Abstract for: Politeia’s collegial, high-technology spherical structure
If the core tenet of system dynamics (SD) is true, i.e., that system structure drives system performance through time, then politeia’s emergence and evolution into a collegial, high-technology spherical structure might turn out to be our civilization’s highest technological achievement. Sporadic incidents in Homer’s works mark its initial emergence, while this self-managing human system’s cultural, economic and socio-political aspects tread to the Fall of 322 BCE. Looking at both its magnificent performance, when its self-governance was fully functional, and its brutal murder by the despotic, pseudo-aristocratic or swanky regime, allows comparing politeia’s collegial, spherical decision-making structure to the ubiquitous but highly problematic, in our neo-postmodern temporality, pyramidal hierarchy of central authority and power. Doing so unveils a business proposition toward collegial, dynamic interventions, which entail focusing on civic, ethical and moral ideals, as the means to creating in business and industry the conditions necessary for the emergence of politeia’s collegially spherical decision-making structure, an innovative act of high-technology self management.