Organizational maturity

First published elsewhere in 2011

Many years ago, when I was still in the Army, I was sent by my colonel to attend a dinner and meeting of the Association of the US Army in Fayetteville, NC. Normally my colonel went to these meetings as the representative of Headquarters, XVIII Airborne Corps and Fort Bragg, but for that meeting, away I went.

By the end of the meeting, I had formulated the Principle of Organizational Maturity, which is simply that in any organization, especially volunteer organizations, the point will be reached when sustaining the organization become more important than the goals of the organization.

Which is to say that keeping the institution viable as a going concern comes to supplant the purposes for which the organization was founded. It was evident to me at the AUSA meeting because the only thing on the agenda that night was signing up more members. That's it. No other topic was discussed.

As I said, the Principle of Organizational Maturity is a particular imperative for volunteer outfits because unless the organization itself can appeal to potential volunteers, the organization will wither and eventually die. An organization's founders learn the bitter truth that there is no lasting mass movement for their cause (see "Tea Party") and that new volunteers must have other primary reasons to join than the original cause.

So eventually the organization becomes oriented on keeping present members happy and inducing new members by focusing on the benefits of membership. Which is to say, the organization becomes a club in the main, although it will continue to do some of the work for which it was founded, but only to the line where members become uncomfortable or resistant, especially regarding their commitment of money and time.

Comes now renowned science-fiction writer Jerry Pournelle's "Iron Law of Bureaucracy," which states that "in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people":

First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.

Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.

The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.

Like I said. Hear then the parable of the lighthouse: