Essays

ESSAYS

PREFACE

Essays will be posted from time to time, some taken from oft-quoted speeches, some from the book, Birth of the Chaordic Age, and some newly published.  All were formulated and appeared in slightly different form during the last quarter of the twentieth century.  They are intended for new readers, as well as those wishing to find a familiar quote in original context.  To the extent possible, oft-quoted phrases will be highlighted.  

The essays will not appear in any particular order.  Although each was written to stand alone, all are deeply interrelated and can best be understood in concert with the others.  All arose from a lifelong search for the answer to three questions.

Why are organizations everywhere, whether political, commercial or social, increasingly unable to manage their affairs?

Why are people, everywhere, increasingly alienated from, and in conflict with, the organizations of which they are part?

Why are society and the biosphere increasingly in disarray?

Searching for the answers required trying to master four ways of looking at things: As they were, as they are, as they might become, and as they ought to be.  Each essay will be from one or more of those perspectives.  On the whole, they are primarily concerned with the future, with how things ought to be.  

They appear in the following order;

THE GLOBAL EPIDEMIC OF INSTITUTIONAL FAILURE

SEPARABILITY OR HOMOGENEITY 

THE MACHINE METAPHOR

MANAGING, LEADING AND FOLLOWING

DESIRE FOR CERTAINTY AND CONTROL

THE NATURE AND REALITY OF ORGANIZATIONS

CORPORATIONS;  THE SOCIALIZATION OF COST, AND CAPITALIZATION OF PROFIT

ORGANIZATION AS AGREEMENT

COMMUNITY AND THE EXCHANGE OF VALUE

INTERNAL MODEL OF REALITY

PERCEPTION AND PERSPECTIVE

THE ORDEAL OF CHANGE

ON THE NATURE OF INFORMATION

THE CAPACITY TO RECEIVE, UTILIZE, STORE, TRANSFORM, AND TRANSMIT INFORMATION

DATA TO WISDOM

INVERSION OF VALUE OF PHYSICAL TO VALUE OF MENTAL CONTENT OF PRODUCTS AND  SERVICES

ACCOUNTING IN A CHAORDIC WORLD

CHAORDIC AGE ORGANIZATIONS