As if following a governing law, nature spontaneously and consistently inclines towards attaining balance in its constituent situations, environments and systems. Sherden (2011) discusses a number of examples of the workings of balancing forces and mechanisms to orchestrate balance in nature; some of these examples include the Gaia Hypothesis (which was once scorned by the scientific community, but got to be confirmed and accepted later, as Earth Systems Science), homeostasis, the interplay of the moderating or stabilizing forces and mechanisms of demand and supply in determining the prices of products and services, the natural stabilization of trade volumes in international trade, the interplay of the moderating or stabilizing forces and mechanisms of economic depressions and booms in enabling stable economic growth of economies and the formation of alliances to stabilize peace and decorum, neutralize or counter threats by aggressive and powerful entities or maintain the balance of power within a community.
Figure 1 below illustrates how various interacting processes and cycles, which are both complex and ongoing within the earth’s various systems, act or work to maintain the kind of equilibrium that the entire planet system is currently in – the kind of equilibrium in which the original author of the Gaia Hypothesis (i.e., James Lovelock) described the earth’s atmosphere as being, when he theorized that the atmosphere is highly improbable (Sherden, 2011); by theorizing and describing the earth’s atmosphere as being highly improbable, Lovelock had reached the opinion, explanation or theory (after conducting some investigation, I suppose, and after conducting a purely rational exercise, for sure) that oxygen, which is a highly reactive element, should have virtually disappeared, i.e., after reacting with other elements in the earth system, particularly nitrogen and carbon.
By opposing the changes that occur in a system, balancing forces and mechanisms keep the system in balance – in a state of equilibrium; this role, which is played by balancing forces and mechanisms, confers upon them their relevance/germaneness and importance in nature. Of the various systems in nature, in which balancing forces and mechanisms interplay to orchestrate balance in these systems, the systems that this blog looks at are human societies and organizations. It is valid to view or construe societies and organizations as systems – i.e., systems that occur in nature. Just like with other systems in nature, for which balancing forces and mechanisms keep them in balance, societies and organizations are also characterized by the workings of balancing forces and mechanisms in this way. If a change is introduced into a company, for example, the action of these changes and the subsequent reaction to these changes by employees of the company would pull and push against each other and this interplay of actions and reactions will culminate in the attainment of some equilibrium state, after some time has elapsed, after the introduction of the disrupting change in the company.
A disrupting change that may be introduced into a company is the adoption and use of cloud computing technology in the company. Being a new, novel, innovative technology and, therefore, a new or revolutionarily different computing paradigm, cloud computing would cause a company that is adopting and using this technology to undergo revolutionarily different change (in fact, cloud computing will take both the computing industry and the business landscape to new or revolutionarily different heights – i.e., in addition to orchestrating a transformation in computing, this technology will also transform the way businesses/companies are organized and run/operated in order to accomplish their goals, including both short term and long term, strategic goals). While some employees (including even management or administrative personnel) would frown against or antagonize this introduced change in their company, others would welcome it – the interplay of the change itself, as well as both the support of and the contest against the change, will eventually culminate in the company entering into some stable, equilibrium state (this equilibrium state may be the adoption of the hybrid cloud computing deployment model, which is some of sort of compromise or intermediate position between the private and public cloud computing deployment models).
What are the impacting forces/factors that may shape the successful actualization or realization of the situation or scenario, which comprises of the adoption and use of cloud computing technology by a company? Two top such forces/factors include (A) The level of initial acceptance or rejection of the adoption and use of the technology and (B) The level or extent to which, eventually, cloud computing lives up to its promises and expectations. Regarding the first force/factor, if potential users become too cautious and concerned about a range of issues – including security, availability, cost, reliability, etc. – such that, rather than they embracing the adoption and use of the technology, these prospective users shy away or decline from adopting and using the technology, then the widespread and thorough adoption and use of the technology will be threatened. The second factor/force is one that comes to play only after the technology has already been adopted and used to some extent, at least; i.e., after the introduction of the technology into the company, it may not, eventually, live up to its promises and expectations – if this gloomy eventuality were to occur, this would be an objective basis (or set of reasons) for decisively and completely discontinuing the attempt at adopting and using the technology.
I do not envisage or anticipate that cloud computing technology will not, eventually, live up to its promises and expectations; my own take on the scenario or outcome that will eventually occur is, actually (like I mentioned earlier in this blog), that the interplay of the following forces will eventually culminate in a company, which is adopting and using this technology, to enter into some stable, equilibrium state: (A) The introduction of this revolutionarily different change itself (B) The support of the change by employees and (C) The contest against the change by employees – I theorize that, rather than the employees of a company totally rejecting the introduction of cloud computing technology in its entirety, what will happen, eventually, is that both the advantages and the disadvantages of this technology will cause organizations to adopt and use the hybrid cloud computing deployment model, which is some of sort of compromise or intermediate position between the private and public cloud computing deployment models (the hybrid cloud computing deployment model will address the major advantages and disadvantages of this technology by furnishing, respectively, the public and private cloud computing deployment models).
