Organizational Structure

=Organization Basics=

Definition

An organization is a group of people working collectively towards a common goal.


 * Society is an organization.


 * Community is an organization.


 * Family is an organization.

Optimization

Great organizations bring out the best that their groups can achieve.


 * The best productive and educational efficiency and versatility.


 * The best intrinsic motivation.


 * The best organizational resilience.

Identification

Organizations differentiate themselves using unique names.


 * A name could be “Open Source Ecology”


 * A name could be “Fabrication Team”

Inclusivity

Organizations are inclusive.


 * People can be a part of many organizations at the same time.


 * Organizations can be a part of many organizations at the same time.

Tasks

Organizations need their members to figure out their tasks.


 * What tasks are necessary.


 * How tasks are distributed.


 * How to revise the set of tasks.


 * How to redistribute tasks.

Systems

Organizations use systems to organize their tasks.


 * A system is a network of inter-connected things.


 * A system can break down something broad, such as firefighting, into more specific things, such as driving to the location and spraying water on the fire.


 * A system can group specific things, such as lifting a cup of water and pouring water into the mouth, into something more broad, such as water-drinking.


 * A system needs to break down an organization's goals enough so that the members know exactly what tasks are required.


 * A system needs to group an organization's tasks into unique categories so that the members can easily understand and talk about the system from different scales and perspectives.

Task Distribution and System Revision

Organizations need to assign different tasks to different people, and reassign tasks especially after a change in the system.


 * Organizations include their methods for task distribution, redistribution, and system revision within their system.


 * Organizations can use their system's method of system revision to revise their method of system revision, as well as everything else in the system.

=Organization Advanced=

System Creation and Task Distribution: Expansionary Autonomy

Organizations create systems and distribute tasks by sharing the system-creation and work tasks among teams.


 * System-creation involves the incremental breakdown of broad goals into specific tasks.


 * A team can only break down a goal so many times before the next incremental step becomes too much for them to handle alone for a given deadline.


 * At that point, the team may share the work half-half with another team, or share in as many pieces to as many teams necessary to complete the system-creation within the deadline.


 * Sharing the work with other teams involves active and/or passive communication about the system's needs.


 * The new teams may do the same, splitting their work with other teams, and so on.


 * The end result is a branching tree-like growth of the system, handled by many teams who are all working at the tip of a system branch.

System Revision and Task Redistribution: Categorical Assignment

During system creation, each system category is assigned an individual, team or group of teams to handle cases of system revision and task redistribution.


 * System revision may cause system categories to change its parameters, which constrain other categories and require mass communication.


 * System revision may cause reorganization of system categories which requires inter-team communication.


 * System revision may cause system category removal, which requires mass communication.


 * System revision may cause system category creation, which requires expansionary autonomy.


 * System revision may involve additional processes than the work of the assigned team in order to improve organizational resilience.

Documentation: Passive Communication

Members of an organization need to publicly document their progress in detail so that people can inform themselves about the state of the system without active communication.


 * People in the organization can more easily inform themselves about particular system parameters that constrain their work


 * People out of the organization can more easily provide peer review


 * People in and out of the organization can more easily learn about particular processes of the system for educational benefit.

Documentation: Active Communication

Members of an organization need to document their communication pathways in detail so that people can contact others about the state of the system directly.


 * People in the organization can more easily coordinate system parameters that constrain multiple teams.


 * People out of the organization can more easily bring their insights to the organization’s teams.


 * People in and out of the organization can more easily participate in the organization and other organizations.