Top Down

Why Hierarchies Are to Stay and How to Manage Them More Effectively

Harold J. Leavitt - Collection General Management

189 pages, parution le 08/12/2004

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Résumé

How to Thrive in the Modern Organizational Hierarchy

FOR DECADES, management thinkers have been forecasting the end of top-down hierarchies. Even today, many information-era pundits insist that these authoritarian structures are rapidly giving way to networked, horizontal designs. Yet anyone who works in a large organization knows the truth: No matter how much "flatter" or more team-driven the company may be, it remains a top-down, boss-oriented hierarchy. In this refreshing and deeply grounded exploration of modern hierarchies, organizational behavior expert Harold J. Leavitt explains what has driven this disconnect between current management theory and the realities of working life. More important, he looks at how this disconnect affects today's managers, who struggle to operate democratically within results-driven, authoritarian hierarchies.

Leavitt argues that hierarchies have persisted for centuries-and will continue to persist-despite their obvious flaws. Even as they frustrate us, they also satisfy many of our deep emotional needs. Hierarchies, moreover, remain the most workable and effective structures humans have invented for performing large, complex tasks. Rather than continuing a futile fight to eliminate them, Leavitt proposes, we should acknowledge the inevitability of hierarchies and find better ways to make them more efficient and humane.

Top Down explores how innovative movements, from participative management to analytic management to "hot groups," have changed hierarchies. This book also shows how modern "manager/leaders" can cope with the conundrums they face in today's hierarchies, such as:

yielding authority while also empowering workers
running teams in organizations that reward individual achievement
retaining personal integrity in authoritarian environments that demand conformity and obedience

A lively, "get real" examination of the true state of today's workplace, Top Down is a level-headed guide to building productive, innovative organizations that are also fulfilling places to work.

L'auteur - Harold J. Leavitt

Harold J. Leavitt, Emeritus Professor, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

Sommaire

Preface
Introduction
The inevitable hierarchy
- Why We Don't Like Hierarchies
- Why Hierarchies Persist
Hierarchies and organizational change
- Humanizing Hierarchies Versus Systemizing Them
- Three Changes That Shook the Hierarchy
- How Big Hierarchies Cope with Change
Hierarchies and the manager
- The Manager's Authority
- Leadership, Authority, and the Hierarchy
- Three Lessons for Manager/Leaders
- Hierarchies, Managers, and Morality
Notes
Index
About the Author

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Harvard Business School Press (HBS)
Auteur(s)	Harold J. Leavitt
Collection	General Management
Parution	08/12/2004
Nb. de pages	189
Format	16 x 24
Couverture	Relié
Poids	506g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9781591394983
ISBN13	978-1-59139-498-3