From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linear Management is the application of reductionism to management problems, often relying on the ability to predict, engineer and control outcomes by manipulating the component parts of a business (organization, operation, policy, process and so on). Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is a popular example of linear management at work. The key defining characteristic of linear management is that order is imposed - usually from above.

However, many argue that such an approach - treating organizations as machines to be engineered in this way - simply doesn't work. Businesses are too complex and too unpredictable. The results of many BPR projects in the 1990's suggests that they might be correct.

Nonlinear Management (NLM) is a superset of management techniques and strategies that allows order to emerge by giving organizations the space to self-organize, evolve and adapt, encompassing Agile, Evolutionary and Lean approaches, as well as many others. Key aspects of NLM, including holism, evolutionary design or delivery, and self-organization are diametrically opposite to linear management thinking. There is a marked similarity to the Intelligent Design vs. Evolution question, as one side firmly believes that order must be imposed from above, while the other believes that it can emerge quite naturally with little or no intervention from management.

• Wikipedia is an example of Nonlinear Management in practice.
• Linux (and other open source software)
• Agile Software Development

• H. Richard Priesmeyer. ORGANIZATIONS AND CHAOS: Defining the Methods of Nonlinear Management. Quorum Books. 1992.
• Margaret J. Wheatley. Leadership & The New Science: Discovering Order In A Chaotic World. Berrett-Koehler. 2001.

• What Disaster Response Management Can Learn From Chaos Theory - H. Richard Priesmeyer & Edward G. Cole