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Adhocracy is a flexible, adaptable, and informal form oforganization defined by a lack of formal structure and employs specialized multidisciplinary teams grouped by function. It operates in a fashion opposite tobureaucracy.[1] Warren Bennis coined the term in his 1968 bookThe Temporary Society,[2] andAlvin Toffler popularized the term in 1970 in his bookFuture Shock. The term has since been used often in themanagement theory oforganizations (particularly online organizations[3]). The concept has been further developed by academics such asHenry Mintzberg.
Adhocracy is the system of adaptive, creative, and flexible integrative behavior based on non-permanence and spontaneity. These characteristics are believed to allow adhocracy to respond faster than traditional bureaucratic organizations while being more open to new ideas.[4]
Robert H. Waterman, Jr. defines adhocracy as "any form of organization that cuts across normal bureaucratic lines to capture opportunities, solve problems, and get results".[5] ForHenry Mintzberg, an adhocracy is a complex and dynamic organizational form.[6] It is different frombureaucracy; like Toffler, Mintzberg considers bureaucracy a thing of the past, and adhocracy one of the future.[7] When done well, adhocracy can be very good at problem solving and innovation[7] and thrive in diverse environments.[6] It requires sophisticated and often automated technical systems to develop and thrive.[7] Academics have described Wikipedia as an adhocracy.[8][9]
Some characteristics of Mintzberg's definition include:
All members of an organization have the authority within their areas of specialization, and in coordination with other members, to make decisions and to take actions affecting the future of the organization. There is an absence ofhierarchy.[citation needed]
According toRobert H. Waterman, Jr., "Teams should be big enough to represent all parts of the bureaucracy that will be affected by their work, yet small enough to get the job done efficiently."[5]
Alvin Toffler claimed in his bookFuture Shock that adhocracies will get more common and are likely to replace bureaucracy. He also wrote that they will most often come in form of a temporary structure, formed to resolve a given problem and dissolved afterwards.[citation needed]An example are cross-departmenttask forces.[citation needed]
Downsides of adhocracies can include "half-baked actions", personnel problems stemming from organization's temporary nature, extremism in suggested or undertaken actions, and threats to democracy and legality rising from adhocracy's often low-key profile.[7] To address those problems, researchers in adhocracy suggest a model merging adhocracy and bureaucracy, the bureau-adhocracy.[7]
The word is aportmanteau of the Latinad hoc, meaning "for the purpose", and the suffix-cracy, from the ancient Greekkratein (κρατεῖν), meaning "to govern",[7] and is thus aheteroclite.[citation needed]
The term is also used to describe theform of government used in thescience fiction novelsVoyage from Yesteryear byJames P. Hogan andDown and Out in the Magic Kingdom, byCory Doctorow.[citation needed]
In the radio playDas Unternehmen Der Wega (The Mission of the Vega) byFriedrich Dürrenmatt, the human inhabitants of Venus, all banished there from various regions of Earth for civil and political offenses, form and live under a peaceful adhocracy, to the frustration of delegates from an Earth faction who hope to gain their cooperation in a war brewing on Earth.[citation needed]
In the Metrozone series of novels bySimon Morden, The novelThe Curve of the Earth features "ad-hoc" meetings conducted virtually, by which all decisions governing the Freezone collective are taken. The ad-hocs are administered by anartificial intelligence and polled from suitably qualified individuals who are judged by the AI to have sufficient experience. Failure to arrive at a decision results in the polling of a new ad-hoc, whose members are not told of previous ad-hocs before hearing the decision which must be made.[11]
The asura in the fictional world of Tyria within theGuild Wars universe present this form of government, although the term is only used in out-of-game lore writings.[citation needed]
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