Brownian Motion

An Organizational proto-AntiPattern.

Definition: When an organization has evolved beyond its capability to manage it, the organization enters a behavioral state similar to brownian motion. Various groups in the organization, believing themselves to be in control, make decisions without regard to what decisions other groups make. The organization thrashes around as various groups make contradictory decisions, leaving the people at the bottom jumping in different directions as they respond to the various presumed directives.

In theory, such an organization can eventually devolve into a CryptoCracy. And, yes, there is at least one company that HaveThisPattern.

Coined by: AndyJohnsonLaird?

Interesting coincidence here is that when this happens, you see a huge growth of brown-nose-ing since the usual channels of leadership have grown corrupted. The scary thing is this, most large corporations fit this definition to the core. They have poor inter-departmental cooporation, and brown-nose-ing seems to be a way of life to a majority of the folks in them. Yet, somehow, they remain successful. Perhaps if we took a grand step back and looked at time in a larger scale we would see that the corporations infested with this are already half dead, they just haven't shown it yet. --IoaPetraka

See also: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion for the original meaning.