A633.3.3.RB - Complex Adaptive Systems

A company’s transition to Complex Adaptive System (CAS) can be a difficult one.  The mere thought of running a business without any managers or system in place can be frightening.  Luckily there were a few companies who were able to think outside the box and take a chance on a new type of leadership.  Obolensky (2014) described CAS as a dynamic organization where teams are formed, preform, and then disappear as the need arises (p. 26).  This type of leadership lets employees regulate themselves and is extremely flexible, however there needs to be some sort of foundation in place. 

Morningstar and St Luke’s are two companies that share the CAS style of leadership.  According to Obolensky (2014) the companies believe in sharing information openly, the hierarchy is informal and flat, emphasis is placed on personal responsibility and underperformance is not tolerated.  Personal I feel the implications of this type of leadership can be very powerful.  In todays world people are being praised so every tiny thing they do, kids are getting trophies for merely showing up, and employees are given multiple chances when they should probably be fired.  There is almost no accountability to anything or anyone and people take advantage of that routinely.  In a CAS there are expectations for each employee and when someone doesn’t follow through there are consequences. 

Zappos decided to go holacratic, which Groth (2013) defines as radical “self-governing” operating system where there are no job titles and no managers.  The idea behind this move was to distribute the power across a more people making the power structure more flat than tiered, given more accountability to each person.  With this responsibility comes leadership itself, leadership over your own actions as well as the potential to step up and lead others. 

As I am not currently employee outside of the house, I can only address these issues from a former company that I have worked for.  When I worked at the ski area there were a lot of issues that stemmed from the leadership structure, especially in our department.  There was a manager, two assistant managers, and five supervisors all within a department of twenty-five employees total during season.  This top-heavy system did not work well, mostly because no one really knew what they were expected to do as job descriptions are very vague and the manager was not an effective leader.  I would love to have applied some CAS tactics to this department and see what would happen.  I think there were many people there that would step up and be great and others would find themselves without a job.  I feel CAS has its place in business, but maybe not on its own.  There has to be some type of foundation or system in place to make sure people are actually held accountable.        

Groth, A. (2013, December 30). Zappos is going holacratic: No job titles, no

managers, no hierarchy. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://qz.com/161210/zappos-is-going-holacratic-no-job-titles-no-managers-no-hierarchy/

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing Paradox and

Uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey: Gower.