Looking for a new view in organizational studies
By Sergio Valenzuela-Ibarra
Most of the used research methods are based on linear relationship between variables. It means to investigate whether there is an influence, positive o negative, from one variable to another and that this influence is proportional to variation between the variables. Some authors called this paradigm as positivist-reductionism-analytic perspective (Arrow, McGrath, & Berdahl, 2000). On the other hand, research base on a non-linear paradigm investigates the trajectories of variables over time. It means that even though one variable does not affect to another in a linear way, it could have a relationship between the variables, but that relationship should be non-linear. In other words, in a non-linear systems, a little change in a variable X can cause big changes in a variable Y, and a big change in the variable X could be cause an imperceptible change in the variable Y (Guastello, 1995). Non-linear paradigm is in the base of theories and disciplines such as complex systems, dynamic systems, chaos, adaptive system, or dynamic social psychology (Nowak, Vallacher, 1998). Research methods that deal with non-linear relationship are mainly computer-based methods.
According to Melanie Mitchell (2009, pp.12-13), complex systems have three common properties: complex collective behavior, signaling and information processing, and adaptation. The first property refers to the difficulty of predicting collective behavior. In fact, work teams are compounded by members who have individual characteristics interacting under dynamic conditions that generate changing patterns of behavior. The second property of complex systems consists on the internal and external information and signals which are produced and used by systems. This property can be understood in work teams as the interchange of information in different ways such as: among the team’s members, between team’s members and the context, and the interaction of the team as a whole. Finally, the third property of complex systems is about the change of behavior over time, which occurs by learning or evolution. In the case of work teams, it is evident that the team’s behavior changes over time. Teams suffer both internal and external changes, which demand accommodation, new learning, and reorganization from both the team’s members and the team as a whole.
