The BetaCodex is not for “some” – it is for all organizations.
Large or small. Old or start-up. Local or multi-national.
Why? Let’s talk about the trouble with Alpha first.
The trouble with Alpha
The BetaCodex is the alternative to command-and-control, or management the social technology – or Alpha, as we often call it. Sadly and inappropriately, Alpha is the organizational way of thinking and acting (a “social technology”) upon which most organizations are still built today. Alpha became a “zombie technology” when the industrial age came to an end in the 1970s. In a way. Back then, Alpha fell out of time – but hardly anybody noticed. Alpha, or command-and-control, remains the default organizational model of our time. The zombification of Alpha has not stopped organizations to apply its principles, its methods, and its “Theory X” image and human nature. Organizations today are “stuck” in command-and-control mode. That is the bad news.
There is good news, too. And it is twofold: Firstly, the suffering of organizations from the obsolete Alpha mode of managing will be overcome, in time, due to the inescapable forces of complexity. A renaissance of organizational leadership is inevitable, because markets have changed. Secondly: The alternative to Alpha already exists in quite a few, and very diverse organizations around the world. This is where Beta comes into play: Beta is the contemporary organizational codex for the complex world of today. It does not have to be invented or created anew. It already exists. Beta, much different than Alpha, is not just fit for complexity, but also fit for human beings as they are. Which is the dual reason why Beta will prevail, and will become the standard organizational codex. The question is not if Beta will prevail – the question is when.
About communities in the realm of "organizational renaissance"
Over the course of the last decades, many communities with ambitions related to Beta have sprung up. The Total Quality and Lean, or Reengineering communities, which started in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively, were early manifestations of this. Other communities existed or exist in the spheres of organizational development and org design, systems theory or systems thinking, such as the Socio-Technical Systems movement, Society for Organizational Learning, or the organizational design movement. The Agile communities, and Beyond Budgeting (from which this network is an offspring) are further examples. Some of these communities, Total Quality, Agile and Lean especially, opened themselves towards dramatic commercialization, which impacted both their scopes and their aims negatively. Other movements in this realm maintained more of a not-for-profit profile. It is clear today that none of them achieved the impact they could or should have had.
We firmly believe that the communities that remain serious about change will inevitably and gradually converge, over time. The reason for that is simple: The credibility of the Alpha model and its attraction are eroding fast. Alpha is sustained by supportive industries, such as consulting and publishing, and also by today's academia. But the trend towards convergence of the movements has occasionally manifested itself already, e.g. in the attempt to build the highly integrative Stoos Network, in 2012. More recently, lots of smaller movements, hubs and community-building attempts have sprung off. More integrative attempts to movement-building like Stoos will no doubt follow.
We believe organizations can promote (and must promote) democracy
But they can only become truly democratic themselves in Beta
We believe organizations - commercial and non-commercial – must promote democracy actively and vigorously, by becoming consistently democratic themselves, though application of BetaCodex principles. Why? In times like these in which democracies come under pressure, from forces internal and external, organizations must commit to their roles as spaces of discourse, and spaces of civic and democratic experience, much more seriously than in the past.
In Alpha mode, however, experiencing democracy at the workplace is near-impossible: Alpha principles are inspired by authoritarian and paternalistic concepts of power and engagement. Put differently: If we want to make organizations places of democratic experience, then there is no other way: we must help organizations to overcome Alpha for good, and to become consistently BetaCodex-based. Only then can we expect organizations and workplaces to contribute positively, and consistently, to the vitality of our democracies and to freedom everywhere.
We want this network to be a community of communities
and we thus want it to be highly inviting and highly integrative.
We believe that the BetaCodex Network is well-placed to become the integrative movement the world needs to finally overcome Alpha, or command-and-control, for good. Two reasons are key for this prediction: Firstly, the BetaCodex Network is built around a core of principles - not around charismatic individuals, feeble tools, or money-making. Secondly, the BetaCodex Network is loose enough to integrate new insights, to adapt to changing times, and to integrate all kinds of approaches and concepts that fit with its 12 principles.
We do not believe in primitive tribalism. We see the BetaCodex Network as a highly integrative community, capable of bridging the gaps between current groups, fractions, movements and alliances. With its set of 12 coherent and tested laws (or: “principles”) at its core, as well as building upon a wide range of sciences and pioneering cases, this network is ideally suited to serve as a “community of communities” for the Necessary Organizational Renaissance. Which is why this community is for everyone who wants to think and promote Beta.