Top Down

by Leavitt, Harold J.

• ISBN13: 9781591394983
• ISBN10: 1591394988
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-01
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Pr

Summary

In spite of all the talk about flatter, looser organisations, top down hierarchies are-and always will be-inevitable in the business world But there are ways to make the hierarchical structure more humane for the people who work in them. This book shows how.Argues that every organization today-even those that "disguise" themselves as open or flat structures-are still hierarchies.Rather than resisting this reality, this is book offers managers realistic ways to "tame" hierarchies to make them more humane, egalitarian places to work.

Author Biography

Harold J. Leavitt is Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior Emeritus, the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction	1	(14)
PART ONE THE INEVITABLE HIERARCHY
1. Why We Don't Like Hierarchies	15	(14)
2. Why Hierarchies Persist	29	(24)
PART TWO HIERARCHIES AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE
3. Humanizing Hierarchies Versus Systemizing Them	53	(16)
4. Three Changes That Shook the Hierarchy	69	(14)
5. How Big Hierarchies Cope with Change	83	(18)
PART THREE HIERARCHIES AND THE MANAGER
6. The Manager's Authority	101	(24)
7. Leadership, Authority, and the Hierarchy	125	(18)
8. Three Lessons for Manager/Leaders	143	(18)
9. Hierarchies, Managers, and Morality	161	(16)
Notes	177	(6)
Index	183	(6)
About the Author	189