Introduction: From an Orderly System to Chaos and Back
Since the dawn of time, the battle between Chaos and Order has been going on without a single break; at certain point Chaos has been in the winning position, and there have been the times when Order was going to take over. With the humankind as the army of its most devoted soldiers, order has settled firmly in all the spheres of people’s activity, especially in such fields as organizational leadership, spawning a bunch of theories concerning the means to establish the best method of controlling and guiding a certain group of people. With the help of a careful and thought-out strategy, The United Methodist Church leaders managed to transform the organization from a chaotic mess to a clockwork mechanism. Analyzing the existing theories of organizational leadership that focus on switching from chaos to order, one can possibly define the further path of development for The United Methodist Church.
Rethinking the Contingency Theory: The Chain of Elements
To start with, one of the most well-known and popular theories of organizational leadership, known as the contingency theory, must be considered in relation to The United Methodist Church must be considered. According to the definition provided by Kirst-Ashman & Hull, “Contingency theory maintains that each element involved in an organization depends on other elements” (Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2008, 128). Hence, the chaotic elements are structured into a specific hierarchy, which can be observed in The United Methodist Church: “One reason United Methodists are able to accomplish great things is the church’s emphasis on ‘conventionalism.’” (The United Methodist Church, n. d.).
Mindfulness as One of the Possible Solutions
While the theory mentioned above does deal with the problem of chaos efficiently, it still has its flaws. For instance, it misses the idea of focusing on the principles of the organization. However, where the contingency theory fails, the theory of mindfulness offered by Rothwell, Stavros, Sullivan & Sullivan (2009) wins. It is important that the theory offered by the authors allows to acknowledge the problem first and define chaos in the organization: “Comfort with chaos, disorder, and uncertainty is important” (Rothwell, Stavros, Sullivan & Sullivan, 2009, 52). Likewise, The United Methodist Church leaders acknowledge the fact of chaos to fight it with their key principles (The United Methodist Church, n. d.).
Reasonable Navigation between the Two: Where Extremes Meet
Another peculiar idea which can be considered when fighting with the chaos to restore the order is the fact of the efforts’ complete futility. Indeed, the two have existed for million years, so there is hardly anything a single organization can do in a limited amount of time, and The United Methodist Church leaders understand it well. As Daft explains, there is a way to navigate chaos instead of fighting it (Daft, , 34), and this is pretty much what The United Methodist Church tried resorting to, with its idea of “connection” (The United Methodist Church, n. d.).
Taking Advantage of Chaos: The Charm of Spontaneity
Developing the above-mentioned idea of rather putting up with chaos than annihilating it, it is necessary to bring up such theory of organizational leadership as creativity and continuous chaos. As Stacey explains, with the help of the given theory, one can possibly learn to sue chaos to the advantage of the organization, turning its weakest points into its key strengths (Stacey, 1992, 81), a strategy which The United Methodist Church could probably adopt.
The Warp of Time and Space: Working Environment, Rearranged
As it can be seen from the examples above, The United Methodist Church uses a number of modern approaches in achieving its goals. Moreover, it seems that the church members have implemented one of the most important elements of effective organizational behavior establishment, namely, the efficient use of time and space (Senge, 2008): “local United Methodist churches are bound together by a common mission and common governance that accomplish reaching out into the world” (The United Methodist Church, n. d.).
Conclusion: When Things Start Falling into Their Places
Hence, it can be concluded that there are a number of ways to transform a chaotic mess into a well-structured organization within a limited amount of time. It is also worth mentioning that all of the methods of organizational restructuring above are focused on the same issue, namely, developing links between the members of the organization and making sure that information is delivered accurately to the required people within the required amount of time, and that the instructions provided by the management of the organization are delivered correctly. In the context of The United Methodist Church, the above-mentioned is especially significant, since in the given organization, the relations between its members are crucial.
Thus, it is clear that, adopting the existing means of coordinating an organization, The United Methodist Church has achieved a considerable result over a relatively small course of time. However, it is necessary to keep in mind that the given system has to be maintained further on. Hence, The United Methodist Church has to adopt the basic elements of the five theories mentioned above in the future as well.
References
Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, G. H. Jr. (2008). Generalist practice with organizations & communities. Stamford, CN: Cengage Learning.
Rothwell, W. J., Stavros, J. M., Sullivan, R. L., & Sullivan, A. (2009). Practicing organization development: A guide for leading change. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Senge, P. M. (2008).The fifth discipline: The art and practice of leaning organizations. New York, NY: Doubleday.
Stacey, R. D. (1992). Managing the unknowable: Strategic boundaries between order and chaos in organizations. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. The United Methodist Church n. d. Web.