Complexity theory and the organization: beyond the metaphor

One of the hopes for CAS theory is that it will open social science to the analytical approaches of physical science. This article considers the state of the art in modeling organizational behavior. Inroads using CAS techniques would be of particular value to business, because leaders often wish their organizations were other than what they are. A lot of effort goes into changing organizations—and by and large managers and their staff feel they get a very low return on the effort. This article looks at organizations as collections of relationships among agents, and at work being done to model this point of view. It ends with speculation about where this research may take us: toward simulation capability that can teach managers about better leadership interventions, especially those that foster adaptive organization and more connected, integrated individual experience of organization.