| Traditional Authority | Egalitarian/Consultative |
|---|---|
| Situation: management sharing a decision | |
| Members ask logistical clarifying questions to effectively implement the decision | Members ask questions to understand rationale, measure against mission, express concerns, and possibly co-create something better. |
| Asking management questions about decisions in private | |
| Purpose: manager gets member “on board” with decision. Convincing through fallacy, seduction, or threat is allowed. Member’s questions not to be answered unless the answer gets them “on board”. | Member seeks to understand manager’s proposal, how it flows from and is related to common purpose (mission), and may raise concerns which are expected to be addressed, possibly resulting in a proposal modification. |
| Asking management questions about decisions in public | |
| Threat to authority. Not being a team player. Management must re-establish authority or lose face and power. | Seek to understand proposal and assess how it matches the common purpose (mission), raising concerns about mismatches, propose possible modifications to address mismatches. Proposal will NOT go forward while significant unaddressed concerns persist. |
| Discussing and critiquing management decisions and edicts among members | |
| Polarizing the organization. Threat to authority. Mutiny. Disrespectful to avoid using proper channels. | Benefitting from diversity’s wisdom. Safeguarding against decisions counter to mission. Combatting marginalization. |
| Failing to produce the membership list when requested by a member | |
| Protection. Protecting members from harassment. Securing lines of authority and communication. Squashing divisiveness and pain. Possibly saving face. | Censorship. Free speech rights violation. Legal violation. Trying to avoid responsibility to answer relevent questions. |
Please note that member lists cannot be accessed by members to get addresses etc., they go to Mailing House to have the messages be sent out to members.
https://rescuepacifica.net/
PacificaKPFK2014History.com 