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Humans are hierarchical creatures, this idea has been co-opted by folks and turned into a political argument, but nevertheless in many ways humans look for some
by 40acres 7y ago
Humans are hierarchical creatures, this idea has been co-opted by folks and turned into a political argument, but nevertheless in many ways humans look for someone to "drive" decision making, even in a fair and democratic organization.
If you want to go against the grain of traditional hierarchy, I don't think 'flat' is the way to go. At least not using the visualization of a horizontal, continuous line. Maybe "dash" is the way to go, with discrete, separate non-hierarchical organizations collaborating to a common end.
- babyslothzoo 7y agoNature is largely hierarchical.
- astazangasta 7y agoI detest hierarchies, I guess I'm not human. I don't think "humans are hierarchical creatures" is palatable. Nothing in our biology is fundamentally hierarchical. You've asserted that "humans look for someone to 'drive' decision making", but I think this is just a result of culture. Specifically, military hierarchies are ubiquitous because they allowed organized violence to grant individuals control over accumulated wealth. This is NOT fundamental to humans, it began with civilization, the advent of walled cities, armies, etc. In addition people have organized in non-hierarchical ways throughout history; the ability to do so certainly belies the notion that we're driven to look to someone else for decision-making.
- andreilys 7y agoSo there were no tribal hierarchies when humans were nomadic and the strongest physically held power? Of these non-hierarchical orgs you cite, how many were robust to external change and able to survive times of stress? I’m also not familiar of any non-hierarchical org that wasn’t steamrolled by a more dominant hierarchical society