Good morning, everyone. Robin makes an astute observation: layers of hierarchy are also past of the problem.
The best solution that we have been able to find is decentralization of large organizations, but decentralization with several sub-principles. 1. Each unit within the organization must have all the functions required for autonomous operation. (Overhead services can be shared among units too small to afford stand-alone services, with the shared services proportioned out per agreement among the units and those proportions under the management authority of each unit. This way the shared services cannot play one unit against another.) 2. Each unit is guided by a specified set of sensory specific outcomes negotiated with senior management; these outcomes are provided with explicit resource allocation agreements, with which the unit then operates to achieve the outcomes. After these agreements have been made, senior management goes away and lets the unit perform. 3. Each unit is free to negotiate with any other unit at any level within the organization for operational cooperation, agreements reached voluntarily by all. 4. Senior management is reintroduced into the situation upon request of any of the units, or if the overall position of the organization itself undergoes some change that requires it to renegotiate with its units. Such changes include market shifts, financing shifts, technological intelligence, etc. Well, there is a lot more to this, but this is the gist.... What do you think? Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: Robin van Spaandonk [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2008 5:21 PM To: vortex-l@eskimo.com Subject: Re: [Vo]:Re: "Tooo" obvious for Detroit? In reply to Lawrence de Bivort's message of Sun, 9 Mar 2008 08:52:34 -0400: Hi, [snip] >Partly it is a matter of Reverting to the Mean, and partly a matter of there >being only so many genuinely brilliant leaders and with size their net >impact is diluted by the inevitable bulk of mediocre people in a large >corporation. > >Partly it is a matter of administrative systems becoming so bulky and >unwieldy that taking action and decision-making are themselves compromised >by bureaucratic values and ponderous processes. There is another very subtle factor which plays a role in large organizations. Management naturally sees it as their role to make choices. A small organization has few people, and consequently few people proffering ideas. This makes it relatively easy for good ideas to be selected and tried (there aren't that many of them). However as an organization grows decisions are frequently shuffled up the hierarchy until they reach top management, which is then in the position of having to "choose" between many ideas, some of which would be good and some not. SNIP
