Democratic organization: A preliminary mathematical model

Abstract

This paper constitutes a first attempt to examine the decision-making process of the charitable, professional, athletic, social and other organizations (nonpolitical) that are found throughout American society. This exposition may elucidate the fundamental reasons for the success of some and the failures of others. For any organization to continue in operation an objective criterion must be met: the group must satisfy its members and must be more competent, in the long run, than competing or inimical groups. Groups can be directed by one man, by a committee appointed by some outsider, by self-perpetuating committees, by single individuals elected by the vote of the entire membership, by individuals elected by a qualified fraction of the membership, or by some combination of these methods. The idealized mathematical model proposed below applies solely to groups whose members associate voluntarily. Thus it is assumed that the failure to obtain favorable results will end in the dissolution, or demise, of the organization because the members will drop out. Such groups might include technical and professional organizations, P-TAs, social fraternities, service clubs, credit unions and fraternal organizations. Not included are labor unions that rely on compulsory membership, based on Federal or State laws, and coercive picket lines to gain and hold members (Olson, 1965, p. 75).