Chaos Theory, Self-Organization, and Industrial Accidents: Crisis Communication in the Kingston Coal Ash Spill

Abstract

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) discovered myriad failures leading up to the Kingston Coal Ash Spill in December of 2008. This study analyzes the TVA's response to the crisis from the perspective of chaos theory. Specifically, the changes announced by Tom Kilgore, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority, during his testimony before Congress are analyzed as organizational rhetoric intended to initiate self-organization. The study reveals that Kilgore's rhetoric did address the bifurcation of the crisis, appropriately called for employee freedom in responding to fractal data, and allowed a new network for strange attractors to flourish. The degree to which self-organization is actually achieved, however, can only be known through observable changes at the TVA in the long term.