Meritocratic Governance Model
Description
by Ross Gardler and Gabriel Hanganu:
"A meritocratic governance model appears to give away control to community members in response to their contributions to the project. But in reality, control is not handed out without due consideration. A meritocracy is not a democracy; that is, not everyone has a binding vote. Only those who have earned it through positive contribution to the project have a binding vote. This allows project leaders to ensure that only those that share a common vision and, just as importantly, are willing to work towards that shared vision, are given decision making authority.
The ‘flatness’ of a meritocratic project’s structure comes from the fact that once someone has decision making authority, they have exactly the same authority as everyone else. Another aspect of this flatness is that decision making responsibilities are usually reserved for those willing and able to understand, and appropriately represent, the views of the wider community. So, when an important decision is to be made, those with a vote are expected to represent the views of those who have yet to earn a vote.
Meritocratic projects, like all projects, usually start life with a small number of decision makers, possibly even a single person. Consequently, the early stages of project management are little different from those found in the benevolent dictator model. The key difference is that the initial team provides a mechanism for the distribution of control from the ‘dictator’ to a flat structure in recognition of contribution.' (http://oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/meritocraticgovernancemodel)
More Information
- Template available at http://oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/meritocraticgovernancemodel
- generalities about Open Source Governance Models
Further reading:
- Producing OSS [1]
- Open Source Governance and Managerial Models [ http://www.7thfloor.it/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/eugenio_capra.pdf]
- Ubuntu governance model [ http://www.ubuntu.com/community/processes/governance]
- Apache Forrest governance description [ http://forrest.apache.org/guidelines.html]
- Taverna project [ http://www.taverna.org.uk/about/legal-stuff/taverna-governance-model/]