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 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 ended, around four decades ago. In a way, Alpha fell out of time – and hardly anybody noticed. Alpha remains the default organizational model of our time. The zombification of Alpha, or management the social technology, has not stopped organizations to apply its principles, its methods, and its image and human nature. Organizations today are “stuck” in command-and-control mode. That is the bad news.
The good news is twofold: Firstly, this will change, over time, due to the inescapable forces of complexity. Secondly: The alternative to Alpha already exists in quite a few, and diverse organizations around the world. And this is where Beta comes into play: Beta is the contemporary organizational codex for the complex world of today. 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” – it is “when.”
In this section of the website, you can learn about the history of the BetaCodex, about the purpose of the community, and about the scope of Beta, as we can envision it today.
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 Quality and Lean communities which started in the 1980s and 1990s were early manifestations of this. Others existed or exist in the spheres of organizational development and org design, or systems thinking, such as SoL. The Agile communities, and the Beyond Budgeting movement (from which this network is an offspring) are further examples. Some of these communities, Agile and Lean, especially opened themselves towards dramatic commercialization, which impacted both their scopes and their aims. Other movements in this realm maintained a not-for-profit profile.
We believe that these communities will inevitably and gradually converge, over time, with the Alpha model’s credibility and attraction eroding fast. This trend began to manifest itself first in the attempt to build a highly integrating Stoos Network, in 2012. More recently, lots of other blogs, hubs and community-building attempts have sprung off. Further attempts like this will no doubt follow.
A community of communities
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.