Balancing the Three P's of Labor

A recent post about childbirth at home (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/onbalance/2008/01/birth_business.html) made me think of the three P's of labor: power, passenger, passageway. The three P's originally describe the attributes of giving birth, however, they apply to all labor. Although over fifty percent of the U.S. workforce does professional / clerical work instead of physical labor, the three P's still apply to all work (at least in a conceptual sense).

When you have two resources (passenger and passageway) negotiating for the same space at the same time, balance is needed. Using power (or effort or money) before the passageway (or infrastructure or process) is large enough or the passenger (or people) is ready will lead to avoidable conflict. Here is a clear case for ergolibrium.