Decentralization in Organization, Case Study Example

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations (2006) by OriBrafman and Rod Beckstrom addresses the issue of traditional leadership and the idea of leaderless organizations. The book is basically a detailed theoretical examination of what happens to an organization that gives up on the idea of having centralized leadership. Three very important principles, among many others, are included in the book that can be considered fundamental to understanding the idea of leaderless organization. The first principle is that people can function as catalysts rather than a leader, which means a person can found an organization and influence its principles but still leave the organization open.

The second important principle is that open organizations are actually stronger and more resilient than those with centralized leadership. For example, an open system can adapt more easily to change. It also allows a greater number of people to contribute to the organization’s strength and this allows for a greater diversity of talent to be brought into pragmatic action. Also, a decentralized organization can respond to a threat or attack by becoming even more decentralized and therefore hard if not impossible to even locate. The third important principle that emerges from the book is that decentralized organizations are actually much better at advancing and maintaining true ideologies. This is because a decentralized organization attracts supporters through ideology and practice. Therefore it is ideology and task rather than power in a hierarchy that brings people together. The book makes a very convincing case for the power and adaptability of decentralized organizations. The opinions expressed by the authors in the book are based on knowledge of the business environment and this causes them to be unaware of certain applications of leaderless organizations, such as those that might apply to military organizations.