Memetics of Organizational Structure LO18575

Srinath Srinivasa (srinath@informatik.tu-cottbus.de)
Sat, 4 Jul 1998 12:20:19 +0200 (MET DST)

Hello Rick and others,

Thanks for your welcome messages!

Well, Memetics (if I remember it correctly) is the technical term used to
describe evolutionary processes. The word "meme" is used in an analogous
sense to "gene".

In that sense memetics of organizational structure would concern with how
an organization's structure would evolve over time-- in order to adapt to
changing circumstances. For example, with the internet becoming a major
medium for commerce, many organizations have made themselves present over
the internet. Even a small task like keeping web pages up-to-date with
organizational information would involve making some changes in
organizational structure and its processes. On the other extreme are
organizations which are based entirely on the internet (for example,
amazon.com, geocities, etc). Since the technologies and potential of the
web has seen a lot of changes, I would not be surprised if the
organizational structure and processes of these organizations have also
needed to change just as fast.

Capturing patterns of evolution would hence help in making appropriate
decisions on restructuring tasks. Maybe the "collapsible organizations" of
Simon's unorg would benefit from having a sound knowledge of the memetics
of organizational structure?

Best Regards
Srinath

-- 

Srinath Srinivasa <srinath@informatik.tu-cottbus.de>

Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>