Managing the Contested Mass

The universe is a chaotic place. It is full of uncertainty and it can be difficult to predict exactly what is going to happen at any given time be it the present or the far future. Scientists and mathematicians have developed a theory to explain this phenomenon. It is called chaos theory and it is highly relevant to the field of teaching. Education is an uncertain endeavor.

Chaos is natural phenomenon and a key component of the universe. Chaos may cause uncertainty but it also creates the opportunities that create hope and change. Teachers need to prepare for chaos and accept uncertainty as a natural condition. Teachers can not control the entire universe. But they can make impacts on the small slice of the universe they reside in despite all the chaos evident in it.

Chaos management is about "issue storms"....swirling, turbulent flows of information that blow up when people try to deal with complex issues. Our world is increasingly dominated by issue storms. Our lives are issue driven and chaotic. Our interaction with others is complex and unpredictable.

Because of today's powerful technology, issues tend to mushroom out of control. They spread rapidly, consuming precious cognitive resources in an uncoordinated, confused way. When this happens ----“management quickly loses its ability to manage”--.

The basic, traditional concepts of management are still valid....planning, budgeting, scheduling, reporting and control. But how we implement these concepts needs to be changed to deal with issue storms and chaos. The traditional ways were developed to manage physical activities like manufacturing and construction. But cognitive activities are very different,
that is why the traditional methods have broken down.

Iranian society is in a transit period, from its classical, traditional and certain framework into finding new methods, paving the way from traditionalism into modernity. Hence, the resistance and contest are coloured with cultural-social approach rather than political orientation.

Contested mass appearing in network/grassroot structures where the focus is on life-style rather than social class. It is not ideological in its reaction; there is no cohesion in the structure. The protesters follow the social strategy that confronts the State, and pursue carnival type of methods.

In these movements the main question is not about promoting challenge and debate but it is about how to penetrate into, and benefit out of all the contested categories; women, youngsters, students…..the objective is to formulate the contest to their advantage........hence managing the chaos.