Mother Nature, Supermodel

Abstract

About 2,500 years ago, the Chinese studied the behavior of animals to devise martial arts techniques that evolved into the Korean Tae Kwon Do that I learned and taught in the 1970s and 1980s (Green & Svinth, 2003). Since then, two movements have influenced business and engineering models innovation related to nature. One, inspired by evolutionary biology, conceptualized organizations as organisms, or “open systems” (Katz & Kahn, 1966) and later complexity theory (Clippinger, 1999). The other movement, biomimetics, or bionics, has stimulated artists and engineers to translate ideas from nature to solve human problems. This chapter outlines both traditions as potential resources for better models of organizational effectiveness that helped inspire the Cue See model described in subsequent chapters.