The Law of Requisite Variety

Coming back to earlier discussions on embracing chaos, here is another lesson from nature!

The Law of Requisite Variety(LRV) : The survival of any system depdends on its capacity to CULTIVATE(not just tolerate!!) variety in its internal structure.

Failure to do so will result in an inability to cope successfully with variety when it is introduced from an external source. For example, fish in a bow can swim, breed, obtain food with minimal effort and remain safe from predators. But as those of us who own a aquarium would know that such fishes are extremely sensitive even to the slightest disturbances. Fish in the sea have to work harder to sustain themselves and cope up with variety, they are subject to many threats. But because they cope with more variation they are more robust when faced with change.

LRV is prevalent in nature. In an Organization's context, this means we not only respect diversity but actually cultivate it to survive!!. In other words Equalibrium is death, Chaos is life!!