structureless groups?

Over the years I have been involved in a number of self-proclaimed structureless groups (like mizzou ultimate frisbee). As a result these communities have consistently backslide from all major achievents and improvements. This backsliding occurs (in my opinion) as the result of the power vacuum (and loss of direction) created by the loss of major decision makers.

The Tyranny of Structurelessness (a fantastic article via many-to-many) rings true with my personal experience.

If the movement is to move beyond these elementary stages of development, it will have to disabuse itself of some of its prejudices about organisation and structure. There is nothing inherently bad about either of these. They can be and often are misused, but to reject them out of hand because they are misused is to deny ourselves the necessary tools to further development. We need to understand why ’structurelessness’ does not work.

For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given group and to participate in its activities the structure must be explicit, not implicit. The rules of decision-making must be open and available to everyone, and this can only happen if they are formalised.

I have seen many of the “Principles of Democratic Structuring” applied but never in an open and obvious way.

This is a must read for anyone wanting to improve a structureless group.