Hierarchical organization
This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2019) |
A hierarchical organization or hierarchical organisation (see
Members of hierarchical organizational structures mainly communicate with their immediate superior and their immediate subordinates. Structuring organizations in this way is useful, partly because it reduces the communication overhead costs by limiting information flows.[2]
Visualization
A hierarchy is typically visualized as a pyramid, where the height of the ranking or person depicts their power status and the width of that level represents how many people or business divisions are at that level relative to the whole—the highest-ranking people are at the apex, and there are very few of them, and in many cases only one; the base may include thousands of people who have no subordinates. These hierarchies are typically depicted with a tree or triangle diagram, creating an organizational chart or organogram. Those nearest the top have more power than those nearest the bottom, and there being fewer people at the top than at the bottom.[2] As a result, superiors in a hierarchy generally have higher status and obtain higher salaries and other rewards than their subordinates.[4]
Although the image of organizational hierarchy as a pyramid is widely used, strictly speaking such a pyramid (or organizational chart as its representation) draws on two mechanisms: hierarchy and division of labour. As such, a hierarchy can, for example, also entail a boss with a single employee.[5] When such a simple hierarchy grows by subordinates specialising (e.g. in production, sales, and accounting) and subsequently also establishing and supervising their own (e.g. production, sales, accounting) departments, the typical pyramid arises. This specialisation process is called division of labour.
Common social manifestations
Governmental organizations and most companies feature similar hierarchical structures.[4] Traditionally, the monarch stood at the pinnacle of the state. In many countries, feudalism and manorialism provided a formal social structure that established hierarchical links pervading every level of society, with the monarch at the top.
In modern post-feudal states the nominal top of the hierarchy still remains a
In
Origins and development of social hierarchical organization
Smaller and more informal social units –
However, others have observed that simple forms of hierarchical leadership naturally emerge from interactions in both human and non-human primate communities. For instance, this occurs when a few individuals obtain more status in their tribe, (extended) family or clan, or when competences and resources are unequally distributed across individuals.[15][16][17]
Studies
The
The iron law of oligarchy, introduced by Robert Michels, describes the inevitable tendency of hierarchical organizations to become oligarchic in their decision making.[18]
The Peter Principle is a term coined by Laurence J. Peter in which the selection of a candidate for a position in an hierarchical organization is based on the candidate's performance in their current role, rather than on abilities relevant to the intended role. Thus, employees only stop being promoted once they can no longer perform effectively, and managers in an hierarchical organization "rise to the level of their incompetence."
Having formulated the Principle, I discovered that I had inadvertently founded a new science, hierarchiology, the study of hierarchies. The term hierarchy was originally used to describe the system of church government by priests graded into ranks. The contemporary meaning includes any organization whose members or employees are arranged in order of rank, grade or class. Hierarchiology, although a relatively recent discipline, appears to have great applicability to the fields of public and private administration.
—The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong
David Andrews' book The IRG Solution: Hierarchical Incompetence and how to Overcome it argued that hierarchies were inherently incompetent, and were only able to function due to large amounts of informal lateral communication fostered by private informal networks.
Types of hierarchy
Hierarchical organization is a phenomenon with many faces. To understand and map this diversity, various typologies have been developed. Formal versus informal hierarchy is a well-known typology, but one can also distinguish four hierarchy types.
Two types of hierarchy: Formal and informal
A well-known distinction is between formal and informal hierarchy in organizational settings. According to Max Weber, the formal hierarchy is the vertical sequence of official positions within one explicit organizational structure, whereby each position or office is under the control and supervision of a higher one.[19] The formal hierarchy can thus be defined as "an official system of unequal person-independent roles and positions which are linked via lines of top-down command-and-control."[20] By contrast, an informal hierarchy can be defined as person-dependent social relationships of dominance and subordination, emerging from social interaction and becoming persistent over time through repeated social processes.[20] The informal hierarchy between two or more people can be based on difference in, for example, seniority, experience or social status.[20][17] The formal and informal hierarchy may complement each other in any specific organization and therefore tend to co-exist in any organization.[17] But the general pattern observed in many organizations is that when the formal hierarchy decreases (over time), the informal hierarchy increases, or vice versa.[20]
Four types of hierarchy
A more elaborate typology of hierarchy in social systems entails four types: hierarchy as a ladder of formal authority, ladder of achieved status, self-organized ladder of responsibility, and an ideology-based ladder.[21] The first two types can be equated with the formal and informal hierarchy, as previously defined. Accordingly, this typology extends the formal and informal hierarchy with two other types.
