The portmanteau chaordic refers to a system

System

System is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole....

 of governance that blends characteristics of chaos

Chaos theory

Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...

 and order

Order

-Ordinality:*Collation, the sequencing and ordering of text**Alphabetical order**Lexicographical order*Order of precedence-Philosophy:* Natural order * Implicate and explicate order according to David Bohm-Science and mathematics:...

. The term was coined by Dee Hock

Dee Hock

Dee Ward Hock is the founder and former CEO of the VISA credit card association. In 1968, Hock convinced Bank of America to give up ownership and control of their BankAmericard credit card program. The new company, called National BankAmerica, was a non-stock membership corporation equally owned...

, the founder and former CEO of the VISA

Visa

Visa or VISA may refer to:* Visa , a document issued by a country's government allowing the holder to enter or to leave that country...

 credit card association.

The mix of chaos and order is often described as a harmonious coexistence displaying characteristics of both, with neither chaotic nor ordered behavior dominating. Some hold that nature

Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...

 is largely organized in such a manner; in particular, living organism

Organism

In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...

s and the evolution

Evolution

Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

ary process by which they arose are often described as chaordic in nature. The chaordic principles have also been used as guidelines for creating human organizations -- business

Business

A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...

, nonprofit, government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

and hybrids—that would be neither centralized nor anarchical networks.

External links

• Chaordic Commons facilitate access to knowledge about chaordic organizations and organizing.
• Simudyne a chaordic organisation.
• Chaordic Mind: chaotic and ordered community catalysts