Replying to LO30973 --
Sidharth Gowda, in defending organizations in the debate on the
primacy of organizations or people, seems to suggest that one might
find savings in leaner structures. Are all hierarchies bad? Not in
my opinion. The nature of the industry, of the market, of technology,
and the individual business model (and a host of other drivers)
determine the best structure for the organization. There are
situations (stable markets, stable product, steady and understood
competition, mature technology, etc.) where a bureaucratic hierarchy
might be the most appropriate structure. In "Designing Organizations"
author Richard Butler suggests that the types of decisions that must
be made is a strong determiner of structure, and that organizations
wherein decisions are pre-made in policy terms, where there are few if
any "unknowns" or novel problems, a crisp hierarchy might work best.
Where ends are clear and means are understood, the bureaucratic form
works well.
The issue of hierarchy itself is often a red-herring ... I was once
asked to teach a graduate course in "de-layering." When I remarked
that one would have to understand the structure and nature of work,
rather than any "span of control" formula, I was disinvited. But the
height (layers) of a hierarchy is a natural function of the degree of
diversity and specialization in work, the nature of work processes,
and the size of the organization.
Elliott Jaques has written, in my opinion, the definitive works
relating to hierarchy, not the least of which is his Harvard Business
Review article "In Praise of Hierarchy." Methinks the answer to this
need not be based on opinion.
Collegially,
Steve
--Stephen B. Wehrenberg, Ph.D. Human Resources Capability Development and Director, Future Force, US Coast Guard Organizational Sciences, The George Washington University stephen.wehrenberg@verizon.net
Telling a story creates a coherent whole from the parts; the emergent property of a story is meaning in context. Stories convert mere facts and opinions into understanding.
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ok so we all are supporting human relations and that the managers need to be humans first and then leaders. But lets look at a situation where even after the existance of a narrow span of management and all the sweet 'good mornings' the organization is still running in losses the reason.. " fat " pay cheques the managers demand and a hierarchy is designed keeping in mind excess of work and its delegation but sadly the organization is not getting enough work to keep its people buzy. So like if the org'n needs to cut through ranks and yet maintain good human relations with its employees who have done nothing wrong (especially in a country like india where labour laws are omnipresent ) what steps does the organization take other than making the structure leaner. or does it need to look else where to cut costs. ________________________________________________________________
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