ABSTRACT
Large organisations are characterised by layers or levels. We refer in general terms to ‘shop floor’, ‘operators’, even ‘workers’. We talk about supervisors and first-line managers, then middle managers, executives, managing directors, vice presidents, presidents, chief operating officers and chief executive officers. In the civil and public service and the armed services there are ranks and grades forming a quite deliberate hierarchy. Even in smaller organisations there are managers and reporting structures. People over the years have criticised or attacked hierarchy but it is surprisingly robust and can be traced back for hundreds, even thousands of years (Jaques, 1990). Notable writers such as Weber, Blair and Scott, Burns and Stalker and Mintzberg have all described and analysed this organisational feature.
