Starfish and the Spider

Because it is based on a clear hierarchy, division of labor among troops, and a centralized command source, the U.S. military is a clear example of the classical model of organization that we discussed earlier in the semester. By contrast, contemporary terrorist organizations are often said to exemplify the decentralized types of organization that we have been discussing in relation to system theory.

Use your readings from system theory to speculate on what may happen as there two types of organization engage in conflict.

The most effective example that I got from the reading to describe my thought is the reference made to the record companies fighting off the P2P drives. The record companies are very structured organizations with one area in which they gather and meet. There is one person in charge of each record label or company, and without the direction of this head person, the lower levels do not know what to do exactly. Essentially they will die until they find a new head. The main point here, is that. a head is essential. The people to people (P2P) networks in which people share their music file with other people around the world, have no leader. No one knows who has created these new drives. There is no president of these file sharing companies, therefore there is no one who can be taken down. If one drive gets shut down, other people will find ways to share their files.

The record companies are centralized systems, much like the spider, and much like our military. Everyone has a position, everyone is accounted for and if for some reason the head were to be taken down, the system would die for a little bit because it would need to wait until a new head rose. The P2P systems are decentralized, in that they have no real head, no positions, no hierarchy. The P2P systems are like terrorist organizations. If you cut the “head” off of a starfish what will it do? It will regenerate, and two starfish will come from the one. If one is stopped, it will only fuel the creation of two.

I do not wan to say that we cannot succeed, because I would like to think that terrorist organizations will someday cease to exist, however I do not see how this can be so. If one “bad guy” is stopped, another takes over. I do not forsee how we can ever, as a world community, can ever fully stop these organizations.