The Butterfly Effect- Managing the Organization as System

MGT3901 Organization Theory Article 1 Chapter One The Butterfly Effect: Managing Your Organization as a System Because most things in life are part of larger systems, some seemingly trivial events can have significant impact. For example, in 1961, mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz took a shortcut in entering data in a weather prediction model. He innocently entered .506 instead of the full numeric value of.506127, and the result was a completely different weather prediction. In a 1963 paper, Lorenz commented that if the theory were correct, â€Å"one flap of a seagull’s wings could change the course of weather forever.† He later changed that metaphor to a butterfly, and now the phenomenon is widely labeled the â€Å"butterfly†¦show more content†¦Yes, the worldwide economy is a highly interconnected system. Most things in our lives are parts of larger systems, where various parts of the system interact and affect various other parts of the system. â€Å"Systems thinking,† then, is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems, in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish. In the human body, various systems work together to sustain life. For example, the cardiovascular system (with the heart, veins, arteries, and blood) carries oxygen and nutrients throughout the body; the neurological system supports movement, response to stimulus, and decision making; the digestive system (mouth, esophagus, stomach, intestines, etc.) supports digestion; and so forth. If any one of these systems (or any part of any one of these systems) is not working properly, the body suffers disease, disability, or some form of suboptimization that affects lifestyle or life in general. In automobiles, various systems work to enable the car to operate – the fuel system, the transmission system, the braking system, the heating/cooling system, the GPS navigation system, and so forth. All parts of the car work in combination to make the vehicle operate, and if anyShow MoreRelatedComplexity theory is a subset of chaos theory, it focuses on how groups of living things behave.800 Words   |  4 Pagesis the property of a real world system that is manifest in the inability of any one formalism being adequate to capture all its properties† (1). This carries major implications in the ability of project managers to follow through on each project parameter. 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