The paper reports on public sector organisations'/institutions' work to develop knowledge management and intellectual capital statements. Building on experiences collected during 2001‐2002 where 26 public sector institutions in Denmark sought to develop intellectual capital statements, this...

This paper raises the issue of research methodology for intellectual capital and other types of management research by focusing on the dilemma of rigour versus relevance. The more traditional explanatory approach to research often leads to rigorous results that are not of much help to solve...

In order to set the stage for this special issue, the prime concepts are defined: i.e. “chaos,” “complexity,” “learning” (individual and organizational), “learning organization,” and “chaordic enterprise”. Also, several chaos‐and‐complexity‐related definitions of...

This contribution suggests a conceptual framework for using complexity to understand human interactions in learning organizations. The particular lens adopted for this purpose is that of the Chaos perspective. The following general concepts are described: discontinuous growth, attractors: their...

This paper explores the added value of chaordic systems Thinking for organizational renewal, which is defined as transformation instead of reformation. The exploration is presented in the form of an antagonistic dialogue between two “voices,” which develop commentaries from distinct...

This paper is a continuation of the antagonistic dialogue about the differences of chaordic systems thinking (CST) and socio‐technical systems design (STS). In this second part of the conversation a concrete example is used to illustrate the added value provided by CST. Whereas STS focuses on...

A theoretical model of collective learning has been developed based on complex systems theory. The need for collective learning is illustrated by an empirical study of an “unsuccessful” organizational‐renewal project in a Swedish Telecom firm. The conclusion, using chaordic systems...

People's mental models are viewed as being significant in achieving organizational outcomes, on the assumption that mental models influence people's acts. A fundamental issue in the area of organizational learning, then, is the relation between mental models, learning and performance. We contend...

In this concluding paper the guest editors reflect on the contents of this special issue, and give some suggestions for future use of the CST framework. An interesting disclosure is that in chaos‐and‐complexity research the unit of measurement is not the individual human being, but the...