- Top down control doesn't work when we need to adapt to changing conditions. - Organisations seek out horizontal and more natural hierarchies to push competitive energy outwards rather than inwards. - Organisations thrive best when all members share responsibility and accountability - Margaret Wheatley in the book Leadership and the New Science introduced the idea of fractal organisations. Organisations that have a consistency and predictability to their behaviour. - Fractal organisation theory aims to mimic naturally occurring structures visible in nature and enable relationships to thrive. - Feedback is the basis for group self management (Whyte & Whyte 1998:117). - Fractal organisations typically keep members connected through shared purpose and values i.e. the 'constant' patterns that we see in fractals. - Currently organisations focus on personality and culture fit as solutions to organisational dysfunction. But instead of focusing on individual problems we can understand interrelatedness and build connections. - Forward thinking organisations might adopt an 'in-out' patter rather than a 'top-down' one. - Fractal organisations are yet another type that are more chaotic and open to environmental changes, which allows them to self organisation. Each group has agency to operate independently. This random fractal structure are efficient and reflect the beauty of the natural world. Randomness united by a constant purpose enables organisations to evolve in real time. - Most managers spend time planning, instructing and monitoring rather than listening, experimenting and reflecting. - Fractal organisations operate like living systems in nature, where the exchange of information is continual and part of the evolutionary process. ---- Raye, Janna. "Fractal organisation theory." _Journal of Organisational Transformation & Social Change_ 11.1 (2014): 50-68. - [Link](https://web.archive.org/web/20170813025744id_/http://www.jannaraye.com/fractalorgtheory.pdf)