1.5 - About University

4.2 H IERARCHY: LEADERSHIP L EVELSIN AN O RGANIZATIONInspired by Peter Drucker, Elliot Jaques, and Peter Senge.These days, it seems a little out of fashion to say hierarchy and leadership in the same sentence.Yet management hierarchies remain at the heart of most organizations. As Peter Senge notes,“There are some people who say the future organization is going to have no hierarchy. I don’tagree.” Peter Drucker is even blunter: “… One hears today about ‘the end of hierarchy.’ This isblatant nonsense. In any institution there has to be a final authority, that is, a ‘boss’—someonewho can make the final decision and who can expect to be obeyed.” This tool provides apractical model to help you consider hierarchical levels and spans of control.Maverick organizational theorist Elliot Jaques argues that the more senior the leader, thelonger the time span (the farther into the future) he or she is responsible for managing. Forexample:➠➠➠A retail chain store, frontline junior salesperson’s time span is from here-and-now customerservice to perhaps a few weeks into the future, depending on the store’s reorderingcycle.The chain store manager’s time perspective may range from here-and-now decisions toa time span beyond next season’s promotion plan and the annual lease renewal.The chain store CEO must be looking several years ahead to plan the direction andfocus of the organization in the changing business environment.Jaques argues that the longer the time perspective that the individual is responsible for, thehigher the leadership level, and the more the individual should be rewarded. In Jaques’ words,“Time-span measurement of a leadership role requires nothing more than eliciting the assignmentswhich a manager is putting into that role, and sorting out those tasks or task sequenceswith the longest target completion time.” Extending Jaques’ time-based model, Peter Sengeargues that the justification for hierarchy is breadth. This ladder notion concerns understandingand dealing with the impacts of decisions within organizations.Here is a broad-brush matrix combining organizational level with time and breadth perspectives.Organizational Time perspectivelevel required Breadth perspective requiredSenior executiveVice presidentMust look 10 or more yearsahead to assess the impact ofdecisions.Must look ahead from 3 to 10years.Must look at the broad system and wide impacts (internaland external) of decisions—on business, society, competitors,workforce, and so on.Must keep organization healthy in its wider environment.Must understand and deal with all impacts and influencesinside and outside the organization.SECTION 4 TOOLS FOR DESIGNING PRODUCTIVE PROCESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS 105