Reflections on Chaos

A633.5.3.RB – Reflections on Chaos

•Play the chaos game with a group of people (see Complex Adaptive Leadership (Obolensky, 2010) Chapter 6, or watch the above video.)

•Create a reflection blog on what this exercise meant to you and how it impacts your understanding of chaos theory, include the implications that this has on strategy.

The chaos game is devised to show how randomness and that the more complex things are the less traditional leadership is required.  Once the leader puts in place defined principles and established parameters the group can become self-leading (Obolensky, 2014).  After discussing the rules of the chaos game with the subjects involved many felt this was going to take an extreme amount of time to complete if it could be completed at all.  The chaos game is a great example of the ideas within the four + four concept.  As the leader you must establish a set of clear individual objectives, followed with a few simple rules and finally establish a clear boundary.  After conducting this experiment I feel that the ideas and principles behind chaos theory are relevant and true.  I would like to see this tried with the variations of adding a “leader” to the game.  I assume that the addition of a chosen leader to direct the group could add layers of bureaucracy and in the end would create tension and add difficulty to the test.  I think it would be interesting if the group however, did not know that person had been chose to be the “leader” and during the test just began to direct and make comments on how the group should complete the task.  I think this “go-getter” would create unease and then the rest of the group members would begin to speak their minds and next thing you know you simulation is out of hand and you will not accomplish the objective.    While I do not think the results prove in any way the traditional oligarchic approach to be wrong it is fascinating to see how a leadership role can hinder what was originally viewed as a very complex task.  I think the idea of addressing complex issues in this fashion is interesting however, not the answer all the time.  In the right circumstances and if the right criteria are met however, the use of this idea and principle could be used most effectively by leadership.   

Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership (2nd ed).  New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group.