[OSList] Orgs that Failed to Implement Self-Organization?

Jake Yeager jacob.yeager at gmail.com
Sat Jun 22 08:18:59 PDT 2019


Thank you everyone for your thought-provoking responses!

A reflection: the more that I try to control, the more pain and dissonance
that I bring to myself and the world.

Thanks Daniel for the inside info on Zappos. Any idea what happened at
Medium regarding its Holacracy experiment?

Thanks,
Jake


________________

When the mind is quiet, the sun of your heart will shine once again, and
you will be free of problems.
 - Robert Adams <http://www.robert-adams.info/>


On Fri, Jun 21, 2019 at 8:34 AM Harrison Owen <hhowensr at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jake, I  think you may be asking the question from perhaps the wrong way
> around. My experience is that everything is self organizing. Including all
> organizations. Respected, and left to its own devices, Self organization
> does a marvelous job. Some wins, some loses, but basically things have
> worked quite well since the Big Bang. That would be 13.7 billion years. The
> fact that we are here to complain about how bad things are -- is, I think,
> a testimony to that success. So all organizations are inherently self
> organizing. Problems, however, do arise when one attempts to organize a
> self organizing organization (system). That is not only an oxymoron – but
> stupid. But that seems to be largely what we have done. Of course it does
> provide the beneficial result of creating and paying that group of people
> called “managers” whose job it is to organize things – along with
> professors and consultants, who supposedly tell them how to do it. So my
> bottom line would be that all organizations are self organizing from the
> start. Then, sadly, things begin to go downhill.
>
>
>
> Could I prove all this? Probably not – in part because I am not quite
> clear about how that (proof) might be done, but mostly because I am not
> sure it would be worth the effort. And there is a useful alternative, I
> think: that wonderful 34 year natural experiment we have all been a part
> of. Every time we invite the space to be opened in a non or poorly
> functioning organization we really aren’t *doing *anything except
> offering the people/participants the opportunity to remember what they
> already know, and be what they already are. Self organizing. Amazingly it
> seems to work just about every time in spite of the fact that it violates
> every single practice and principle of Modern Management. At least I can’t
> think of any that escape. Might be something here?
>
>
>
> Of course all this could just be another one of my stories – and you know
> about storytellers! On the other hand, you might enjoy a fuller version
> which you will find in my last book: *WaveRider: Leadership for High
> Performance in a Self Organizing world.* Berrett-Koehler published and
> Amazon ( amongst others) will deliver. Or you can forget all that and just
> open some space… and allow you own experience to shape your conclusions.
> Have fun!
>
>
>
> Harrison
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* OSList [mailto:oslist-bounces at lists.openspacetech.org] *On Behalf
> Of *Jake Yeager via OSList
> *Sent:* Thursday, June 20, 2019 7:32 PM
> *To:* World wide Open Space Technology email list
> *Cc:* Jake Yeager
> *Subject:* [OSList] Orgs that Failed to Implement Self-Organization?
>
>
>
> Hey everyone,
>
>
>
> Does anyone know of organizations that attempted to implement
> self-organization but failed? If so, do you know some of the factors that
> contributed to the failure? We hear about the successes, like Semco and
> AES, but rarely about the failures. I'd like to understand better what the
> pitfalls are and also what the success rate is.
>
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
> All the best,
>
> Jake
>
> ________________
>
>
>
> When the mind is quiet, the sun of your heart will shine once again, and
> you will be free of problems.
>
>  - Robert Adams <http://www.robert-adams.info/>
>
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