Complicate Yourself

Abstract

More than 25 years ago, a young organizational psychologist named Karl Weick published a highly original and nearly impenetrable book called The Social Psychology of Organizing. Alone in the wilderness, Weick promoted the adaptive advantages of chaotic systems, distributed authority, and "sensemaking." "Stamp out utility!" and "Complicate yourself!" were among his battle cries. Weick's approach to his own work has been novel: while most social scientists massage colorless statistical data, Weick hangs out with the Utrecht Jazz Orchestra to study how organizations function. The Rensis Likert Collegiate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology at the University of Michigan, he has written on topics as diverse as labor strikes in outer space (the Skylab crew) and the Naskapi Indians of Labrador. He spoke with John Geirland about why, in a wired world of constant change, "chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction."__ Wired: What will organizations be like in the future?