The Crisis and the Chaos: When Forgotten Stakeholders Self-Organize

• In Event: So Far, So Good, Part 1: Organizational Communication Research Escalator

Abstract

This case study of the 35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota examines the poor handling of the small businesses in crisis by various levels of government through the lens of chaos theory. This case study builds on extant research that examines crisis from a chaos theory perspective by focusing specifically on two concepts from chaos theory, strange attractors and self-organization, in order to extend both our knowledge of crisis and chaos theory itself. Whereas self-organization is often viewed as a positive mechanism that “leaders crave” (Wheatley, 2007, p. 33), this study reconceptualizes self-organization more negatively by arguing that self-organization is better explained as a worst case scenario caused by power differentials. While Liska et al. (2012) argue that self-organization is “the ultimate response to crises” (p. 194, emphasis added), the analysis of the bridge collapse suggests that self-organization, imposed across various small organizations, is an unfortunate consequence of crisis.

Author

• Colleen Arendt, Fairfield U