A Brief History of The Chaordic Alliance

1993

  • Dee Hock travels to the Sante Fe Institute to explore advances in complexity theory and make first speech on "chaords." Meets Joel Getzendanner, vice president of the Joyce Foundation.
  • Hock articulates four conditions that would need to be met to avoid massive institutional failure.
  •    
    1994
  • Hock meets with Joyce Foundation board, staff and grantees. Agrees to accept a one-year grant to explore whether any of the four conditions might be possible to achieve.

  • Nonprofit formed under the name Alliance for Community Liberty.

  • Hock begins work with the Appleseed Foundation and an informal group of state directors from the agricultural extension service, each considering the formation of a chaordic organization.
  •    
    1995

  • Hock concludes that the four objectives are achievable if a concerted effort is made, and dedicates the rest of his life to pursuing them.


  • A group of fisherman and environmentalists consider the possibility of using chaordic principles to revitalize the fisheries in the Gulf of Maine, and begin an effort to form the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA).
  •    
    1996
  • Peter Senge and the Society for Organizational Learning asks Hock to help them reconceive their governance structure along chaordic lines.

  • Nonprofit renamed to The Chaordic Alliance. Offices are opened in Half Moon Bay, CA, donated by Odwalla Corporation.

  • The Appleseed Foundation completes the redesign of its governance.
  •    
    1997
  • The Chaordic Alliance begins work with the Integrated Food and Farming Systems, a project of the Kellogg Foundation, to create new organization to link ecological, economic and community concerns through the food production system, now known as Community Alliances of Interdependent AgriCulture (CAIA).

  • Discussions begin with United Religions Initiative on the creation of a chaordic organization to end religious violence.

  • The Society for Organizational Learning competes its design process, and begins accepting members.
  •    
    1998
  • Intensive work continues with NAMA, CAIA and URI.

  • A series of conversations within the health care field leads to discussions with the Veterans Administration and an expanding group of health care providers to explore the creation of a chaordic organization for the evolution of health care. In 1999, this effort names itself the Vvaleo initiative, and continues explorations.
  •    
    1999
  • The Chaordic Alliance (TCA) establishes a satellite office in Olympia, WA.

  • NAMA approaches completion on constitution and receives application from first community alliance member. CAIA approaches completion on constitution.

  • Exploratory conversations begin to reconceive the National Spatial Data Infrastructure as a chaordic organization.

  • Tom Hurley joins TCA as its first managing director.

  •  
     


    Four Conditions for Catalyzing Institutional Change

    1.

    Creation of a dozen or more examples of new, successful chaordic organizations. Ideally, these organizations will span such diverse areas as education, government, social services, commerce, and the environment, to demonstrate that chaordic concepts have universal applicability. Develop methods and resources to help both existing and new institutions through the process of reconceiving themselves.

       
    2.
    Development of visual and physical models of chaordic organizations so that people have something to examine, experiment with, and compare to existing organizations. The models must contain the ethical and spiritual dimensions generally lacking in current models. In addition, computer simulations will need to be created to allow people to quickly see how clarity of purpose and principles allow institutions to self-organize, evolve over decades, and link in new patterns for an enduring constructive society.
       
    3.
    Development and dissemination of an impeccable intellectual foundation for chaordic organizations. The intellectual foundation must integrate the economic, scientific, political, historical, technical, social, and philosophical rationale for such organizations and establish the common language and metaphors necessary for widespread understanding of chaordic concepts.
       
    4.

    Creation of a global institution, itself a successful example of chaordic organization, for the sole purpose of developing, disseminating, and implementing chaordic concepts of organization, linking individuals, institutions, and groups of all kinds committed to institutional and societal reconstruction in a vast web of shared learning. It must enable people to pursue new organizational concepts in unique ways, on any scale, at anytime, for their own reasons.


    Home --- Library --- Who We Are --- Activities --- OMs Online! --- Contact Us

    © 2002, Chaordic Commons. All rights reserved.