Are Hierarchies All Bad? LO31047

From: Art Kleiner (art@well.com)
Date: 04/26/04


Replying to LO31033 --

Actually, Doug, I've been ruminating about this ever since you wrote
about it in the original Fieldbook.

I have now come to think that there are at least four necessary
dimensions for understanding how an organization works -- operating in
relationship to each other in a manner akin to the way the human
circulatory system, skeleton, muscles and nervous systems operate
(perhaps)...

The hierarchy system
(God)
Elliot Jaques' theories make the most sense about this (for me)

The network system
(Knowledge)
Karen Stephenson's ideas about information flow in organizations make
sense for me.

The clan system
(Love)
Here is where I tried to focus my own material on core groups and
"Who Really Matters"

The market system
(Money)
Probably Ronald Coase's view of the transaction role in organizations
makes the most sense here...

But how exactly do they fit together? I'm not sure, but it seems
reasonable that in any organizational situation, there is "stuff"
going on in all four dimensions...

 -- Art Kleiner

At 9:24 AM -0500 3/23/04, dougm wrote:
>Replying to LO31031 --
>
>My impression has been that the Learning Organization movement has
>focused too much on the learning of the individuals in organizations
>as opposed to how organizations learn. That is, how organizational
>outcomes are fed back to shape future organizational behavior. In
>this light the above comments on hierarchies are cast in terms
>boss-subordinate relationships, still focused on the individuals in a
>hierarchical organization (e.g., the "Alpha Male" in a pack of dogs).

[... quote of prev msg snipped by your host ...]

-- 
    -- Art Kleiner

Email: art@well.com Website: http://www.artkleiner.com To subscribe to my occasional email newsletter: Send a blank email to ArtKleiner-on@mail-list.com

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