Sublime

Actually, one could argue that every organization’s real structure looks like this: an intricate web of fluid relationships and commitments that people engage in to get their work done. Unfortunately, most organizations force a second structure, the one with boxes piled up in pyramid shape, on top of the first. No wonder it sits there so uneasily—i

The second book he bought was Drift into Failure by Sidney Dekker, which he passed out to all his IT infrastructure and operations people. Dekker’s book forces organizational managers to rethink blame and accountability in complex processes. When something goes wrong, it asks, “Should you blame the person? Or is it the system?”2*

They are complex, participatory, interconnected, interdependent, and continually evolving systems, like ecosystems in nature. Form follows need. Roles are picked up, discarded, and exchanged fluidly. Power is distributed. Decisions are made at the point of origin. Innovations can spring up from all quarters. Meetings are held when they are needed.

Red Organizations are wolf packs. In Amber, the metaphor changes: a good organization should be run like an army.

Where Achievement-Orange views organizations as machines, the dominant metaphor of organizations in Pluralistic-Green is the family.