercial or third sector, increasingly have to deal with complexity. As well as their own internal complexity they have to deal with a more global, inter-related world, full of contradictions and fast emerging changes.
We like to think of organisations as living systems; in fact as complex as the people that make them up. We, as human beings are much more than the collection of our individual organs and body parts. Our bodies are integrated wholes continually physically and psychologically adapting to our environment. We are much more than just physical beings; our mind, body, spirit and soul are inter-related in complex ways.
Tricordant recognises that organisations’ complexity comes from a number of sources. They are inherently socio-technical; that is they are comprised of people (socio) as well as structures, facilities, processes, procedures (technical). It is the intentions and actions of people which bring to life the inert organisational structures and therefore human needs, perceptions, emotions, and behaviours must be considered an essential part of any organisational system.
Tricordant thinks that that organisational systems are best understood as complex adaptive systems. Complex, in that due to the patterns of interaction and feedback between elements in the system (people, procedures, measures, structure etc.) actions can lead to unexpected and unpredictable reactions. Adaptive in that the system as a whole, and the elements within it, have an inherent responsiveness to internal and external stimuli.
We use the Tricord™ as our base model to understand this complexity and the we use the Tricordant Approach to work with organisations as whole systems to improve their health.
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