Re: SERIOUS: Formal vs. informal organizations

[Dawn-Marie Oliver <Dawn-Marie -at- CONCUR -dot- COM>]

        < Andrew Plato wrote: >
        >   This highlighted what I saw was a problem with overly-formal
        >   organizations.  They become like the Borg from Star Trek.
Everything
        >   has its place and there is a place for everything. There is no
room
        >   for anything remotely dynamic.

        What is also interesting to watch is when a small start-up
        company grows big enough that it decides it must become one of
        these overly formal organizations.

        >   It seems to me, that some of the most productive and impressive
        >   organizations I have worked with, have little to no
organization.
        >   When I worked at Microsoft a few years back, I was floored with
the
        >   chaotic environment at first.

        I think MS, for all its other faults, is a company that managed
        the leap between a free-for-all start-up and the need for some
        structure as a larger organization.

        The key here, as I see it, is the ability to have the necessary
        "structure" to satisfy the legal requirements (such as IPO), and
        the conduct the rest of business in the free-wheeling style of
        a start-up.  The keys here are "necessary structure", and how
        the structure is brought in.  I worked for a company that tried to
        "grow up", and the structure nearly created a mass departure.  It
        was too much, and way too fast.

        >   People seem to work best when they have personal bonds between
the
        >   members of the group.  Email and phones encourage abstraction
between
        >   people.  The client I mentioned earlier has hired contractors
from me
        >   and never seen my face!  It is no surprise that she does not
trust me,
        >   she does not know me!  To her I am some disembodied voice on a
phone
        >   or words on a monitor.  It is easy to mistrust people whom you
cannot
        >   see or experience.

        And, I think the key to successful technical communicators is
        the ability and desire to create these personal bonds.  Sometimes,
        the ability to get the job out on time in a bureaucratic environment
        depends on the network of bonds you've created.

        Just my opinion.

        Dawn-Marie
        dawn-marie -at- concur -dot- com

        The opinions here are mine, all mine.  My company and I prefer it
        that way.

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