Measuring Order

Transitions require the ordering of states of affairs through time. When a projected state of affairs is realized, there has been an ordering of elements and relations sufficient to overcome the improbability of its realization. The extent of the effort required to overcome that improbability depends on the extent of order required to instantiate the projected state. 'Work' is the mechanism of this activity. Work is the imposition of structure to overcome improbability.

In many cases, progress is more improbable than we realize; the path forward is more difficult, often more discouraging than we expected. Beginning the transition, especially in the earliest stages, involves destabilizings that can cause business actors to doubt themselves, imagining that if the firm were on the right track, 'nature would be more facilitative’.  

If the projected state of affairs has been wisely selected, however, there will in due course be indications that progress is in play and that the plan is validly framed. This is because the correct path will involve patterns of elements and relations that by successive stages integrate with the logical structure of the projected state of affairs. The projection literally becomes more probable as the transition proceeds. Thus, when firms experience the early oppositions noted above, this is not necessarily evidence that the plan is poorly conceived; rather, it can simply be that the intimations of increasing probability have not yet begun to manifest. 

Whether a transition is exhibiting phases of increasing order is not easy to discern, particularly during the middle period described above. In many circumstances of daily life, of course, we innately sense comparative order among extant and potential states of affairs and act on the basis of these evaluations. Thus socks properly sorted and placed in a drawer exhibit greater order than did the unsorted pile of socks on the floor, and for that reason most of us view the latter state of affairs as evincing 'progress'. 

Nonetheless, quantifying ‘degrees of order’ for purposes of comparison is a skill that is not explicitly taught or applied in business. As environments become more complex, however, the significance of this metric becomes more apparent. Our Pragmatica ontology provides an approach for measuring degrees of order. Among various beneficial applications, this is a high-value metric to utilize during critical but often uncertain middle-period stages of transitions.