"Leadership and the New Science" by Margaret J. Wheatley. Reaction paper

Burden by the questions arising from the dysfunction of the organizational structure and driven by the personal interest in science Margaret Wheatley created a guide to application of the new science to management, leadership, and organizations. Connecting the links between new science and our world she described the ways of working and living in the chaotic world of current time.
According to Wheatley most contemporary organizations base their structure on seventeenth-century concepts; therefore their structure fails to succeed in modern days. “In organizations, we focused attention on structure and organizational design, on gathering extensive numerical data, and on making decisions using sophisticated mathematical formulas.” (Wheatley, 2006, p. 29). Leadership and the New Science describes how chaos is necessary to create an order; it also shows how most recent discoveries in quantum physics, biology, and chemistry enable us to deal successfully with changes and uncertainties in our lives and the organizations. It shows ways to cope and understand the major social challenges of our time. We live in a new world of chaos and new possibilities that crates a need for new ideas, new vision, and new relationships. Wheatley also put the light on the new science, the newest scientific discoveries, that offer guidance that changes our understanding of the way our world works.
Special attention is given to the importance of the relationships. In our interconnected world the cooperation and participation is very important for survival. Wheatley said that chaos and change are the only ways to achieve transformation so necessary for the survival and the individuals without relationships and connections won’t be able to achieve the order in personal and organizational life.
The book consists of in depth descriptions of new scientific findings, connections between science and organizational structures, and records of author’s personal journey. The most explored sciences in this book are quantum physics, chemistry, biology, and chaos theory. Author provided explanations of the contributions these sciences make to the way the world works, the source of order in the universe, and the way they apply to human organizational management.
Wheatley uses new findings in quantum physics to explain that the universe is interconnected and relies on an endless series of relationships. Quantum physics play a big role for organizational practices; it makes us think about perception and observation, relationships and participation, and the influence and connections that work across large and complex systems.
Wheatley used biology and chemistry discoveries as metaphors to explain that disequilibrium and change are required for system grows and survival in the ever-changing universe. “For many years, scientist failed to notice the role that positive feedback and disequilibrium played in facilitating a system’s evolution.” (Wheatley, 2006, p. 79). Focusing on new concepts emerging from chemistry and biology helps reader to understand the change and new possibilities for growth. To clearly understand the way things work in the universe it is important to correctly interpret all the information provided. We spent years to figure out the ways to change each other, our communities, organizations, and nations to stay up-to-date with the ever-changing world. “In trying to understand things as they were, in seeking to preserve system stability, [scientists] failed to note the internal processes by which open systems accomplish growth and change.” (Wheatley, 2006, p. 79). In order to find the best ways to implement the changes Wheatley turned to nature and life, where everything interconnected and is a part of living systems.
Chaos theory is used to shows that chaos is needed to create an order. According to Wheatley we live in the world where chaos and order coexist. “Chaos has always partnered with order-a concept that contradicts our common definition of chaos. . .” (Wheatley, 2006, p. 117). She explored the diverse patterns created by nature and explains that stability is never guarantied and should not be desired.
By applying the scientific discoveries in quantum physics, chemistry, biology, and chaos theory to the organizational structure Wheatley uncovered that in the corporate world, just as in the natural world, changes are not just inevitable but desirable because they offers new opportunities for personal and professional growth.
Leadership and the New Science is a very inspiring book that helps reader to see and understand organizational life from a different point of view and encourages accepting chaos as a positive gadget. Wheatley challenged readers to rethink their views of organizations and leadership. She put the whole picture together for us so we can see the importance of the relationships in the organizational structure.
Although her extended imagery and in-depth scientific facts can get overwhelming sometimes, they guide our thinking outside of the traditional way to see our role as leaders.
The author deserves the credit for presenting amazing information on quantum physics and for developing and extraordinary explanation on why Newtonian theory is no longer applied to the basics of the organizational structure and the new organization theory is being developed. Even though I would like to disagree with this idea I understand author’s point of view and will do some additional research in regards to this matter. In my opinion this theory was incomplete and needed continuation, but Newtonian physics are still very accurate and widely used method.
Leadership and the New Science is an extraordinary book, combining personal diary, scientific facts and discoveries, and natural phenomena. It provides inspiration and leadership guidance to the organizational structure.
Some of the examples presented in the book were very interesting and well-supporting to the author’s arguments. I very much like the example Wheatley used to illustrate the global network organization- the terrorist networks. The anti-terrorist organizations fail to see the structure of these organizations and think they fight traditional hierarchy rather than a network. Many concepts of this book are useful in business and management leadership, but also in politics. This example demonstrates an urgent need to learn from and apply new science to practice in all organizations in order to deal with chaos and change.
It’s interesting that many of us have experienced the chaos theory, in its many different ways, and have seen many natural patterns and we still failed to notice nature’s fractals and the ability of chaos to become an order.
Many of the arguments were supported by the scientific facts. Some theories and in-depth explanations might create confusion and misunderstanding for the “un-scientific” regular person.
Over all Leadership and the New Science consists of the principals and dynamics of the contemporary organizational structure and eye-opening examples that are not only useful in leadership but also in every-day life.