Hierarchy as ladder of formal authority
This type of hierarchy is defined as a sequence of levels of formal authority, that is, the authority to make decisions.[21][22][23][2] This results in a ladder that systematically differentiates the authority to make decisions. A typical authority-based hierarchy in companies is: the board of directors, CEO, departmental managers, team leaders, and other employees.[21] The authority-based hierarchy, also known as the formal hierarchy, to a large extent arises from the legal structure of the organization: for example, the owner of the firm is also the CEO or appoints the CEO, who in turn appoints and supervises departmental managers, and so forth.[21]
Hierarchy as ladder of achieved status
Also known as the informal hierarchy (defined earlier), this type of hierarchy draws on unofficial mechanisms for ranking people.[24][25] It involves differences in status, other than those arising from formal authority. Status is one's social standing or professional position, relative to those of others.[26][27] In anthropology and sociology, this notion of status is also known as achieved status, the social position that is earned instead of being ascribed.[28][29] The underlying mechanism is social stratification, which draws on shared cultural beliefs (e.g. regarding expertise and seniority as drivers of status) that can make status differences between people appear natural and fair.[30][31] A ladder of achieved status is socially constructed, which makes it fundamentally different from the ladder of authority that (largely) arises from an underlying legal structure.[21] The social-constructivist nature of status also implies that ladders of achieved status especially arise in groups of people that frequently interact—for example, a work unit, team, family, or neighbourhood.[32][33][25][27]
Hierarchy as self-organized ladder of responsibility
In the literature on organization design and agility, hierarchy is conceived as a requisite structure that emerges in a self-organized manner from operational activities.[21][5][34][35] For example, a small firm composed of only three equivalent partners can initially operate without any hierarchy; but substantial growth in terms of people and their tasks will create the need for coordination and related managerial activities; this implies, for example, that one of the partners starts doing these coordination activities. Another example involves organizations adopting holacracy or sociocracy, with people at all levels self-organizing their responsibilities;[34][35][36] that is, they exercise "real" rather than formal authority.[37] In this respect, responsibility is an expression of self-restraint and intrinsic obligation.[38][39] Examples of self-organized ladders of responsibility have also been observed in (the early stages of) worker cooperatives, like Mondragon, in which hierarchy is created in a bottom-up manner.[40]
Hierarchy as ladder of ideology
In a hierarchy driven by
Criticism and alternatives
The work of diverse theorists such as William James (1842–1910), Michel Foucault (1926–1984) and Hayden White (1928–2018) makes important critiques of hierarchical epistemology. James famously asserts in his work on radical empiricism that clear distinctions of type and category are a constant but unwritten goal of scientific reasoning, so that when they are discovered, success is declared.[citation needed] But if aspects of the world are organized differently, involving inherent and intractable ambiguities, then scientific questions are often considered unresolved. A hesitation to declare success upon the discovery of ambiguities leaves heterarchy at an artificial and subjective disadvantage in the scope of human knowledge. This bias is an artifact of an aesthetic or pedagogical preference for hierarchy, and not necessarily an expression of objective observation.[citation needed]
Hierarchies and hierarchical thinking have been criticized by many people, including
Matrix organizations became a trend (or management fad) in the second half of the 20th century.[48]
Amidst constant innovation in information and communication technologies, hierarchical authority structures are giving way to greater decision-making latitude for individuals and more flexible definitions of job activities; and this new style of work presents a challenge to existing organizational forms, with some[quantify] research studies contrasting traditional organizational forms with groups that operate as online communities that are characterized by personal motivation and the satisfaction of making one's own decisions.[49] When all levels of a hierarchical organization have access to information and communication via digital means,
See also
- Anarchism
- Authoritarianism
- Hierarchical ecology (life systems organization)
- Command hierarchy
- Corporate governance
- Flat organization
- Matrix management
- The Nature of the Firm
- Reverse hierarchy
- Social hierarchy
- Wirearchy
References
- ^ "Hierarchy: A Key Idea for Business and Society". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
- ^ ISSN 1047-7039.
- ^ Child (2019), p. 31.
- ^ a b c Child (2019)
- ^ a b c Jaques, E. (1996), Requisite Organization: A Total System for Effective Managerial Organization and Managerial Leadership for the 21st Century (2nd edition). Arlington, TX: Cason Hall & Co. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315088846/requisite-organization-elliott-jaques
- ^ Mair, P. (2013), Ruling the Void: The Hollowing of Western Democracy. New York: Verso Books.
- ^ Mendelsohn, M., & Cutler, F. (2000), The effect of referendums on democratic citizens: Information, politicization, efficacy and tolerance. British Journal of Political Science, 30(4):669-698. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123400220292
- ^ Franklin, M.N. (2001), The dynamics of electoral participation. In: Leduc, L., Niemi, R.G., & Norris, P. (eds.), Comparing Democracies II: New Challenges in the Study of Elections and Voting, pp. 148-166. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- ^ ISSN 0022-2186.
- ^ a b Martin, R. (2011), Fixing the Game: How Runaway Expectations Broke the Economy, and How to Get Back to Reality. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
- ^
Compare:
Palmer, Gary B. (Fall 1975). Sprague, Roderick; Walker, Deward E. (eds.). "Cultural ecology in the Canadian Plateau: Pre-contact to the early contact period in the territory of the Southern Shuswap Indians of British Columbia". Northwest Anthropological Research Notes. 9 (2). Moscow, Idaho: Department of Sociology/Anthropology, University of Idaho: 201. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
The principal structural elements of the traditional Shuswap system of cultural ecology are as follows: [...] 13. Loose patrilineal succession to band chieftainship, with no hierarchical organisation above this level.
