The Essential Organize with Chaos

Chaos! A formula for disaster, or an essential energizing companion to any modern organization? This ready-to-use book offers a fresh approach to leadership, management, teamwork and change. It is based on Chaos theory, now recognized as a vital energizer of innovation, performance and profit. It shows how to shift the thinking and the performance of your organization with the Enhance to Perturb to Attract to Excite Change Lens, replacing the complexity of conventional know-how with a more simple, natural methodology.

Chaos! A formula for disaster, or an essential energizing companion to any modern organization? This ready-to-use book offers a fresh approach to leadership, management, teamwork and change, for dealing effectively with today's increasingly chaotic global business conditions. It is based on Chaos theory, previously thought of as an obstacle, but now recognized as a vital energizer of innovation, performance and profit. It shows how to shift the thinking and the performance of your organization with the Enhance to Perturb to Attract to Excite Change Lens, replacing the complexity of conventional know-how with a more simple, natural methodology. Above all, it offers a systematic, practical guide to start up and run a change program, which will work. ‘The Essential Organize with Chaos’ will make common sense to anyone who is involved in an organization. Because it understands, welcomes and utilizes the natural chaotic dynamics of the real world, it represents an important step forward in leadership and business development. ENHANCE to PERTURB to ATTRACT to EXCITE I. SUMMARY of possible steps to ENHANCE change, to align the purpose and to get commitment: 1. Secure your power base and mandate. 2. Fix Strategic Change Ambassadors’ rewards for cooperation and overall company performance. 3. Map, select and recruit suitable Strategic Change Ambassadors. 4. Bring them together as a Strategic Change Team and shape a collective vision. 5. The Strategic Change Ambassadors then: a. Target 3 - 5 specific things to change: start doing, stop doing, and welcome to happen spontaneously. b. Create a Change-Budget. Allocate enough time, space and resources. c. Change the down line reward system to favour entrepreneurship, horizontal cooperation and customer appreciation. d. Simplify key measures and encourage the free flow of information. e. Call regular public meetings. f. Build a critical up line feedback loop and act fast on good suggestions. g. Question all assumptions and encourage some experiments. h. Raise Customer, Supplier, and Competitor awareness. i. Set Deals, Deadlines, and standards of Delivery. Ask: What do we need to do? Who will do it? When will it be done? How can we measure what was done? How can we reward it? f. Get down line help - Each Ambassador seeds an Operational Change Team. II. SUMMARY of successful actions which you observe or undertake during PERTURB, to release customer focus, commitment, information sharing, diversity, self-organization and creativity. (read more about it on p.24 and following) About his previous book “Organize with Chaos” (1997, 1999, 2007) the Leadership & Organization Development Journal wrote "I liked Organize with Chaos and intuitively felt at ease with the ideas.... It could be read in a couple of hours as the authors suggest, but I would recommend several sittings." Professor Gillian Stamp, Director of the Brunel Institute of Organisation and Social Studies at Brunel University wrote "Rowley and Roevens are so good at taking complex ideas and communicating in ways that touch the immediate - it is a real gift and means so many people can gain from their thinking and work".

Joseph Roevens Ph.D is an entrepreneurial academic, who researches and lectures about participative forms of management and Change. He’s a tenured professor at NHTV Breda University in the Netherlands and a research associate of its Center for Cross-cultural Understanding, and Change. Dr. Roevens received his B.A. from Cornell University, advanced degrees from IEP, Ecole Centrale and HEC in Paris, and from the School of Advanced International Relations (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University. In 2008 he obtained a Ph.D from Tilburg University. As a polyglot bridge builder Dr. Roevens combines the subjects of economics, government, diplomacy, psychology, organizational development and ecological philosophy. His expertise covers all areas of management and sustainable Change, with a focus on entrepreneurial participation, corporate democracy, open book management and Chaos theory. Dr. Roevens started professional life as a European Union lobbyist, promoting organizations which are dedicated to people, planet, profit and panache (Roevens, 2009). His work led him to an international PR position at Ecover, a pioneering ecological detergent manufacturer, where he co-orchestrated the “Opening of Europe’s First Ecological Factory”. In 1996 Dr. Roevens wrote “Organize with Chaos: a Simple Robust Business tool” with Robin Rowley. This self-published book opened up speaking invitations together with leading chaos theorists and management intellectuals, such as L’Expansion/ICAD’s Brussels Conference “The Strategies of Chaos”, IABC’s Conferences in Brussels and NYC, and a private seminar with Nobel Laureate dr. Ilya Prigogine organized by The Tijd Academie in Antwerp, Belgium. ‘Living’ the principles of “Organize with Chaos”, Dr. Roevens worked for 12 years as an entrepreneurial pedagogue with the following organizations and business schools: Century 21, Nutrexpa, Vitamine W, Westerlund (now part of Babcock & Brown), Radisson Edwardian Hotels , Randstad Interim (via Belgian Bankers Academy), Antwerp University (UFSIA), Emerson College, Hochschule Bremerhaven, Real Software Academy, Regardz Conference Hotels (Golden Tulip), Hilton Hotels, Real Software Academy, Rotterdam Business School, Tilburg University, Universitàt de Vic. As a tenured professor at the NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, in its Academy of Hotel Management, and its Academy of International Facility Management, Dr. Roevens has set up an educational project called the “Organize with Chaos Change Unit”, where graduating students learn about Change & Chaos in a professional, self-organizing way. Please, join us on http://organizewithchaos.ning.com ! About “Organize with Chaos” (1997, 1999) the Leadership & Organization Development Journal wrote "I liked Organize with Chaos and intuitively felt at ease with the ideas.... It could be read in a couple of hours as the authors suggest, but I would recommend several sittings." Professor Gillian Stamp, Director of the Brunel Institute of Organisation and Social Studies at Brunel University wrote "Rowley and Roevens are so good at taking complex ideas and communicating in ways that touch the immediate - it is a real gift and means so many people can gain from their thinking and work". About the 2007 edition, Art Kleiner, editor of strategy+business, and author of "The Age of Heretics" wrote “I think your enhance – perturb – attract – excite model of ways to instigate change in an organization is very interesting. I note it goes back to 1999. Have you written about it since then? I think that you have done a fair job of diagnosing one serious set of problems with conventional management”. About Dr. Roevens Ph.D dissertation “Systemic Constellations Work in Organizations”, John Rijsman, Emeritus Professor of Economic and Social Psychology at the University of Tilburg wrote, "this well-written work introduces academics and professionals to a fascinating new organizational approach", and added “Joseph has always been at the forefront of where his subject is heading” and Hilda Martens, Professor of HRM at the University of Hasselt said "I find it very original, personal and complete!” For additional applause on Dr. Joseph Roevens’ work, please, check http://organizewithchaos.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=applause and http://organizewithchaos.ning.com/page/about-owc