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Managing Disorder — Or Not

Dec 06, 2016
by Caroline Miller
Chaos Theories, connection between chaos and creativity, disorder as a form of organization, messy desks, organizing files in a computer, people's need for control in the workplace, Rebecca Greenfield
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Like a person in a drunken stupor, I careen between bouts of messiness and sterile order.  My physical work environment is becoming more and more sterile as I gain skills that allow me to file documents on my computer.  The evolution poses a new problem, however. I sometimes get lost in the Cloud of the virtual world and struggle to find what I’m searching for.

messy office

Courtesy of punch.photoshelter.com

Life was different when I was a teacher and assigned a composition a week to 150 students.  My desk was a platform for stacks of papers so dense I doubt the NSA could track any material. One colleague described my room as a scene of classical disorder. Others, less charitable, might have referred to it as “a mess.”  But I needn’t have fretted. Writer Rebecca Greenfield assures me I was in good company. Albert Einstein, Alexander Fleming, who gave us penicillin,  and Abraham Lincoln all wallowed in classical disorder.( “Chaos Theories,” by Rebecca Greenfield, Bloomberg Businessweek, Sept 25-Oct 7, 2016, pg. 78.) Greenfield’s thesis is that chaos is a type of filing system because the papers you touch most often, being important, tend to end up at or near the top of the pile. (Ibid pg. 78.)

Research shows that employers have failed to grasp the virtue of classical disorder.  They tend to promote people whose desks are clear.  (Ibid pg. 78.)  Rather than see an empty workplace as the reflection of an empty mind, they see it as the reflection of an efficient one.  So, employees take note.  To climb the ladder of success, dump your disorder into a drawer each night before you go home.  Who knows?  By morning, you may discover some connections among all those papers and connection is the basis of creativity, as Einstein, Fleming and Abraham Lincoln have already shown.

The most productive environment, according to Greenfield, is on that gives an employee a measure of control.  Beyond bringing a potted plant to work and pictures of the family, allowing people to work in a way that makes them feel comfortable is crucial.  As one study showed, “People toiling away without any control over their surroundings not only hated their work but …but also complained of physical discomfort, such as feeling too warm.” (Ibid pg. 78.)

Given Greenfield’s advice, one would think I was enjoying the best of both worlds, real and virtual  My desk is clear.  My computer is crammed with files.  But why can’t I find anything?  I feel so out of control.

 

 

About the Author
Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate. Caroline just published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens Her third novel, Trompe l"Oeil, is available in October, 2012 from Koho Pono, LLC. Caroline published Heart Land and Gothic Spring in 2009.
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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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