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The Beautiful Mess
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TBM 326: Adhocracies and Bureaucracies
- Rapid-growth tech companies operate as adhocracies characterized by startup-wide bridging and fluidity.
- In contrast, large enterprises can feel like rigid bureaucracies with centralized rules and mandated ways of working.
- The harder it gets to get things done, the more implicit bureaucracy creeps in, discouraging open discussion and heaping complexity on integrative roles.
- Leaders sense the creeping bureaucracy and get paranoid, playing process whack-a-mole and singling out individuals instead of digging deeper.
- The Organizational Typologies by Dr. Ron Westrum categorizes organizations into three types: pathological, bureaucratic, and generative.
- In rapid-growth companies, teams knowingly avoid and work around the global teams, and the pressure is on the global teams to interject and bridge.
- Leaders can create even MORE bureaucracy while trying to stamp it out.
- Large enterprises that are "transforming" should take inspiration from everywhere to get the train moving (separate the train cars to descale) vs. fixing the train while it is barreling down the tracks (scaling and taming pendulum swings).
- Consider the value of scaffolding and temporary process, applicable for both companies that are scaling up and companies looking to de-scale and de-couple.
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