Self-organization (business administration)

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Self-organization in business administration is a paradigm of organization with additional freedom of choice in the relevant organizational unit.

Self-organization is set up, for example, with the goals:

requirements

Self-organization is a suitable form of organization in a company . However, it places additional demands on those involved and on the higher-level hierarchy as well as on the subordinate organizational units.

Self-organization can only be effective and successful if certain rules are observed. A self-organized cooperation must not allow isolation from other parts of a company.

The prerequisite for the success of such forms of cooperation is the consideration of rules such as those described by Elinor Ostrom for cooperation.

Principles of order

The order that prevails in self-organizing systems cannot simply be understood as the result of a creative part. Rather , it arises holistically , i.e. neither solely as a result of individual characteristics, nor through the activities of individual people, but through the interactions of all system parts. Order means regularity that allows us to recognize or guess what is missing and to add to it, to define what is faulty, etc. Order thus allows people to find meaning, ensures security and enables tasks, competencies and responsibilities to be classified. Self-organization creates an established, not a planned or consciously designed order. It arises as a result of human behavior, but without any special organizational design intent.

Spontaneous order

Friedrich A. von Hayek describes an established order as a spontaneous order. Spontaneous order is seen as an informal phenomenon and was more of a source of disturbance, as it can deviate from the formal organization set by the company management and develop its own dynamic. As a result of a reorientation, the “basic conception of organization” is not determined by the corporate structures planned by management , but by those structures that are permanently formed and changed depending on the behavior of many employees.

Process orientation

An important characteristic of self-organization is its procedural character. The focus is on processes, not structures. Order is in constant development, while structures are only snapshots. Self-organization causes long-term organizational change triggered by “interactive self-structuring”. Self-organizing systems form a "closed whole". The participants basically direct their gaze into the interior of the system. Self-organization does not arise from individual or other constraints, but rather represents "a general property of systems".

Procedural models

It is not sensible and largely impossible to set up a detailed rule concept or a closed model for the processes in self-organization. In contrast, process models make sense, which describes the processing of tasks in processes and refer to rules. The process models initially designed by Erwin Grochla are to be further developed in the sense of an agile system approach .

Design

According to E. Göbel, a distinction can be made between autonomous and autogenic self-organization.

  • Autonomous self-organization exists when order is self-determined in the company . Order is seen as the result of deliberate and planned design actions. The prerequisite is that the members or groups have enough room for maneuver to be able to participate in the order that affects them.
  • Autogenic self-organization means that order arises by itself due to the inherent dynamics of complex dynamic systems. The autogenic self-organization is therefore not based on a conscious creative act.

Advantages and disadvantages in the company

Positive effects in self-organization

motivation

Increased self-organization has a positive effect on motivation, since your own interests are more important. The work itself is experienced more meaningful and meaningful because the tasks are more holistic and varied and the potential of the employees is better developed.

flexibility

The ability to adapt to different conditions is becoming more and more important. An expansion of the self-determination potential can improve the recognition of the need for adjustment, as the employees have a better overview and maintain a closer relationship with the environment .

Manageability

The more complex a company is, the more the manager wants the employees who are supposed to cooperate to make use of their skills and to steer and organize themselves to the best of their knowledge and belief.

Resource conservation

Resources used in personal responsibility and self-organization are burdened more gently than if they are made available in an apparently unlimited manner.

Time and costs

The motto “time is money” benefits self-organization because it enables faster and smoother and therefore more cost-effective adaptation to changed circumstances.

Sanctions

The group can independently define and enforce its own sanctions in the event of violations of the rules, without the leadership being involved. This includes, for example, the exclusion from the option of one's own decision. According to Elinor Ostrom, sanctions are a prerequisite for effectively acknowledging unwanted benefits .

Negative effects in self-organization

Taking advantage

It is quite conceivable that employees with a strong leisure orientation prefer to do a prescribed workload in order to have to deal with the “necessary evil” as little as possible. As soon as such an attitude violates the principles of equal and equally distributed access to resources described by Elinor Ostrom ( free rider problem), the efficiency of the group decreases.

Overwhelming

The unfamiliar freedom triggers fear and overwhelming feelings in inexperienced participants at the beginning . As soon as such fears lead to blockages , self-organization fails.

Conflicts

The potential for conflict is generally higher if there are no distribution and competence regulations. Such rules must also be negotiated yourself.

escalation

If self-organization fails, a rule of escalation must take effect so that the group can find a way out with the help of another instance.

High demands on the leadership

The self-organization can lead to a change in the official rules and autogenous rules that increase the uncertainty about the actually applicable order, which leads to a dilemma for managers.

Time and costs

Structural changes, which are also fraught with conflict, require time. Therefore, the solution and decision-making in self-organized systems can take longer than with clear guidelines from above, if they require a structural change.

See also

swell

  1. ↑ E. Göbel: Theory and design of self-organization . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 1998.

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