Self-Organized Criticality
Construct Definition
The example is often explained in terms of the collapsing sand pile experiment (Per Bak); where, irrespective of the volume of sand that are poured onto the pile, it will always settle in a very specific state - i.e. self-organised criticality.
Business Implication
The lesson for business from natural systems having the capacity of self-organisation and self-regulation, is that robust systems generally have the ability to settle into a basic
self-organised state, irrespective of the extent of the perturbations (disturbances), introduced into the system.
Social systems (organisations) often display such self-organisation as an intuitive response to externalities (e.g. threats, emergencies, etc). It would thus be prudent to consciously develop such skills within organisations, thereby ensuring its viability.
[Less time spent on managing; allows for creativity, within accepted boundaries (governance)]