A blend of cooperation and competition.

A member of a system who has regular opportunities to interact with people outside of the organization.

All members of a system—be they people or cells—are important to the ongoing self-organization of a system.

Karl Weick’s notion that certain strategies for motivating employees are ineffective because employees only display some of their behaviors at work and do not reveal all of their characteristics and roles.

The wholeness of the system and its environment and the interrelationships of individuals within the system.

The notion that organizations must work with their environment to be successful.

A system of “loops” that connect communication and action.

Communication connections among people in organizations that are often of weak intensity.

Unique because of their system thinking, personal mastery, flexible mental models, shared vision, and team learning.

The notion that there is more than one right way to accomplish the same goal.