An entropy event in an organizational context refers to a significant, often sudden, external shock that increases disorder, uncertainty, and complexity. A force majeure event—such as a natural disaster, pandemic, or act of war—is a prime example. It originates from the external environment, is beyond the organization's control, and introduces a high degree of chaos. Managing such an event requires non-standard, creative leadership to navigate the instability and restore order, which directly aligns with the question's premise.

A large-scale restructure leading to 100s of redundancies is an internal management decision, not an event originating from the external environment.

An increase in taxes is an external regulatory change, but it typically lacks the sudden, chaotic, and highly disruptive nature of a true entropy event.

An important project deadline is missed is an internal operational failure, not a disruptive event from the external environment.

1. Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. (1978). The Social Psychology of Organizations (2nd ed.). Wiley. In their open systems theory (Chapter 2), they describe entropy as the tendency of systems to move towards disorganization. A major external shock, like a force majeure event, is a massive injection of entropy that the organization must counteract to survive.

2. Christopher, M., & Peck, H. (2004). Building the Resilient Supply Chain. The International Journal of Logistics Management, 15(2), 1-13. This paper discusses the sources of risk to supply chains, categorizing them as internal and external. Force majeure events are cited as key external environmental risks that cause major disruptions (i.e., entropy). (See Section: "Where does supply chain risk come from?", p. 4). https://doi.org/10.1108/09574090410700275

3. Mitroff, I. I., & Anagnos, G. (2001). Managing Crises Before They Happen: What Every Executive Needs to Know About Crisis Management. AMACOM. The authors differentiate between normal problems and true crises (entropy events), noting that crises are often triggered by major external events that threaten the organization's viability and require unconventional management approaches.