The Science

Syntegration is a science-based breakthrough for optimally surfacing and integrating distributed tacit knowledge in order to solve major problems and challenges.

Our world is increasingly specialized. People know more and more about less and less. This increased specialization in the workplace forces tighter interdependencies not only within organizations, but also between organizations. Decision-making and alignment-building are no longer the responsibility of a small number of people. It is often absolutely necessary to involve many people in forming and making important decisions, and in establishing and sustaining important relationships.

A specialist often sees the world through the lens of his or her particular field, and judges it accordingly. But, problems and opportunities do not conform to our classification of companies, divisions, departments, functions or fields. The symptoms of a problem (or the signs of an opportunity) might initially come to light in one area – although the problem cannot actually be solved there. The diverse input of various specialists must be integrated in order to solve major problems and seize major opportunities.

Tacit knowledge is best integrated through direct exchange – through dialogue. The challenge is in how to engineer and maximize synergy of several "brains" so that they are far more productive than any single brain? What kind of communication design or architecture can efficiently and optimally surface and integrate diverse knowledge, experience, and expertise into creative, focused solutions?

Design and Architecture Requirements

A scientific principle is necessary for enabling productive and effective work in large groups of people. Simply allowing everyone to enter the debate typically results in chaos. Syntegration opens up a route somewhere between unilateral dictatorship and chaos democracy, based on a reliable mathematical principle.

1. Teamwork:
   When large groups convene to address complex issues, the discussions often go around in circles and get nowhere. There is no time for endless meetings, and no room for one-sided manipulation. The criteria for good teamwork are:
   
   - A well thought-through division of work (or division of topics)
   - Strict discipline (timekeeping, role assignment, protocols for participation, etc.) etc.)
   - Group dynamics must not be pursued at the expense of concrete results
   
   
   
2. Optimal Cross-linking and Cross-pollination:
   A group of, say, 30 people has a total of n (n-1), or 870, possible relationships, assuming that the relationship of A to B is in some way different from the relationship of B to A. These distinct relationships must be organized so that every person has a highly productive exchange with every other person. The design or architecture must leverage all of the different views, information, expertise, and experiences to produce the best possible solution, with stakeholders' buy-in and commitment.
   
   
   
3. Effective Collaboration:
   Key people are expensive people whose time is scarce and must be spent effectively and efficiently. They must be able to focus their attention as quickly as possible on the right core issues, and experience synergy as quickly as possible.

   So, what are the mathematical principles that ensure discipline, a maximum level of cross-linking and cross-pollination, and a high level of synergy – and all as fast as possible?

The Architectonics of Natural Structures:
Fuller’s "Tensegrity"

" To do more with less ": Syntegration applies R. Buckminster Fuller's architectonic principle of efficiency in the design of things (which Fuller demonstrated time and again through innovative cars, houses, ships and domes) to the efficiency in the design of co-operation and collaboration. Syntegration achieves maximum stability, robustness, and quality of output with a minimum of input.

Fuller is best known today for his geodesic domes, the lightest, most stable and most cost-efficient structures ever built. Even early in his career, he looked to nature for efficient construction solutions. Among other things, he discovered that nature never builds with right angles, instead preferring 60° angles. He transferred this principle to domes by using equilateral triangles. This method of construction achieves stability not by compression, as in traditional building, but by the distribution and concurrent application of tension and pressure. As in the open-spoked wheel, the unity, or integrity, of the structure is determined by the distributed tensile stress of the entire system. Fuller called this principle "Tensegrity" (tensile integrity).

The energy efficiency of this revolutionary structural principle can be illustrated by comparing geodesic domes with traditional dome structures that are constrained by the fact that they can have a maximum diameter of 45 metres, after which the cupola collapses due to the increasing weight. Thus, the construction of Seville Cathedral, the second largest after St. Peter's, was a five-generation long struggle against material. The cupola of St. Peter's in Rome , erected under the direction of Michelangelo in 1546, has a diameter of 42 meters and is therefore the world's largest traditionally designed dome. This maximum diameter does not apply to the 60° construction using equilateral triangles. Fuller was able to prove in practice that his domes actually gained in energy efficiency as they increased in size. The bigger they are, the more stable they are.

Other scientists have documented similar structures in micro-organisms, textiles, protein shells, or the C60 carbon molecule (the Nobel prize was awarded in 1997 for the discovery of Fullerene, which is expected to have enormous impact on chemistry, electronics and nanotechnology). Geodesic tensegre lattices that are based on the 60° method are encountered often. Geodesic architecture uses the “densest sphere packing” synergy effect . The following experiment illustrates this effect:

If four tennis balls are arranged in such a way that the individual balls have the smallest possible distance between them, the result is always a tetrahedron. A tetrahedron is a regular polyhedron (a regular solid) with four equilateral triangles. This is a “minimum” structure, i.e. there are no smaller structures. If, as a second experiment, you try to make four equilateral triangles using six matches, you will find that to do so you use a synergy effect. Three of the five regular solids consist of equilateral triangles: the tetrahedron with four triangles, the octahedron with eight triangles and the Icosahedron with twenty triangles. They also demonstrate the principle of minimum distance between vertices, with maximum synergy. The Icosahedron is the model normally used for Syntegration.

The Architectonics of Effective Knowledge Integration

The Syntegration method for organizing and optimizing co-operation and collaboration is based on the same architectonics used by Fuller for geodesic domes. The use of synergy effects and adherence to the principle of integrity gave the method its name: Syntegrity is an artificial word made from “synergistic tensegrity”. Fuller argued that tensegrity, or the simultaneous occurrence of tension and pressure, is omnipresent in nature. Syntegration applies this concept to a social system: a group of people seeking to compress their divided views into a united message that represents more than the "lowest common denominator", while at the same time experiencing tensile forces which provoke discussion, argument and counter-argument.

Throughout a Syntegration, information is automatically distributed across all topics. The level of cross-linking can be expressed in terms of the Bavelas measures (group dispersion, relative centrality and peripherality), which refer to the communicative distance between the individual participants as pre-determined by the working structure. Syntegration engineers the shortest gaps, or information distances, between all participants and, therefore, optimum cross-linking of knowledge. When the Bavelas measures are calculated for a Syntegration, we get a peripherality of zero. In other words, the symmetry of the structure results in optimum connectivity, with none of the participants marginalized. The method and its basic mathematical structure ensures that thirty people could not be organized more efficiently in terms of cross-linking and information exchange. Syntegrations utilize various architectures for groups ranging in size between 9 and 60 people.

The Icosahedron makes optimal use of the maximum possible number of contacts (n(n-1), i.e. 870 for 30 people). It shortens the information distance between individual participants and – since it has no top or bottom – it has no hierarchy. Every participant has an equal opportunity to contribute his or her strengths, and to influence the outcome.

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