Buchanan (2004) suggests that the importance of considering the application of power laws to data for risk analysis
particularly highlighting the inadequacy of using the Bell Curve to estimate the occurrence of extreme events. The
difference between the two is relatively benign at the outset (Figure 2) but when the tail areas of the two curves are
taken into consideration, the real differences become apparent. But what do power laws mean for organisational
structure and how to manage crisis events? Power laws indicate that organisations are in-fact complex, selforganising
systems, which do not follow a random series of events. Rather they follow a predictable and ultimately
manageable path, albeit a difficult one to understand.