Archetypes of Pathologies

Individual pathologies — a weak System 5, a starved System 4, broken algedonic feedback — tend to appear in isolation when we list them. In practice, they rarely occur alone. They cluster into recognizable structural patterns that reinforce each other and produce characteristic dysfunctions.

We call these patterns archetypes. An archetype describes a typical configuration of the organization's structure that systematically produces a set of related pathologies. Recognizing the archetype helps shift the diagnosis from cataloguing individual symptoms to understanding the underlying structural condition.

Why archetypes matter for diagnosis

When you encounter a dysfunction — say, poor coordination between departments — the natural impulse is to fix that specific issue. But if the underlying structure is a functional organization where Systems 1 are not viable units but functional departments (logistics, sales, production), then fixing coordination alone will not resolve the problem. The structure itself generates the dysfunction, and it will reappear in different forms.

Archetypes help practitioners move from symptom-level interventions to structural ones. They answer a different question: not "what is broken?" but "what kind of organization produces these kinds of breakages?"

The five archetypes

This section describes five recurring structural patterns, each with its characteristic dysfunctions and intervention strategies:

Functional Organization ("Dissociation") — Systems 1 are organized by function rather than as viable, value-creating units. This creates extreme dependencies, overlapping environments, and virtually no operational autonomy. Everything flows through System 3.

Dominant System 1 — One or more operational units overpower the metasystem. The organization becomes trapped in short-term operational concerns while strategic coordination, adaptation, and identity erode.

Matrix Organization ("Schizophrenia") — Overlapping and competing structures duplicate leadership at multiple levels. The result is fragmented communication, conflicting objectives, and unclear decision-making authority.

Uncontrolled Growth ("Cancer") — The organization expands faster than its control and coordination mechanisms can keep up. Infrastructure, governance, and resource allocation fall behind, threatening coherence and viability.

Bottleneck — Critical decision points, processes, or individuals become overloaded, restricting the flow and performance of the entire system. Centralized decision-making and sequential processes are common causes.

How to use this section

Each archetype page follows the same structure: a description of the structural pattern, the typical dysfunctions it produces, and practical interventions to address it. The dysfunctions listed are diagnostic indicators — they help you recognize which archetype you may be dealing with. The interventions are starting points, not prescriptions; every organization's context is different.

When working with the Viability Canvas, archetypes are particularly useful during the Orient phase (Step B2: Look for Dysfunctions and Pathologies). If your findings from the Observe phase point to multiple related dysfunctions, check whether they fit one of these archetypes. That pattern recognition can significantly sharpen your diagnosis and guide the design of improvements.

Note that real organizations often exhibit traits of more than one archetype. A functional organization with a dominant operational unit and bottlenecks at the management level is not unusual. The archetypes are analytical tools, not rigid categories.