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Complexity Theory and the Electricity of Life: A Chinese Perspective

In: Diversity

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  • Keith Morrison

Abstract

Management and leadership literatures have frequently stood charged with naive, unprincipled faddism and an atheoretical basis for judgements (e.g. Micklethwait and Wooldridge, 1997). This chapter provides a counter to this charge. It reports some of the outcomes of research which was undertaken from September to December 2002, at the Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (CEM) — the company which provides electricity to Macau.1 The research used interviews, questionnaires, the Organizational Culture Inventory (Cooke and Lafferty, 1989; Szumal, 1998), documentary analysis, case study and observational data to gather a picture of the organizational cultures at CEM. The chapter first reports some key features which were found at CEM, and then ‘theorizes’ these, in part with reference to the local Chinese cultural characteristics. Complexity theory is seen to be very fitting in analyzing the situation at CEM, and CEM provides a very powerful example of complexity theory at work in an organization.

Suggested Citation

  • Keith Morrison, 2007. "Complexity Theory and the Electricity of Life: A Chinese Perspective," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Kurt A. April & Marylou L. Shockley (ed.), Diversity, chapter 8, pages 131-146, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-62752-9_9
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230627529_9
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