John Gunkler offered:
>The simplest statement of the Law of Requisite Variety that I have heard,
>in an organizational context:
>
>The complexity of the internal structure of an adaptive (self-organizing)
>system must be of the same order of magnitude as the complexity of the
>external environment with which it must cope.
This certainly makes sense. I would suggest a number of corollaries, one
of which might be that an organization limits its complexity (and scope)
in response to the extent of external complexity it is capable of
responding to. That is, how an organization defines its sphere of concern
may be determined by its capacity for complexity.
Just a random lunchtime thought.....
Dave
------------------------
* David E. Birren
Project Manager and Consultant,
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
(608) 267-2442
"Teach your tongue to say 'I do not know' and you will progress."
-- Maimonides
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