The Networking of Actions
The networking of actions is a core activity of organisations. Whole libraries of business management literature and research, concepts and consultancy offers can be found on topics such as production, production planning, supply chain management, market penetration, process and project management, organisational structures and processes etc.
For this meta-theoretical theory of change it is crucial that the technological complexity created in organisations has several self-reinforcing effects:
• The more complex and complicated the conditions, the more susceptible the system is to deviations not(!) planned for. As everything is interconnected, everything is also affected when an unforeseen disruption arises. This is why one really tries to foresee all eventualities and, therefore, one increases the complexity.
• The more complex and the more complicated the conditions, the more the constructors of these conditions underestimate that the affected parties and the users of their processes and structures do not have the same overview as they, themselves, do. Complexity and competence are coupled. Therefore training is required, which then creates employees who can be expected to cope with further complexity and thus with more training.
• The more complex and complicated the conditions, the more demanding the reorganisation efforts become during environmental changes, in the case of great transformations in the organisation (new locations, new channels of distribution) or during the introduction of innovative products. Flexibility and adaptation become more and more difficult, because ever more variables have to be taken into account.