Diagramming Organizational Maturation

The Adizes curve is a common framework for showing how organizations mature and then die as they age.

However, in Organize for Complexity, Pflaeging gives another chart which he calls The Beta Choice.

A bureaucratic end may be the default, but there is an option to maintain agility in the face of complexity.

The Pflaeging and Crabb synthesis deepens this by showing that the Alpha slide has a theological analog: Crabb traces the same arc from naive dependence (Eden / naive Beta) to self-protective independence (the Fall / Alpha bureaucracy). Start-ups slide into Alpha when they misattribute success to products rather than organizational model — just as Adam misattributed the possibility of a superior life to independence from God.

McChrystal's Team of Teams describes the military version of the Beta Choice: replacing command hierarchy with a "shared consciousness" network. Dignan's Brave New Work offers a practical playbook for organizations attempting the same transition. The S-Curve 2 discussions at unfoldingWord are exploring whether the organization is pursuing this kind of Theory Y renewal or sliding into institutional patterns.

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