Institutions in the Age of
Mindcrafting
David Lamberton
Chris Lindeman
Janel Metzger
Wade Nelson
Dan Trebble
Institutions in the Age of
Mindcrafting Overview
• History of organizations
• Why this is important
• Three Universal Laws about why
organizations are outdated
• Chaos with order
History of Organizations
• Newtonian science is the father
• Stating every action has an equal and
opposite reaction
• Gave rise to machine metaphor
History of Organizations
• Industrial Revolution is mother
• Enforced conformity and routine behaviour
• Centralized authority created a class of
managers
• At present, the Universities have a monopoly
on managers
Why This is Important
• All the “re”’s that are now so popular –
reorganize, reengineering, reinventing are
incorrect
• Implies that one just needs a new version of what
already exists
• The need to reconceive organization
Three Universal Laws
Law # 1
Everything has
consequences
Law # 2
Simple is
intelligent
Law # 3
Co-operation
and competition
are equally
valuable
Law #1
• Everything, has both intended and
unintended consequences. The intended
consequences may or may not happen;
the unintended ones always do.
Law #1
• Implies obvious unintended results
• We call them accidents
• In organizations it is difficult to predict the
outcome of an action
History of the Charge Card
• 1966 Bank of America launched
BankAmericard
• In response, 5 banks in California
launched MasterCharge
• 1968 operating, credit and fraud losses
were believed to be in the tens of millions
of dollars
History of the Charge Card
• Infant industry was out of control
• Formed a committee of six to come up
with a solution
• Realized traditional structures could not
work
Law #2
• Simple, clear purposes and principles give
rise to complex, intelligent behaviour.
Complex rules and regulations give rise to
simple, stupid behaviour.
• Control stifles ingenuity
Law #2
•
•
•
•
Classic versus Modern art
Everyone can tell what it is, no question
Modern left up to interpretation
One gets a sense that it was painted for
them and each interpretation is different
Law #2
Law #3
• Everything is its opposite –particularly
competition and co-operation. Neither can
rise to its highest potential unless both are
seamlessly blended. Either without the
other swiftly becomes dangerous and
destructive.
Law #3
• Ying Yang – opposite in every way
• Together they create a symbol known
worldwide
• Apart they are meaningless shapes
The Three Laws
• These laws
suggest something
that the modern
organization does
not have – chaos
with order
• Uninhibited,
unbound thought
directed at a goal
Chaos with Order
Chaord – any self-organizing,
adaptive, non-linear, complex
community or system, whether
physical, biological or social, the
behaviour of which exhibits
characteristics of both order and
chaos; any chaotically ordered
complex.
Chaos with Order
• Organizations are currently downward
looking in regards to management
• That perception is wrong
•
•
•
•
Manage one’s self
Manage those who have authority over us
Manage peers
Manage those over whom we have authority
A Look Back at VISA
• Unstructured organization
• No political, economic, social or legal
theory
• Can therefore transcend language,
customs, politics and culture
A Look Back at VISA
• Successfully connects institutions and
people of every persuasion
• Has multiple boards of directors within a
single legal entity
• No one entity can be considered superior
or inferior and each has authority and
autonomy over geographic areas
“The nature of our modern
management phenomenon is
the creation and control of
constants, uniformity and
efficiency”
BUT
“The need has shifted to
understand and co-ordinate
variability, complexity, and
effectiveness”
“We need to address the fact that
organizational structures of the
industrial revolution, of
conformity, are outdated and
need changing so the
knowledge workers have
chances to use their knowledge
and ingenuity”
“We think that with more
hierarchical command and
control, we could pull a lever
at one end and get a precise
result at the other end, and
know with certainty which
lever to pull for which result”
“Never mind that human
beings must be made to
work like cogs and wheels
in the process”
“Without question, the most
abundant, least expensive,
most underutilized and
frequently abused
resource in the world
today is human
ingenuity”
“It is leadership this
world so badly needs,
and so-called “scientific
management” it so
sadly gets”
“Given the right
circumstances, from no
more than dreams,
determination and the liberty
to try, quite ordinary people
consistently do
extraordinary things.”
Question
Do you think that this organizational structure
would be effective in a University setting; self or
group teaching and no professor to be
accountable to?