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Emergence - do things organize without an organizer?

Watch Emergence video from Nova Science Now - Emergence - How does the "intelligence" of an ant colony or the stock market arise out of the simple actions of its members?

Consider this ...
When there are two lines to access a ride at an amusment park, the majority of people will naturally choose the line on the right.
Travel advisors tell their customers to use the left line for faster access to the rides!

Give an example of emergence phenomena in your life, in your community, your day at school or in a club/group.

 

 

Government groups, school officials, sport officials and club organizers set rules and guidelines for participation.

How do the rules, set by the authorities, interfere with emergence in the group?

 

How do the rules, set by the authorities, potentiate emergence in the group?

 

How can the members of a group effect change based on emergence.

 

Give an example of group order, in your life, that is not guided by leaders or by preset rules.

 

 

Emergence in Organisations - According to Richard Seel, what are the seven conditions of emergence?

 

Essays:

1. Patrick Henry and George Mason fought vigorously for a written set of rights for citizens of the USA.
Their advocacy lead to the Bill of Rights.

Does the First Amendment of the US Constitution support emergence? Has this vested power in the People or in the government?

 

2. There are many conflicts today regarding a creator's copyright or an inventor's patent to their original work.

How is emergence a factor in the challenges involved in copyrights, trademarks and invention patents?
Based on what you know about emergence how would you resolve the issue?

 

"In other words, culture is the result of all the daily conversations and negotiations between the members of an organization. They are continually agreeing (sometimes explicitly, usually tacitly) about the ‘proper’ way to do things and how to make meanings about the events of the world around them. If you want to change a culture you have to change all these conversations—or at least the majority of them. And changing conversations is not the focus of most change programmes, which tend to concentrate on organizational structures or reward systems or other large-scale interventions." Richard Seel, New Insights on Organizational Change. Organizations & People Vol. 7 No 2; May 2000 pp 2-9.

Further thinking:

Government - and the issues surrounding Diversity

Considering Systems and Controls activity

Watch NovaScience Now Video Extra - A (very) brief history of emergence set to music

Watch the Wisdom of Crowds video - grasp the power of elections - it's funny.

Test this theory in your class.

Elbow Room - exploring population density

Women - choosing to remain single

Hero - Ordinary Men - An Extraordinary Act of Courage

Why Survey?

Home Ownership - the positives and the negatives

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