Re: Anarchy and spontaneous order in business and education

James Rogers (jamesr@best.com)
Wed, 16 Jul 1997 15:51:16 -0700


At 07:24 PM 7/15/97 -0400, AMG wrote:
>
>Dear fellow Extrpians,
>Possibly creative colaboration and cooperation within a real or virtual
>organization owned and operated by its employees might be a more pracical
>and effective paln than anarchy?
>Please consider this as a meaningful alternative.

Plan for what? By anarchy, we are talking about spontaneous organization
rather than forced organizations, not the absence of organization. I will
say that "creative collaboration" and decision by consensus is *not* the
way to run an fast, flexible, and efficient business. It may be more
democratic, promote better communication, and possibly even be more
intelligent, but it does not make good business sense in the majority of
situations. When was the last time you saw a committee do anything useful
in a timely fashion? Now would you really want to run an entire company
that way? I certainly wouldn't. Strict heirarchies have their place.

That said, though, I would like to say that I am generally very supportive
of individual sovereignty in the work place. Everyone has it, but most
people don't realize it. Most people seem to carry the perception that the
heirarchy imposed in the workplace somehow carries over into the rest of
their lives. Subservience isn't necessary but sure is popular. The
receptionist is equal in all ways to the CEO, but with a different skill set.

-James Rogers
jamesr@best.com