The butterfly effect or chaos theory as its known, is when
small changes can drastically and unknowingly alter the effects based on the
change or variance. “Essentially, the
theory looks at something called sensitive dependence on initial conditions.
This means that even a very minute change in the initial conditions of a system
can have dramatic effects on that system over time. Weather is a system that is
studied widely so as to be better able to predict what conditions will be like”
(“Chaos Theory,” n.d.). In my
organization we made a change about a year ago to help our students visualize
their degree programs. For each
individual student we mapped out their entire degree program based on the five
term offerings per year with a one course per term model. The idea was to give the students a better
indication of what would be required of them from a term to term basis. It was also implemented in an effort to keep
students guessing about which classes to take next. But this small change for my department sent
ripples throughout the organization.
First in order to be able to determine what classes would be available
the scheduling department had to create a master course schedule two years
out. In order to offer these future
terms the university needed to hire faculty to teach all of these course offerings,
have them trained, and ready to go once the terms launched. This involved the Director of Online Faculty
and his staff to contract instructors.
With the need for all of these courses it was necessary to get funding
in place for these future terms. This
brought our Financial Aid office and Veteran’s Affairs office into the mix. One small seemingly insignificant change in
how advisors were advising students had a complex and considerable impact on
several systems within our organization.
The butterfly effect at work.
Complexity science or complex systems have four common
features: self-organization; inter-relatedness; adaptive nature; and
emergence. Obolensky (2010) wrote “Self-organization
emerged as an area of study through various scientific disciplines in the
mid-twentieth century” (pgs. 89-90). In
my team we exhibit this trait. We are basically
self-managed. There is no one checking
on me during the day to verify if my individual reports are being complete, if
I have returned my calls, or even answered my emails. We are given the freedom to manage our day
how we see fit. “Complex systems have a
high degree of inter-relatedness between their constituent parts” (Obolensky,
2010). This causes complexity to
grow. There is a high degree of
complexity in my organization that I feel can be simplified if the members of
leadership considered it as much of a priority as their subordinates. Obolensky (2010) wrote “Complex systems are
highly adaptive to the environment within which they exist” (p. 92). I have to admit in my near three years with
the university I have seen my share of adaptability in response to the external
environment in which we compete against.
Online learning has increased in popularity as the preferred learning
method of students. There has been
increasing competition from other schools looking for a “slice of the pie”. In order to remain relevant my organization has
adapted to remain ahead of the curve.
They have increased degree program offerings, invested heavily in new
technology, and expanded their physical campuses to offer students what they
want. This has been the university’s
emergence in response to what other schools are trying to do. The stakes are very high and success hinges
on communication on behalf of the universities key stakeholders in order to
advance their vision.
These efforts on behalf of my organization are made in order
to provide the best possible collegiate experience for our students. Another way in which we have attempted to set
ourselves apart is by creating a webpage specifically for our advisors where
students could go to and see who we are/what we look like. Sounds easy enough right? A webpage with an advisors bio. However, there are (at last count I believe)
18 undergraduate advisors and eight graduate advisors. We made videos for each one of us. We had to prepare scripts, film our videos,
make adjustments to our schedules, and devote a considerable amount of time to
a task that at first seemed simple. It
took a lot of help from many different departments to accomplish this
goal. First, there had to be a budget in
place. Then locations were scouted. We had to get approval to film in certain locations. It took IT technicians, our web developers,
our leadership, all the advisors, film crew, lighting department to all bring
this to life. On the surface what seemed
so simple was extremely difficult and took about two years to plan and about
six months to complete once it was started.
The result was a way for students to find out information about their
degree programs, how to contact us, what we offer, and a multitude of other
tools to assist in their success. Here
is what our hard work resulted in… http://worldwide.erau.edu/online/advisors/
Students always seemed to be confused once admitted to the
university. There were many questions. This advisor bio-webpage was an attempt to
make things simpler for students and to feel connected to us. I am pretty proud of how it turned out. Under all of the complexity was an
underlining simplicity.
Chaos Theory Simplified. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.physicsplanet.com/articles/chaos-theory-simplified
Obolensky, N. (2010). Complex adaptive leadership:
Embracing paradox and uncertainty. Burlington, VT; Gower Publishing
Company
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