heres a review of a book I had recommended to me and have enjoyed reading:
The starfish and the spider
The unstoppable power of leaderless organisations
Brafman & Beckstrom
Summary.
The Overall idea of the book is the contrast between centralised organisations - described as spider - and de-centralised organisations - described as starfish. The metaphor is built on the premise that spiders are easily damaged whilst starfish are reproductive when damaged: i.e. cut the leg off a starfish and it will grow a new starfish.
The metaphor is attractive and the authors do well to ,make it last so long through the book but whilst they do well to draw the distinctive between the two styles I felt that their argument got weaker as the book progressed.
The more I read the more I thought that the subtitle of the book was in fact an oxymoron especially as I read about the necessity of catalysts and the champions; surely leaders in these leaderless organisations?
They do a good job of identifying strengths and weaknesses in each type of organisation but I did feel that they were comparing the extremes of each. This is somewhat repaired in the seventh chapter when they describe the hybrid organisation. Ironically this chapter calls in to question some of their other observations as it describes what I think may be the reality for many of their readers.
Throughout the book they used Alcoholics Anonymous as a running case study of a starfish organisation alongside some particularly virulent dot com examples. However in the end I did feel that their example got thinner as we progressed.
Too many of their examples were set in conflict orientated environments - for example napster v the record industry, el queada v US government - giving the impression that these principles were best served in such environments.
Personnel managers might find the chapter on catalyst useful if only to understand what is going on with people you might find described here.
Unless you are either the boss of a company or the initiator of a brand new one I think it would be difficult for you to effectively apply the lessons learned here.
Overall I think the metaphor is interesting and is a useful tool in quickly describing the contrasting styles of organisational structure but for, me the detail doesn't hold up.
I rate the book 7 out of 10 (3 of those points for the metaphor) and worth the read just to get ownership of the metaphor.
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Chapter 2
Bullet points for identifying a centralised organisation.
Is there a person in charge?
Are there headquarters?
If you thump it on the head will it die?
Is there a clear division of roles?
If you take out a unit is the organisation harmed?
Are knowledge and power concentrated or distributed?
Is the organisation flexible or rigid?
Can you count the employees or participants?
Are the working groups funded by the organisation or are they self funding?
Do working groups communicate directly or through intermediaries?
Chapter 4
"a decentralised organisation stands on 5 legs. As with a starfish , it can lose a leg or two and still survive. But when you have all the legs working together a decentralised organisation can really take off."
Circles
pg90 circles don't have hierarchy and structure.. No one has the power to enforce rules within them. Instead of rules they depend on self imposed norms
The Catalyst
p92 a catalyst gets a decentralised organisation going and then cedes control to its members... The catalyst transfers ownership and responsibility to the circle (p93) ... A catalyst is like the architect of a house.. He's essential ... But he doesn't move in.
Ideology
Ideology I'd the glue that holds decentralised organisations together... Common beliefs and community...
Pre-existing network
Almost every decentralised organisation that made it big was launched from a pre-existing platform. (p97).. Quakers used as an example for the launch of anti-slavery and pro-women organisations
The champion
A champion is relentless is promoting a new idea
They are inherently hyperactive - p100
They tend to be more like salesmen than organisers or connectors
Chapter 5
Tools of the catalyst
p120 genuine interest in others
Loose connections
Mapping
Desire to help
Meet people where they are
Emotional intelligence
Trust
Inspiration
Tolerance for ambiguity
Hands off approach
Receding
Chapter 6
How to take on a decentralised organisation (kill a starfish)
p144
Change ideology of the starfish
Centralise the starfish by giving it resources!
Decentralise yourself (if you can't beat them join them) e.g. iTunes
Chapter 9
New patterns emerging in organisations.
Diseconomies of scale
The network effect
The power of chaos
Knowledge at the edge
Everyone wants to contribute
Beware the Hydra response
Catalysts rule
The values ARE the organisation
Measure, monitor and manage
Better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong
Flatten or be flattened.
2 comments:
It sounds interesting, but I'm not entirely convinced I want to rush out and read it. I'm reading something that touches on the power of chaos as well, Patricia Stewart's 'Changing conversations in organisations'.
It doesn't mention blogs which is a bit of gap, but it does say some fascinating stuff on complexity and emergence in organisations. i don't usually read stuff on management so this was a new challenge. It struck me as having relevance because she talks about tensions between change and stability, and narratives. Narratives are really important in conflict mediation and conflict transformation, as they really impact the culture of a group. Good stuff. Too many books, not enough years to read them in! :0) Thanks for summing this one up though, I will bear the idea in mind.
David
Thanks for your excellent book review of The Starfish and The Spider - posted at link to it from my site - http://www.bioteams.com/
Best Regards
Ken Thompson
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