Skip to content

Comment on The 2 Simple Reasons the Soviet Union Was Doomed to Failparent

Comments

That may be the reason that large organizations are difficult to maintain. How many of the Fortune 500 companies today were still there 4 years ago?

As an organization grows, it requires people in support structures that are less linked to the ultimate bottom line. Ludwig von Mises proposed the idea that an organization requires a level of bureaucracy, in the absence of market signals. So to the extent that an employee is removed from from the direct market operations of the company, a bureaucracy is required.

Now, the reason companies don't outsource all their work to bidding contractors is that there is some value in holding resources in reserve. A bid-contractor is only as good as the next assignment, he may leave for another company when you need him the most. The solution is to have a contract where the particular individual will reserve his time and energy to one company (a.k.a. an employee). The employee will be effectively "slacking off", but will be on call for when his resources are needed.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.