Ever since Webber wrote about organizations in the early 20th century, people have talked about managers being on top, supervisors being in the middle and worker drones being on the bottom. Some have suggested that electronic communications has done away with the need for this structure. I remain unconvinced.
Pyramid structures of the past were as much about communicating messages from the top down as they were about decision making power. Too many chiefs gets all the Indians killed could be a way of summing up not having unified planning and coordination of effort. When the common good was considered, pyramids spread good things to the masses. When the profit of those on top was the only goal, pyramids ground people down. Money and who enjoys the results of labor are interchangeable.
So what about now? Email and web pages make communication cheap and easy. But the old problem of coordinated effort/communication, and mutual decision making are still a problem. So I think the pyramid still has a place.
The division of labor: Webber described this in terms of industrialization. We divide up jobs so that we are more efficient. Mass production was the way of things due in part to the lack of good information about demand and consumption. Now we can more easily communicate needs and wants so that we do not have to over produce. Just in time supplying is the norm now. Hugh inventories are not. How does this work? It works because of a new division of labor - dividing up communications tasks.
Consider the following inverted pyramid. It describes what the person does and how much time it takes (remember - labor and money are the same thing).
Individual Web Surfer: This person accesses information. They want what they want and do not want a lot of hassle getting it. Their time output is small. They may be willing to pay a small amount for what they get but not much! This person is the only input of actual money into this system. Everyone above him shares out what he brings or gets nothing at all.
A Game Referee: This person provides individual players with and event to participate in. He coordinates communication of a small number of people. He likely does this for the love of the activity and neither requires or expects pay. I PRAISE THESE PEOPLE! They make the whole system work. Their investment of time is still fairly low. They only have to track a few people and coordinate a few items. They need help in getting games to run, rules to use, articles to keep interest going and especially in finding players.
Game Writers: This person writes rules, game scenarios and articles. These may be submitted to a game magazine or put up on an independent web page. Such people are a little insane. They spend a lot of time at this and dream of being paid for it. They seldom are!
Communication Coordinators: This person either runs a newsletter (the old role) or runs a link web page. This person runs the page that the individual surfers come to to find the referees and writers. So the coordinators job is to stay in contact with writers and referees. He filters what they send him so that the individual surfer doesn’t have to. This job requires some technical skill (but that is growing less every day) and a lot of time looking at what writers and referees send in. This person is likely not expert at the game being coordinated. He doesn’t have to be. His job is to make a mass of infor easily available to others. This is a full time job so this person will have to be paid.
Coordinating Coordinators: No one links page can cover everything. Above them sit interest pages that direct players towards links pages of their interest. This person needs to keep in contact with coordinators so that surfers can narrow down the world to their one object of desire. This is another full time job that will require money.
Money can come from subscription to a links page or a links to links page or be charged per use. Though people do like free stuff so I don’t know how the money should be handled. All I know is that people doing this as a full time job deserve to be able to eat. They are working for the rest of us. Which is an interesting change from the old pyramid. The ones on the top are the servants of those beneath them!
Coordinator power comes from being an editor. They chose what they put on their pages. Get too racy, violent or political, and they may cut you off. So the system becomes a dynamic exchange. Writers and referees submitting material to coordinators who in turn post it for individual users pleasure. Who in turn give feedback to coordinators, writers and referees.
How do you get a role in the system? By choosing to join. Voluntary association (a very American thing) is how this all works. Want to “move up” the latter? Write an article or set of rules. Run a game. Set up a links page and start talking to the Coordinator’s Coordinator. Ask for money (but be prepared to say why and to pay your taxes!) And know that you can quit at any time! They hobby does not need up to do this. We will likely get no thanks for it. We do it because we love it. Which is not a bad business play when you get right down to it!
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© Copyright 2001 by Chris Engle.
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