Examining the roots and consequences of power-based hierarchy and the alternatives
We are opening the Webinar season on 2024-01-31 at 19:00 CET, 1 PM EST, with the first in the series about our book project “The Cold Case for Freedom”; this first session is about “The Age-long Tension between Hierarchy and Human Freedom”.
We will call these exploration sessions, we hope to create a dialogue for mutual education.
With this and other initiatives, we are on a trail to highlight and find the right arguments to argue that the freedom of people is foundational to modern organizations.
We believe that freedom is at the root of any attempt to create an organization characterized by engagement, taking responsibility, being resilient, and creating persistent value even in complex circumstances.
In this session, we are examining the roots of the hierarchical structure from a historical point of view, looking at current society and more specifically how it became the incumbent structure in the management of businesses and organizations.
We then look at why a hierarchical structure almost inevitably will lead to loss of freedom for those at the bottom, and why that loss is a root cause of our current inability to be resilient in a complex world.
A hierarchical structure will also almost inevitably swing from trust in people to more and more control – and in greater and greater detail. Those at the top of the pyramid do not know those at the bottom, much less what they actually do. Since every node in the hierarchy is held responsible upstairs for everything downstairs, you better control those downstairs to stay out of trouble.
Finally, how could it be otherwise? Leadership without a hierarchy is possible but requires continuous attention. We give a short overview of the concept of a Constitutional Organization, why it can work, and what it takes.
Come and join us, sign up here… or on Meetup here…
