ABSTRACT
A modern symphony orchestra—its culture, organization, and membership—is a virtual mirror image of the modern corporation. Alongside the musical pyramid one finds another contrasting organizational design based on teamwork and coordination. Blending the two organizational patterns—pyramid and team-work—by coordinating the orchestral tools, symbols, and sociality components is the secret of an inspiring concert and an ongoing orchestral life. “Hierarchy” normally refers to an organization’s levels of authority, command, control, prestige, income, and decision-making power. Throughout history, organization has been associated with processes of social domination where individuals or groups find ways of imposing their will on others. The first types of formal organization probably arose in hierarchical societies where one social group imposed itself on another, often through conquest. Organization appears to be a built-in feature of the Universe, which means that separate, disparate, independent entities become related or attached to one another in functional ways, thereby enabling or enhancing their respective or combined evolutionary pathways.
