As I did earlier with the Education category, I’ve decided to generally put articles related to the Christian Church and various religions in another space, in this case my blog RealCurrents. That’s where I’ve just posted a discussion of the management issues behind the controversy reportedly flaring up over churches attempting to move to a more “purpose-driven” approach promoted by pastor and author Rick Warren.

This controversy raises an issue which is common to all organizations - the tension between decentralization and centralization, between external results and internal order. This is a central problem in management, similar to how the paradox of free will is a central issue in philosophy. I note, for example, how Intel’s Andy Grove discusses the subject at length in his book High-Output Management.

Anyone interested in management needs to be very much aware of this inevitable tension between mission/projects/results and function/bureaucracy.