What Is Quantum Management?

“Taylorism,” the basis for all modern management theory, took its inspiration and its organizational model from the ideas and principles that defined seventeenth-century Newtonian physics. Just as Newton saw the universe4 as a giant machine, so Taylor urged the organization should function as a well-organized machine, divided into atomistic separate “divisions,” controlled from the top, and organized with well-defined bureaucratic rules. Quantum Management, by contrast, takes its inspiration from quantum physics and the basic principles according to which all quantum systems organize themselves. It proposes that the organization is best understood as a conscious, living system. Living quantum systems (all of organic life, including ourselves) are called “complex adaptive systems” (CADs). Such systems are holistic, constantly evolving and redefining themselves through co-creative dialogue between the constituent elements and co-creative dialogue with the environment. CADs are also self-organizing, and any imposition of control from outside or “the top” alienates the constituent parts and destroys the creativity of the system. Because Quantum Management is dealing with human systems, a necessary part of the theory argues that the purposes, values, aspirations, and motivations of people working in an organization, and the emergent organizational culture, must be seen as part of its system dynamics. This chapter will contrast Taylorism & its Newtonian roots with Quantum Management & its roots in quantum physics and complexity science. The chapter also lays foundations for understanding why material presented in Part II, The Quantum Self/Employee, is necessary for effective management thinking.