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Pravir Malik

Fractal patterns, which repeat themselves on an ever-larger scale, are widely present in natural phenomena. If nature employs fractal structures in building much of the physical universe, is a similar structure being unconsciously employed in the development of organisations? This is the first in a series of articles that looks at fractal dynamics in organisations.

LOOKING into the future, it is with difficulty that the requirements and state of management can be envisioned. For we exist now in volatile times. In one direction there is the force for corporate and product globalisation. In the opposite direction, are the forces of environmental and ecological activism, and that of national self-determination.

On the one side is the growing need for individual and collective freedom and, on the other, the mounting forces of terrorism. There is the rapid advancement of technology, and particularly of information technology and, on the other side, the growing need for management of environment by development of self.

Indeed, with even the most sophisticated techniques of forecasting, such as scenario planning, one can at best create several, completely contradictory possible futures.

Fortunately, as Albert Einstein pointed out, "God does not play dice with the universe." If this is the case then surely there must be a method to the seeming contradictions, some order in the seemingly random progression, some purpose in events, and perhaps some direction that already stands etched amidst the myriad events of recent times.

Having said this, let us look at a number of different trends that have occurred, primarily through the 20th Century, to establish if indeed there is some similarity in them or some direction that is perhaps being pointed at through them.

First, let us look at the change in the global economy. Broadly speaking, there has been a shift from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy to the beginnings of a digital economy. In the agricultural economy, focus is on the material aspects of life.

People are working with the land, using physical implements and devices, and creating products from the land. It is, therefore, primarily a physical activity. We shall refer to this level as the `physical' level. In the industrial economy the focus has shifted to facilitating `flows' of various kinds.

Thus, we see the creation of flows of communication, flows of transportation, with the attendant flows of large amounts of resources, funds and peoples to support the industrial economy. We shall refer to this level as the `vital' level. In the digital economy the focus shifts to the realm of ideas, of concepts.

It is new ideas that refashion organisations, that refashion industry, and these new ideas are released in ever greater measure. We shall refer to the play with idea and concept as the `mental' level. Thus, we see that the focus has shifted from a physical level to a vital level to a mental level. Let us keep this in mind, for this seems to be the recurrent theme.

Let us consider the development of the digital economy itself. To begin with, organisations engaged in the creation of what is commonly known as `brochureware'. That is, they simply created digital representations of physical brochures. Simple, non-interactive, informational Web sites were the result of this.

In other words, they simply mapped or copied information from one medium to another. This is nothing more than physical activity.

Next, organisations began to develop and engage in what is known as eCommerce. That is, they began to alter at least the customer ordering process so that customers could execute complete orders online, and perhaps do some additional follow-on activities and checking.

This is a substantial shift from a purely physical focus. Actual business flows have begun to be changed and, in this respect, the activity is vital in nature.

Some of the really forward thinkers began to actually reorganise the way they conducted operations, changing entire business or organisational processes to leverage the principles provided by the Internet. And let us recall that these principles are many, of which some of the better known are perhaps immediacy, globalisation, digitisation and virtualisation.

That is, they began to reconceptualise their businesses based on the advantages provided by the Internet. This is at the mental level. Here too, hence, we see the same shift from physical to vital to mental.

Consider the politics of global power in the 20th Century. In the first half of the 20th Century politics had to do with gaining power through physical confrontation and conquest as manifest by World War I and II. The focus was, therefore, at the physical level. This yielded to the politics of the Cold War in which fear was the primary lever of power.

Fear, threats, anxiety are, of course, emotions to do with the vital aspect of being. Focus had, therefore, shifted to the vital level. More recently, politics has become a game of promotion of globalisation.

Multinational corporations plan out global product and service strategies often under the aegis of their respective governments. This is a far more sophisticated way of seizing global power, which involves levels of planning before and afterwards. The focus is, therefore, more at the mental or conceptual level. Here too, hence, we see the same shift from the physical to the vital to the mental level.

