Chaos and Complexity Theory for Management

Abstract

Chaos theory and its close cousin, complexity theory, have recently made their appearance in the social science literature, including studies of organizations. The trend toward loosely applying nonlinear dynamical theories to organizations troubles us. In this article we explain the terms chaos theory and complexity theory. We discuss why we believe that chaos theory as it now stands cannot be applied rigorously to the study of social systems, as well as why the more metaphorical use of complexity theory is also problematic.