- ^
Compare:
Jagers op Akkerhuis, Gerard A.J.M, ed. (18 October 2016). Evolution and Transitions in Complexity: The Science of Hierarchical Organization in Nature. Cham, Switzerland: Springer (published 2016). p. 253. ISBN 9783319438023. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
[...] that the history of life and evolution is characterised by a basic tendency towards increased complexity [...] has been vehemently challenged
- ^
Shaw, Rosalind; Stewart, Charles (16 December 2003) [1994]. "Introduction: problematizing syncretism". In Shaw, Rosalind; Stewart, Charles (eds.). Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism: The Politics of Religious Synthesis. European Association of Social Anthropologists. London: Routledge (published 2003). pp. 19–20. ISBN 9781134833955. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
At one pole we have the development of religious synthesis by those who create meanings for their own use out of contexts of cultural or political domination [...]. At the other pole we have the imposition of religious synthesis upon others by those who claim the capacity to define cultural meanings [...].
- ^
For example:
ISBN 9780691207223. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
The Dogra state employed its own tax-gathering agency to collect the revenue directly from the cultivators. This hierarchy began at the village level with the accountant, the patwari, whose chief duty was to maintain records of the area of holding and revenue-paying capacity of each villager. Over the patwaris stood a group of Pandits [...]. Over these were the tehsildar and one or two naib-tehsildars (deputy tehsildars) who controlled the revenue collection from the fifteen tehsils (districts or groups of villages) [...] The tehsils themselves were grouped into three wazarats presided over by wazir wazarats (ministers). This entire revenue establishment, known as the Daftar-i-Diwani, [...] was ultimately subordinate to the Hakim-i-Ala, or Governor [...]
- ^ Wilkinson, R. (2000), Mind the Gap: Hierarchies, Health and Human Evolution. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
- PMID 15860617.
- ^ ISSN 1941-6520.
- ^ Michels, R. (2001), Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy (originally published in 1915; translated by E. Paul & C. Paul). Kitchener, Ontario: Batoche Books.
- ^ Weber, M. (1921/1980). Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 5th rev. edition. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.
- ^ ISSN 0170-8406.
- ^ doi:10.3390/systems9010020.license.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is available under the CC BY 4.0
- ^ Tirole, J. (1986), “Hierarchies and bureaucracies: On the role of collusion in organizations.” Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization, 2: 181–214. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jleo.a036907
- ISSN 1047-7039.
- ISSN 0001-4273.
- ^ ISSN 0001-4273.
- ^ Magee & Galinsky (2008)
- ^ ISSN 0001-4273.
- ^ Bourdieu, P. (1984), Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Cambridge, CA: Harvard University Press.
- ISSN 0149-2063.
- PMID 25774679.
- ^ "Social Class and Stratification". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
- ^ Saunders (1990)
- ^ Dwertmann, D.J.G., & Boehm, S.A. (2016), ”Status matters: The asymmetric effects of supervisor–subordinate disability incongruence and climate for inclusion.” Academy of Management Journal, 59: 44–64. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2014.0093
- ^ a b Robertson, B.J. (2015), Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World. New York: Henry Holt.
- ^ a b Romme (2019)
- ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
- ISSN 0022-3808.
- ^ "Managing in a Time of Great Change". Routledge & CRC Press. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
- ^ "Pragmatist Democracy: Evolutionary Learning as Public Philosophy | Oxford Academic". academic.oup.com. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
- ^ "Making Mondragón by William Foote Whyte | Paperback". Cornell University Press. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
- ISSN 0893-3189.
- ^ Gelfand, M. (1959), Shona Ritual. Cape Town: Juta & Co.
- ^ JSTOR 2803877.
- ^ a b Shaw, G.J. (2012), The Pharaoh, Life at Court and on Campaign. London: Thames & Hudson.
- JSTOR 2392363.
- hdl:10.1002/smj.2550.
- S2CID 142827641.
- ^
Shahani, Jasmine (30 October 2020). Limits and Opportunities of a Matrix Organization: A Study of Coordination Mechanisms within a Multiple Brand Organization. Volume 149 of AutoUni – Schriftenreihe. Wiesbaden: Springer Nature. ISBN 9783658322618. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
The literature on matrix organizations presents a challenge due to the fact that most of it is outdated and little current research can be found based on empirical evidence. This is due to a management fad which led to the matrix gaining popularity before losing consideration both in practice and academia. [...] matrix organizations, and simultaneously their study, followed a clear management fad. They were hastily adopted and promptly abandoned [...].
- ^
Zhao, Dejin; S2CID 11575408. Retrieved 30 March 2023.)
Abstract[:] Amidst constant innovation in information and communication technologies, a new pattern of work is emerging. Hierarchical authority structures are giving way to greater decision-making latitude for individuals and more flexible definitions of job activities [...]. This new style of work presents a challenge to existing organizational forms. In this paper we investigate this concern by contrasting traditional organizational forms against groups that operate as online communities that are characterized by personal motivation and the satisfaction of making one's own decisions.
{{cite book}}
:|website=
ignored (help