Module One - Spider and the Starfish
The assignment details are here.
- In the seventeenth century, why were the Spaniards unable to defeat the Apaches? What implications does this have concerning current or future organizational competition?
- Briefly compare and contrast centralized and decentralized organizations.
- List a few of the traits of a decentralized organization.
- From a technical perspective, what is the primary difference between Napster and Kazza?
- Is this reading relevant to the current competition between new organizations such as Uber and Lyft and existing taxi companies? Why or why not?
The Spaniards were unable to defeat the Apaches because of the way they were organized as a society. While the Spaniards were centralized (only one ruler), the Apaches shared power between each other. This meant that the Spaniards couldn't target one person in hopes of defeating them. Although centralization is the most common form of organization around the world, the result of Apaches v. Spaniards shows that it isn't always effective.
Centralized organizations have one leader and depend on that person to make the hard decisions. Everything is detailed and everybody has their place. Decentralized, on the other hand, does not have a set leader and people are expected to make their own decisions. These organizations have rules but the power is distributed among the citizens and is not enforced by one single person.
A few traits of a decentralized organization are shared power, flexibility, and ambiguity.
Napster had central servers that could be targeted while Kazza gave the power to the users.
Unlike taxis, Uber and Lyft lets people choose their own hours and drive their own cars. They have rules, but they do not have a particular leader that tells them what to do. I feel this is relevant because pretty soon, the taxi business could go "extinct".
