Lindblom - The Market System - Afghan Journalists' Committee

30 How It Worksand we are not governed by a unified sovereign intelligence.Merits of Mutual AdjustmentIt appears that every society needs both central and mutuallyadjustive coordination, each in its place. Some of themerits of mutual adjustment make it indispensable; I mentiononly a few beyond those already apparent.For limiting injury, rules and authority will in some circumstancesdo well, for their main message is simply“Thou shalt not!” But cooperation requires an allocation orassignment of a coordinated set of tasks. A society neitherconstructs a medical-care system nor clothes its people bygiving orders to participants on what they must not do. Toachieve positive cooperation, somehow society specifieseach of a great number of tasks to be performed, as well asthe circumstances in which each is to be performed and bywhom. A medical-care system rests not simply on a set ofprohibitions but on complex procedures to determine howphysicians are to be trained and qualified, their responsibilitiesand conditions of work, and their rewards.Moreover, the assignments have to be endlessly adapted.They are not once-and-for-all assignments but are tailoredto changing needs, as for medical care, and to factors such asthe caregivers’ training, experience, and age. If, in addition,cooperating persons want to exercise a degree of free choiceabout how and when they participate, cooperation becomesall the more complex and lies even further beyond the reachof rules and authority.Rules and authoritative instructions are often tooclumsy. They can apply only to more static categories. Foran extreme case, imagine members of a soccer team trying