Project Overview‎:‎ What the Book‎'‎s About "It may not be possible to predict when an organization will confront an operation‎-challenging event but it is possible to predict the organization‎'‎s capacity to manage the event when it emerges‎.‎" ‎(‎Introduction to Chapter Nine‎)‎ Performance is the reason why organizations exist‎.‎ Through performance organizations meet the needs of internal and external stakeholders as defined by their mission‎,‎ goals and objectives‎.‎ This is true for all organizations‎.‎ If a retailer won‎'‎t stock goods a customer wants‎,‎ the customer will shop elsewhere‎.‎ If a religious organization does not meet the needs of its followers‎,‎ they leave‎.‎ If a cult doesn‎'‎t meet the needs of its memberships they seek their goal fulfillment elsewhere‎.‎ If a manufacturing center can‎'‎t produce goods that meet customer standards‎,‎ the customer will reject it‎.‎ Complexity theory‎,‎ a tool used to examine the nature of dynamic systems like organizations‎,‎ can contribute to our understanding of organizations and ways to improve their performance‎.‎ The models and material outlined in the book illustrate ways competency and organizational programs‎,‎ processes and procedures are used to manage emerging risks‎,‎ threats and vulnerabilities that challenge today‎'‎s organizations‎.‎ Collectively this information enables the identification of individual organization profiles as a way to advance our understanding of an important theory‎,‎ complexity‎,‎ in an applied setting ‎-‎- organizations‎.‎ Unique typologies describing organizations ‎(‎four types‎)‎‎,‎ events that effect organizations ‎(‎six types‎)‎ and the fundamental structure for organizations are presented to enable the forecasting of an organization‎'‎s capacity to manage different events as they emerge and how behavior organizes around these events‎.‎ Academicians studying organizations and practitioners interested in improving them can use this information to facilitate baseline‎,‎ descriptive thinking and analysis or more sophisticated examinations aimed at understanding the dynamic nature of organizations as fully functioning systems‎.‎ At the heart of the effort is the examination of what it takes to get the performance needed to achieve a vision or mission and why‎,‎ despite planning‎,‎ training and evaluation‎,‎ few organizations can guarantee or maintain desired levels of performance when faced with events‎,‎ routine to extreme‎,‎ that shape their existence‎.‎ Particular emphasis is placed on understanding how knowledge‎,‎ evaluation‎,‎ information and‎,‎ communication management practices need to be tailored to fit particular organizations rather than treated as a "one size fits all" approach‎.‎ These are not limited‎,‎ theoretical discussions but are presented as ways to efficiently talk about an individual organization‎'‎s profile or competencies within a class of‎,‎ or in contrast to‎,‎ other organizations‎.‎