On Multiorganizational Systems in Public Administration

The strength of the market, economists say, lies in its multiorganizational/competitive system that produces information and feedback in timely fashion, adaptability and quick response, internal regulation, and thus, effective and efficient action. It is not at all certain that markets invariably work, but when they do, they are natural coordination devices that, by their internal dynamics, create processes of checks and balances that protect against abuse, inefficiency, and incompetence. In form, a market is decentralized. Its organizational structure is flat; theoretically, all of its actors (firms) lie on the same plane. Its primary enemy is hierarchy. When markets take on the shape of hierarchy, the number of independent actors is reduced; and when a market hierarchy peaks, the condition is monopoly.