The Momentous Leap- Day 10: The Dynamics of the Chaordic Zone
Dee Hock, the founder of VISA, coined the term “chaordic”. Hock argues that traditional organizational forms can no longer work because organizations have become too complex, advocating a new organizational form that he calls “chaordic”, or simultaneously chaotic and orderly. He credits the worldwide success of VISA with its chaordic structure — it is owned by its member banks that both compete with each other for customers and must cooperate by honoring one another’s transactions across borders and currencies.
In the chaordic zone we can see the transition from order to chaos, and also the emergence of order out of chaos. This is the “edge of chaos” where new complex systems emerge, whether they are biological, cultural, or economic systems. This is also where disruptive and breakthrough innovations and transformations happen, as old institutions and organizations are no longer able to address the existential problems generated by the emerging levels of complexity in the dominant socio-economic design and its unintended side effects.
Each Era is driven by a dominant socio-economic design that defines the taken-for-granted assumptions about “the way things are” and “the way things are done around here”. For example, in traditional Era 1, it is assumed that one’s primary loyalty is to the extended family and local…
