ABSTRACT
Ask anyone familiar with organizations to begin to divide up, in some systematic fashion, the structure and the roles of the organization and chances are good that the individual will begin with “line” and “staff.” Whether our respondent chooses to deal with the subunits of the organization or with individuals in them, the common understanding of the line as the “doers” and staff as the “thinkers” or supporters serves as the basis of the dichotomy. As we shall see in this chapter, organizations have changed a good deal since the early organization theorists attempted to make the difference between line and staff positions a basic principle of organization design. Yet, “line and staff” continue to be familiar and perhaps salient delineations of duty and attitude. This chapter explores the history of the line and staff concept, points out how it is supposed to work according to a number of theories, shows alternative approaches to incorporating line and staff specialties, and perhaps most importantly, looks at recent attempts to develop a theory of organization that integrates the two poles more effectively than has traditionally been the case in government agencies.
