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Our nearsighted view of the world focuses only on the areas closest to us, and the big picture remains fuzzy.
Hierarchies evolve bottom-up, from part to whole. The foundational guiding purpose of a hierarchy is to help the smaller subsystems function better and have the support they need.
Sometimes subsystems think of their purpose as being more important than that of the whole system. Achieving their goals comes at the expense of and detriment to the entire system. This process is called sub-optimization.
Conversely, suppose the top levels of the hierarchy control the lower levels to the extent that they are prevented from carrying out their functions. In that case, the system as a whole will suffer the same sub-optimization.
As they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
When Halliburton wanted to go into Iraq after its second war with the US to help “rebuild” it was granted many government contracts to do that. (But then Dick Cheney, the Vice President at the time, was also the former CEO of Halliburton.)
You can read about the other archetypes in my book, Learn to Think in Systems.
Between 1960 and 2008, incarceration levels rose by 60% despite a 25% drop in crimes committed.
