SyntheticOrganization

Context : OnOrganization

I like J.D. Thompson's quote about synthetic organizations that spontaneously form to handle emergencies.

• http://intra.som.umass.edu/zacharias/833/thompson%20structure%20of%20complex%20orgns.pdf

Initial efforts at disaster recovery occur whenever resources and an obvious need or use for them occur simultaneously. At this point there is not a highly organized effort; instead there is a series of efforts, each isolated from the others. In a relatively short time, usually, two things happen to change this situation and bring about a synthetic organization :

• Uncommitted resources arrive, with those who possess them seeking places to use them, and

• Information regarding need for additional resources begins to circulate.

When knowledge of need and resources coincide at a point in space, the headquarters of a synthetic organization have been established.