Extended Conditions¶

Purpose of Extended Conditions¶

The Core Model defines the minimum structural conditions that make cooperation possible:
Common Purpose, Interdependence, Communication, Trust, and Change / Uncertainty tolerance – plus the human needs that interact with them in the Matrix and Pyramid.

In practice, cooperation is also shaped by a wider set of contextual, relational, structural, and developmental influences.
These are the Extended Conditions.

Extended conditions:

do not change the Core Model or its Matrix,
are not required for cooperation to exist at all,
but strongly affect how cooperation feels, how it behaves under stress, and how fragile or resilient it becomes.

They help explain why a system that looks “correct” on paper may still be experienced as unfair, unsafe, or exhausting in reality.

Extended conditions are described along two lenses:

Collective vs Individual
Political and Psychological impacts

They are most relevant when deciding whether a challenge calls for structural changes, collective renegotiation, or individual support.

Collective vs Individual Conditions¶

Extended conditions arise at two intertwined levels:

Collective Conditions¶

System-wide patterns that shape the environment in which cooperation happens:

Cultural norms and shared narratives
Incentive structures and governance mechanisms
How decisions are made and communicated
How stable or volatile constraints appear to be

Collective conditions influence what is possible in the system.

Individual Conditions¶

The personal experience of living inside those collective patterns:

How predictable the environment feels
How safe it feels to speak, disagree, or experiment
How much control one feels over daily work
How much one identifies with the group or mission

Individual conditions influence what is experienced by each person.

Both levels matter:

Changing only individual attitudes without addressing collective conditions leads to burnout and self-blame.
Changing only collective structures without addressing individual experience leads to quiet disengagement.

Extended conditions help practitioners keep both in view.

Types of Extended Conditions¶

Extended conditions are grouped into four types that frequently show up in cooperation challenges.
They are not new dimensions of the Core Model – they are lenses to understand how the system behaves in real organizations.

Each type includes collective and individual variants, plus typical political and psychological impacts.

Contextual Conditions¶

These describe the broader environment surrounding cooperation.

Collective Contextual Conditions¶

Cultural climate and day-to-day tone
Communication norms across roles and levels
Predictability of governance and decision patterns
Transparency of goals, constraints, and trade-offs
Stability of priorities, timelines, and commitments

Individual Contextual Conditions¶

Perceived stability of workload and expectations
Personal clarity about “what matters now”
Ability to anticipate changes that affect one’s work
Sense of control over environment, tools, and schedule

Political impact:
Who sets the context, whose priorities define “reality,” how visible or opaque decisions are.

Psychological impact:
Uncertainty, anxiety, vigilance, or ease; perceived safety in the face of change.

Relational Conditions¶

These describe how people relate, interpret, and respond to one another.

Collective Relational Conditions¶

Norms of reciprocity, fairness, and repair
Predictability of behavior across roles and teams
Accepted ways of handling disagreement and escalation
Shared vs fragmented interpretation of problems and success

Individual Relational Conditions¶

Default trust posture toward peers and leaders
Openness vs self-censorship in communication
Capacity for empathy and perspective-taking
Emotional responses to tension, conflict, or critique

Political impact:
Alliances, informal influence, exclusion, hidden agendas, and “who speaks for whom.”

Psychological impact:
Fear of loss, defensiveness, shame, guilt, emotional contagion, or genuine solidarity.

Structural Conditions¶

These describe how formal and informal structures support or constrain cooperation beyond the Core Model’s basic boundaries.

Collective Structural Conditions¶

Boundary clarity: who decides, who contributes, who is accountable
How feedback and progress visibility are built into the system
Access to resources, tools, and information across roles
Alignment or mismatch between formal organization charts and actual working patterns

Individual Structural Conditions¶

Perceived autonomy and real decision authority
Ability to escalate issues without backlash
Clarity of one’s own role, scope, and dependencies
Access to information and support needed for daily work

Political impact:
Gatekeeping, veto positions, resource control, “choke points” in the system.

Psychological impact:
Overcontrol, learned helplessness, confusion, or a sense of empowerment and legitimacy.

Developmental Conditions¶

These describe how the cooperative system – and the people in it – learn and evolve over time.

Collective Developmental Conditions¶

Learning rhythms (retrospectives, reviews, open dialogue)
How the organization remembers and reuses learning
Adaptability to changing constraints and opportunities
Evolution of shared narratives, identity, and rituals

Individual Developmental Conditions¶

Personal reflection and self-assessment habits
Curiosity, openness to feedback, and willingness to experiment
Ability to integrate new insights into behavior and decisions
Sense of progress, growth, and increasing mastery

Political impact:
Whose learning “counts,” whose ideas shape direction, who is allowed to experiment.

Psychological impact:
Pride, motivation, frustration, shame, identity protection, or a sense of stagnation.

Why Extended Conditions Matter¶

Extended conditions explain variation in cooperation quality that the Core Model alone cannot:

why a structurally sound setup still feels hostile or fragile,
why teams drift into avoidance, conflict, or apathy without any obvious change in roles or process,
why attempts to “fix” cooperation at practice level (Level 4) fail when deeper contextual or relational issues remain untouched.

They help practitioners:

Distinguish structural problems from cultural or interpersonal ones.
Avoid mislabeling behavior as “resistance” or “attitude” when it is a rational response to conditions.
Identify when Encapsulation (narrowing collaboration) is a protective response to unsafe or unpredictable dynamics.
Decide whether an issue calls for system redesign, collective renegotiation, individual support, or a dedicated System Mode (e.g., Conflict or Reset).

Extended conditions make cooperation legible at a human level without overloading the Core Model.
They provide the bridge between:

the structural “physics” of HCS, and
the lived experience of people working inside real organizations.

The next section on Extended Needs builds on this foundation to describe how these conditions interact with deeper human needs, shaping motivation, perception, and behavior over time.