Traditional organizational theory mandates that organizations predict and stay in control in order to avoid chaos. This book proposes that members of organizations work at developing a new frame of reference for understanding organizational life. The book combines insights from the new science of complexity with insights from psychoanalysis and argues that repressing the anxiety caused by the unstable, ever-changing nature of today's business world also represses the creative impulses--the "spaces for novelty"--that allow members of a work force to produce their best work. Using the science of complexity as a starting point, the book studies the fundamental properties of nonlinear-feedback networks, particularly those of complex, adaptive networks. Part 1 describes how an organization is a complex adaptive system, and part 2 explores the science of complexity and its principle insights. The third part shows how the principles of complexity science can be applied to the world of human systems. The implications of the new frame of reference for management research and practice are examined in part 4. Six conceptual maps and 20 figures are included. (Contains 152 references.) (LMI)