Anarchy is a legitimate political ideal, like democracy, communism and fascism.   Each of these ideologies represent frameworks for managing and behaving within societal groups.

The anarchy model definitely has a chaos like component .  It is basically  a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority, i.e., chaos.

Like the proponents of anarchy, I do believe there are probably some aspects of this model that could fit within an organization.  Perhaps better than a disciplined highly mature process structure.

What, organizational chaos might have some value!  Nonsense, you say.

I would argue there is a contextual case where the organizations obectives might be better supported by some degree of chaos (but not absolute like anarchy implies).

Consider a University

While the capability/maturity model I posted about yesterday suites most charitable, non-profit and corporate organizations institutes of higher learning promote academic freedom, because it is percieved to have a proven value.

This freedom requires loose application of authority, not to the extent of anarchy, but approaching.  It is a careful balance and success requires a culture of respectful dialogue.

In this case, the organizational maturiy is defined by how well the culture reflects ill defined processes (purposely so) that are still practiced in a highly capable ways.

The lines of authority and boundaries of consistency need to be open enough to foster the freedom to think innovately most of the time while still having enough structure (boundaries) to ensure the outcomes have value and are not consumed by chaos.

This is a careful balancing act indeed.  Not easily done and at times can be frustrating to the participants.  I call this organizational process “planned chaos”.  A bit of an oxy-moron.

Within large universities sub-organizations, focusing more on the operational than the academic, do need to focus on the standard capability maturity model as a guide to more efficient practices.

Overall though, the culture needs to reflect, accept and thrive on a culture of “planned chaos” all the while being focused on all the institutional goals.  Whew, what a job.