Understanding Organizations...Finally!

CHAPTER 18

Hail to the Hybrids

Many of the most interesting things, say the biologists, happen on the edges—on the interface between the woods and the fields, the land and the sea. There, living organisms encounter dynamic conditions that give rise to untold variety . . . but there is tension as well. The flora of the meadows, as they approach the woodlands, find themselves coping with increasingly unfavorable conditions: the sunlight they need might be lacking, and the soil no longer feels right. . . . The Edges, in short, might abound with life but each living form must fight for its own.¹²²

—Ray Raphael, Edges: Human Ecology of the Backcountry

To function effectively, some organizations require that two or more forces coexist. The organization ...