Consider further, as another example, the field of macroeconomics, and within that the specialised subject of fixing currency rates. Here, too, a similar trend manifests itself.

From using a physical standard — that of gold — we have shifted in practice now to a vital standard — that of a supported floating currency. It is vital in nature because certain currencies may be artificially or arbitrarily supported to maintain accepted balances of power.

In theory, we are supposed to be exercising the mental level standard, that of a freely floating currency, which finds its right relative value because of automatic shifts in global demand and supply.

Nonetheless, it is inevitable that the freely floating currency in its true sense will sooner or later come into being. Thus, we see the same trend manifesting itself. There is a shift from the physical to the vital to the mental level.

Consider physics, as an instance of a completely unrelated field. Here, again, we see a similar shift. The universe was at one time completely explained by Newtonian physics. This, of course, is a strongly physical point of view where reality is explained in terms of fundamental, indestructible building blocks called atoms.

This has yielded to a quantum physics view, which is more about reality as a process. It is the flows from one particle to another, from waves to particles, which is the perceived process that seems now to explain reality. This is nothing more than a vital view.

More recently, there has been talk about a unified field theory, which perhaps steps beyond process-based explanations into conceptual explanations of universe. Thus again, there has been a shift from the physical to the vital to a mental level.

Thus, regardless of the field, we see many instances of this similar trend revealing itself when viewed in this manner. It is almost as though some fundamental pattern of existence, some great clue, were revealing itself.

Even in our daily lives, we find a similar journey repeating itself. Thus, for some time of the day we may be under the influence of inertia or boredom (physical level), at other times under the influence of longings and passions (vital level), and at yet other times reading or contemplating intently the thoughts of some seer (mental level).

Even over the years, there seems to be a similar shift in the way we function. Hence, in our earlier years we may be primarily focused on assuring our physical security, growth, and well-being (physical level). In our middle years we may be primarily focused on fulfilling our desires and needs, and need for self-assertion (vital level). And in our later years, we turn to thoughts and contemplation of distant, often unseen, realities (mental level).

We thus see a similar pattern occurring both within and without. What's more, if we expand our view back through the millennia we see that from a physical basis of inanimate matter — variety of rocks, gems, crystals, soil, water, and so on, life shifts to a vital principle with vast experimentation of living forms — single-celled organisms, multi-celled organisms, plants, flowers, to a simple mental basis with the emergence of animals, and on to a more complex mental form with the birth of the human being.

This larger journey through the millennia seems to be of a similar nature to the journeys being repeated now on the scale of a century, as evidenced by the various journeys just talked about, and even on the scale of a day, as evidenced by the journey each of us goes through day after day.

This journey, thus, seems to be fractal in nature. Let us recall that a fractal can be thought of as a base pattern repeating itself in the same configuration on a larger and larger scale. Hence, clouds are instances of fractals, where the same basic shape is the basis of the micro and the macro form.

Broccoli and cauliflower are fractals, where the same fundamental bulb is the shape of each broccolette and the final shape of the integrated broccoli. In fact, much of nature is created through this fractal principle.

The question therefore arises that, if nature employs such a fractal structure in building much of the physical universe, is a similar fractal structure being unconsciously employed in the development of organisations?

Since the same fundamental journey seems to be occurring at the individual level, at the level of system, at the level of evolution itself, then why should it not be occurring at the level of organisation or corporation, which lies squarely between the levels of individual and system?

In fact, in subsequent articles the case will be made that the same fractal journey is, in fact, inevitable at the level of organisation and, further, that often times when an organisation has been successful, it has been so because it has unconsciously applied something of the pervasive fractal dynamics. Conversely, whenever and wherever and organisation has failed, it is because it has deviated from the need to maintain the imperative fractal journey.

(The author is founder of Aurosoorya, a firm specialising in creativity and innovation, and has consulted with several organisations worldwide. He can be reached at: thefuture@aurosoorya.com)

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