Organize for Complexity: How to Get Life Back Into Work to Build the High-Performance Organization (Betacodex Publishing)

After about 20 years learning about and dealing with Complexity at Fortune 50 company and then with a global outsourcing organization, I decided to take up the issue as my central career. I found Organize for Complexity through social media and bought it as part of my education on the business applications of the theories. More recently used the book to educate my one of biggest consulting client on the topic as well. While most books can be a bit scary to the uninitiated, Organize for Complexity is practical, illustrative and provides lasting (sometimes shocking) insights. I often feel like a lone voice, but I am slowly finding more and more leaders who are willing to listen and learn about Complexity and this book helps the expedite the conversion process.

Niels is always awesome!

If you are at all in doubt about buying this book - don't be. If you are thinking about how to improve the community or corporation you work int - buy it.It is also a fast read which is very welcome in the networked age and too many books to keep up with. The pictures with the text are clear, to the point and actionable.Thank you Niels!

Great presentation of why you need to make decisions locally to operate in a complex environment.The writing style is a bit of an experiment, but I think it worked. He uses fewer words and lots of drawings. It sounds cartoonish, but the wording is very potent.

Plenty of historical synthesis. Plenty of new perspectives. Loads to discuss and potentially execute upon. The book is a catalyzer for the amplification of every mind in an organization.

This is a small book on work and complexity. The book is intended to be a "textbook for thinking about organizations," a "source of inspiration," a "dictionary," and a "workbook" (p.x). Niels Pflaeging argues that "we must create and sustain organizations that are … robust for complexity, as well as fit for human beings" (p.xii).Niels Pflaeging calls "control through bosses" Alpha, and "self-regulation within the team" Beta (p.26). Frederick W. Taylor introduced Alpha, the idea of "consistently dividing an organization between thinking people (managers) and executing people (workers)" (p.4). Pflaeging argues that "complexity can be neither managed, nor reduced" (p.9). What matters for "dealing effectively with complexity is human beings" (p.9). In organizations, a few "messes," causes "problems," and even more "symptoms" (p.12). By acting on the "messes with adequately complex solutions, many problems dissolve" (p.12).Our "assumptions … shape our behavior, and the way we … run organizations" (p.17). The way we design our organizations, Alpha or Beta, depends on "the assumptions we hold about the human nature" (p.17). And the "diversity in motivations and preferences" between people "can be an asset, or a liability, depending on the level of self-reflection present" (p.23). An individual's behavior "is shaped by motives, preferences, and competencies" (p.25). Value, or results, arise from the "interaction between … individuals" (p.27). And people "communicate & connect in wildly different manners" (p.28)."Teams" and "Groups" are different (p.35). "Teams are multi-functional, … or functionally integrated," while "Groups are uni-functional, or functionally differentiated" (p.35). Niels Pflaeging thinks that a better term for "self-organization" is a "socially dense market-organization" (p.36). He also thinks that "social pressure, used correctly," is "far more powerful than hierarchy" (p.37). "Coordination/communication" within the Team is "usually combined with market-like dynamics" (p.40). The communication "between teams is peer-to-peer" (p.41). Markets "require decentralization" (p.41).Every organization has "informal structures" in which "social phenomena arise" (p.46). Informal structures "cannot be purposefully molded" (p.81). Every organization also has a "value creation structure" (p.47). "Organizational robustness … comes from the … inter-connections" between individuals and teams (p.48). And "decisions are taken where interaction with … the market occurs" (p.53). "Culture," furthermore, "is observable but not controllable" (p.54). "Market dynamics do the steering" (p.64). "Market pull … connects the market with the organization" (p.66).Individuals are "not confined to one role" in a "decentralized network structure" (p.72). They "build individual role portfolios of their own" (p.72). Leadership is a "social process" which "operates by influencing people and their contexts" (p.77). Leadership "is a role, a kind of work, not a job" (p.83). Leadership "means working the system, not the people" (p.78). Reqruiting is the most important "leadership task of all" (p.84). Team-based "results" are made visible (p.79). "The interests of stakeholders are … interdependent" (p.81). A successful organization creates value "for all stakeholders" (p.81)."Dynamic-robust network organizations need … efficient decision-making" (p.88), and "fast and easy access to information" (p.86). "Consultative individual decision-making" can be found "in organizations with … decentralized decision-making" (p.88). Consultation refers to "the collection of information and advice, before making a decisions" (p,88). Beta "requires dealing with power and communication" in ways which are "not built into" our "reflexes"(p.101).Organizational change "thrives on being operated … by all the members of the organization" (p.105). It can neither be "planned, nor programmed" (p.105). Profound "organizational and personal" change are "intertwined and inseparable" (p.107). "There are three things that anyone can do to … nudge" change (p.109): (1) "Encourage … dialogue and networking;" (2) "Use existing forums;" (3) "Remove what hinders" (p.109).To summarize, this is a small book which is very easy to read. Nils Pflaeging addresses questions related to people, work and complexity, with a strong emphasis on market dynamics. Maybe too strong? Getting life back to work has as much to do with compex human relationships as with market pull. The book has wonderful illustrations and can be used as a source of inspiration.

This book is a great staring point to explore many of the ideas of updated organizational structure. Niels builds on the basis of Theory X -Theory Y and then describes how entire organizations can be either alpha (old structure) or beta (new structure) in their values, principles, and practices. He finishes off with some ideas about moving from alpha to beta.Each page contains a very brief and concise paragraph or two describing an idea for which entire books may have been written. This introduction is just enough to launch further research into a variety of subjects.It is a light, fast read that provokes many deep questions. You will be thinking about how to improve your organization long after you put it down.

I guess I'm not as enamored with this quick read as other reviewers, maybe in part because few of the ideas are new to me.Drawing on modern understandings of complexity, the author recommends that organizations have a relatively decentralized non-hierarchical network structure which is dynamic, so that it can flexibly adapt to and be 'pulled' by changing market conditions, with individual and collective learning being continuous processes. The emphasis is on social aspects, teams, collaboration, and group/organizational performance, rather than incentivization or evaluation of individuals. The role of leadership is to foster all of this, along with much attention to helping bring the right people into the organization, rather managing top-down with a heavy hand.This is all fine, but I think the author sometimes pushes these ideas to a radical extreme (eg, no overtime pay or bonuses), without presenting evidence that doing so will work in practice. And I suspect that the zingy style of the book is also motivated by the author's desire to promote himself as an organizational consultant.So overall, I'd say that the book has good ideas, but somewhat overstated and overhyped. Read with an open mind, but also take things with a grain of salt. Don't get overexcited and start changing everything tomorrow.