CHAORD

in the phase between CHAos and ORDer, the Fertile Edge of Life

Many leading scientists believe that the principal science of the next century will be the study of complex, autocatalytic, self-organizing, non-linear, adaptive systems, usually referred to as "complexity" or "chaos theory."

They believe that such systems, perhaps even life itself, arise and thrive on the edge of chaos with just enough order to give them pattern, but not so much to slow their adaptation and learning.

(you can download a document with this information if you prefer: chaordicx.doc)

Definitions

The word chaord was formed by borrowing the first syllable of the two words: cha- from chaos, -ord from order.

Chaord - (kay'ord)

1: any autocatalytic, self-regulating, adaptive, nonlinear, complex organism, organization, or system, whether physical, biological or social, the behaviour of which harmoniously exhibits characteristics of both order and chaos.

2: an entity whose behaviour exhibits patterns and probabilities not governed or explained by the behaviour of its parts.

3: the fundamental organizing principle of nature and evolution.

Chaordic - (kay'ordic)

1: anything simultaneously orderly and chaotic.

2: patterned in a way dominated neither by order nor chaos.

3: existing in the phase between order and chaos.

Characteristics of Chaordic Organizations

• Are based on clarity of shared purpose and principles.

• Are self-organizing and self-governing in whole and in part.

• Exist primarily to enable their constituent parts.

• Are powered from the periphery, unified from the core.

• Are durable in purpose and principle, malleable in form and function.

• Equitably distribute power, rights, responsibility and rewards.

• Harmoniously combine cooperation and competition.

• Learn, adapt and innovate in ever expanding cycles.

• Are compatible with the human spirit and the biosphere.

Articles

A New Kind of Organization Based on Purpose and Principle

by Donella Meadows' (Dana) The Global Citizen, December 23, 1999

What do the Internet, Alcoholics Anonymous, and VISA International, the organization that brings us the VISA card, all have in common?

You can find them just about anywhere on earth, that's one common thing.

They have not spread through unrelenting market push, like Coca Cola.

Rather they are pulled by demand, because they meet real needs very effectively.

They serve their purposes successfully year after year without any obvious headquarters, no glittering center of power, no centralized command.

No one owns any of them.

VISA does $1.25 trillion worth of business a year, but you can't buy a share of it.

Dee Hock, who founded VISA, would say these are all chaordic organizations.

He made up that word by combining "chaos" and "order."

Chaordic organizations are self-organizing and self-governing.

They operate not through hierarchies of authority, but through networks of equals.

It isn't power or coercion that makes them effective, rather it's clear shared purpose, ethical operating principles, and responsibility distributed through every node.