It is the responsibility of management to choose these environments. At the enterprise level, this is the function of strategy, choosing what markets to serve and how to win in them. Complex systems self-organize to achieve higher levels of fitness. While profitability must always be part of fitness for commercial enterprises, it is never the whole story. Performance includes the organization's ethical standards and its social responsibility.
Meaning is inherently slippery.
Managers guide self-organization by providing clarity, helping everyone stay on the same page, by managing symbols, and by propagating values through tools such as stories, myths, and rituals. This guidance provides shared meanings around which self-organization can occur. Managers hire and fire. Those they hire are expected to adapt to the evolving needs of the organizations. They must also fit with others already in the organization so that the organization maximizes its total fitness.