Moving Far From Far-From-Equilibrium: Opportunity Tension as the Driver of Emergence

Complexity scholars have identified two distinct catalysts of emergence: (1) Far-from-equilibrium dynamics that trigger order creation, and (2) adaptive tension (McKelvey, 2004) which can push a system toward instability, leading to the emergence of new order. Each of these provides a necessary but incomplete explanation of the catalyst for emergent order. In particular, the far-from-equilibrium framework, when taken to its logical ends, would conclude that most dynamic and fluid organizations are the ones farthest-from-thermodynamic equilibrium - like Exxon or GM, for example. Adaptive tension on the other hand identifies an exogenous force of market change, but doesn't explain how emergence is actually triggered. As a solution I propose "Opportunity Tension," which integrates the endogenous intention of an entrepreneur to create a new venture to the exogenous changes that open up an entrepreneurial opportunity - a market that will exchange money for the value being created. Opportunity tension occurs in "pulses," each cycle leading to a new dynamic state of the system. This model, which is consonant with the notion of "dynamic creation" (Chiles et al., 2010), contributes to a complexity science that is moves us beyond a far-from-equilibrium framework. Introduction In our search for the driver of order creation, management scholars have developed two contrasting catalysts of emergent order: far-from-equilibrium dynamics (e.g., Meyer et al, 2005), and adaptive tension (e.g., McKelvey, 2004). Although on the surface these two approaches seem similar, technically the constructs are different in significant ways, which have important implications for an organization science of complexity. The more common approach for describing the origin of new order is through the onset of "far-from-equilibrium" dynamics. Far-from-equilibrium approaches "elucidate the non-linear mechanisms that actually drive [discontinuous] change forward" (Meyer et al, 2005: 470a). In this theoretical framework, organizing far-from-equilibrium is what leads to " . . .emergence and ongoing, perpetual novelty" (Meyer et al, 2005: 450b). Choi, Dooley and Rungtusanatham (2001: 356) also use this framework to explain the origin of systemic state change, arguing that such change is triggered " . . .when the system is far from equilibrium." In a similar way, Browning, Beyer & Shetler (1995) show that the emergence of an alliance was sparked by ". . .a period of disequilibrium [which required the semiconductor industry] to operate qualitatively differently than in the past." In sum, a range of authors focus on how far-from-equilibrium processes catalyze the emergence process. On the other hand, McKelvey has offered a different explanation for the driver of emergence, namely adaptive tension. In McKelvey's understanding of Prigogine's dissipative structures theory (Nicolis 8c Prigogine, 1 989), order creation is caused by and initiated through "energy differentials" which are imposed onto the system. New order is created when one of these energy differentials crosses athreshold (McKelvey, 2004: 319): "...[when] an imposing energy differential, what I term adaptive tension, exceeds... the lower bound of the region of emergent complexity." Plowman and her colleagues build on McKelvey's formulation, suggesting that periods of organizational instability are often ". . .full of adaptive tension and tension grathents; it is in this state that emergent self-organization and creative destruction occur" (Plowman er al, 2007: 520). In these models, adaptive tension is the push, the catalyst, the driver that initiates a dynamic state that leads to emergence and order creation. In sum, we have a bit of a conflict around causality: What actually initiates the emergence of new order? In the far-fromequilibrium approach, the entire system moves into a regime that is away from equilibrium; this "far-from-equilibrium" organizing leads to non-linearities and perturbations or experiments that generate novelty. …