References
Goldstein, B. D. (2002). Supercourse Lecture: Risk Assessment as a Risk Management Tool. Retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/lecture/lec7111/010.htm
Sherden, W. A. (2011). Best laid plans: The tyranny of unintended consequences and how to avoid them. Santa Barbara. Praeger
Figure 1 below illustrates how various interacting processes and cycles, which are both complex and ongoing within the earth’s various systems, act or work to maintain the kind of equilibrium that the entire planet system is currently in – the kind of equilibrium in which the original author of the Gaia Hypothesis (i.e., James Lovelock) described the earth’s atmosphere as being, when he theorized that the atmosphere is highly improbable (Sherden, 2011); by theorizing and describing the earth’s atmosphere as being highly improbable, Lovelock had reached the opinion, explanation or theory (after conducting some investigation, I suppose, and after conducting a purely rational exercise, for sure) that oxygen, which is a highly reactive element, should have virtually disappeared, i.e., after reacting with other elements in the earth system, particularly nitrogen and carbon.
Source: Goldstein (2002)
Figure 1: Interacting Processes and Cycles within the Earth’s Various Systems
By opposing the changes that occur in a system, balancing forces and mechanisms keep the system in balance – in a state of equilibrium; this role, which is played by balancing forces and mechanisms, confers upon them their relevance/germaneness and importance in nature. Of the various systems in nature, in which balancing forces and mechanisms interplay to orchestrate balance in these systems, the systems that this blog looks at are human societies and organizations. It is valid to view or construe societies and organizations as systems – i.e., systems that occur in nature. Just like with other systems in nature, for which balancing forces and mechanisms keep them in balance, societies and organizations are also characterized by the workings of balancing forces and mechanisms in this way. If a change is introduced into a company, for example, the action of these changes and the subsequent reaction to these changes by employees of the company would pull and push against each other and this interplay of actions and reactions will culminate in the attainment of some equilibrium state, after some time has elapsed, after the introduction of the disrupting change in the company.
A disrupting change that may be introduced into a company is the adoption and use of cloud computing technology in the company. Being a new, novel, innovative technology and, therefore, a new or revolutionarily different computing paradigm, cloud computing would cause a company that is adopting and using this technology to undergo revolutionarily different change (in fact, cloud computing will take both the computing industry and the business landscape to new or revolutionarily different heights – i.e., in addition to orchestrating a transformation in computing, this technology will also transform the way businesses/companies are organized and run/operated in order to accomplish their goals, including both short term and long term, strategic goals). While some employees (including even management or administrative personnel) would frown against or antagonize this introduced change in their company, others would welcome it – the interplay of the change itself, as well as both the support of and the contest against the change, will eventually culminate in the company entering into some stable, equilibrium state (this equilibrium state may be the adoption of the hybrid cloud computing deployment model, which is some of sort of compromise or intermediate position between the private and public cloud computing deployment models).
What are the impacting forces/factors that may shape the successful actualization or realization of the situation or scenario, which comprises of the adoption and use of cloud computing technology by a company? Two top such forces/factors include (A) The level of initial acceptance or rejection of the adoption and use of the technology and (B) The level or extent to which, eventually, cloud computing lives up to its promises and expectations. Regarding the first force/factor, if potential users become too cautious and concerned about a range of issues – including security, availability, cost, reliability, etc. – such that, rather than they embracing the adoption and use of the technology, these prospective users shy away or decline from adopting and using the technology, then the widespread and thorough adoption and use of the technology will be threatened. The second factor/force is one that comes to play only after the technology has already been adopted and used to some extent, at least; i.e., after the introduction of the technology into the company, it may not, eventually, live up to its promises and expectations – if this gloomy eventuality were to occur, this would be an objective basis (or set of reasons) for decisively and completely discontinuing the attempt at adopting and using the technology.
I do not envisage or anticipate that cloud computing technology will not, eventually, live up to its promises and expectations; my own take on the scenario or outcome that will eventually occur is, actually (like I mentioned earlier in this blog), that the interplay of the following forces will eventually culminate in a company, which is adopting and using this technology, to enter into some stable, equilibrium state: (A) The introduction of this revolutionarily different change itself (B) The support of the change by employees and (C) The contest against the change by employees – I theorize that, rather than the employees of a company totally rejecting the introduction of cloud computing technology in its entirety, what will happen, eventually, is that both the advantages and the disadvantages of this technology will cause organizations to adopt and use the hybrid cloud computing deployment model, which is some of sort of compromise or intermediate position between the private and public cloud computing deployment models (the hybrid cloud computing deployment model will address the major advantages and disadvantages of this technology by furnishing, respectively, the public and private cloud computing deployment models).
References
Goldstein, B. D. (2002). Supercourse Lecture: Risk Assessment as a Risk Management Tool. Retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/~super1/lecture/lec7111/010.htm
Sherden, W. A. (2011). Best laid plans: The tyranny of unintended consequences and how to avoid them. Santa Barbara. Praeger
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