Birth of the chaordic age

In Birth of the Chaordic Age, Dee Hock argues that traditional organizational forms can no longer work because organizations have become too complex. Hock advocates a new organizational form that he calls "chaordic, " or simultaneously chaotic and orderly. He credits the worldwide success of VISA with its chaordic structure — it is owned by its member banks which both compete with each other for customers and must cooperate by honoring one another's transactions across borders and currencies. The book shows how these same chaordic concepts are now being put into practice in a broad range of business, social, community, and government organizations. This is the story of how VISA International was conceived, founded and established. It challenges the ideas and radical philosophy about the nature of the world, the role of money and organizations in the world, reinventing leadership and management, and transforming business and society. Written by the founder, president, and CEO emeritus of VISA International, this is the story of how VISA International was conceived, founded and established. It is also the life story of Dee Hock, a maverick banker who put his own wild ideas into practice to create something the likes of which the world had never seen. This text challenges the ideas and radical philosophy about the nature of the world, the role of money and organizations in the world, reinventing leadership and management, and transforming business and society "The worldwide success of VISA International, Dee Hock asserts, is due to its chaordic structure: it is owned by 22,000 member banks, which both compete with each other for 750 million customers and must cooperate by honoring one another's $1.25 trillion in transactions annually across borders and currencies. Birth of the Chaordic Age is the story of how that structure came into being."--Jacket "Nine hours we have happily worked the hillside together, a sixty-five-year-old man and Thee Ancient One, a diesel crawler-tractor of indeterminate age and lineage."