[Host's Note: Ben, welcome back! ...Rick]
Recently I've been involved with a number of friends in designing a new
business. We're focusing on the "rules" that we should implement. The
intent is to have rules that maximize the number of coherent and
meaningful possibilities, rather than limit choi ces and preclude certain
actions. Of course there must be some rules that preclude incoherent or
meaningless possibilities; there should, in my mind, be very few such
rules. (The point is that we need to maximize our choices for effective,
survival-center ed action.)
One of the rules I've proposed is that there be a method of creating what
I would call a "corporate insurrection." A way for people within an
organization to rise up, rebel, and protest the behavior of the
organization.
The US has such a provision in it's Constitution through the 1st
ammendment which protects the right to free speech. I think such a
provision should exist in every organization. It might help keep the
organization focused on it's social responsibilities, protect it from
moral decay, respect it's relationship with each member, and stay true to
it's fundamental purpose.
As you can imagine there has been a lot of talk about this idea. I thought
I'd throw it out to the list and see what others think. The results
clearly are unpredictable, but I see more advantages than disadvantages in
such an approach.
There are those who think that's the role of a Labor Union. I disagree. A
labor union exists, primarily, as I understand it, to protect the workers.
It doesn't care whether the organization stays focused on it's primary
purpose, whether it fulfills it's social obligations, or whether it
behaves in a moral way within the marketplace. And so I think labor unions
fill part of the role, but not to the degree that I'm thinking.
And I should say, before closing, that the system we're designing is a
very open system. Some might call it a "leaderless system." It is not
democratic per se, although it could become democratic. We hope that it
will exist as a bunch of rules that can be changed, at any time, by the
people within the system. In other words, there are no sacred cows in the
system except that the system itself is a sacred cow that we do not want
to destroy.
--Benjamin Compton DWS Computer Consultants "The GroupWise Integration Experts" E-Mail: bcompton@emailsolutions.com http://www.emailsolutions.com
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