January 11, 2010
For those not in a position to their liking, it is quite fashionable to bash hierarchy—the levels of ascendancy in the modern organization. Most of us don’t naturally like having someone higher in the ‘archy’ than us. Submission to authority is not a human aptitude, a predictable birth gift. What about it? Are graduated levels—a chain of command—in the organizational chart helpful or hurtful? How does hierarchy meld with the notion of the leader as servant? Or, should an organization seeking to infuse servant leadership into its culture flatten itself like a pancake run over by a diesel road roller?
Hierarchy: the etymology of the word comes from a combination of Greek, Latin, and Ye Olde English. It means, “How in the world did you get above me?” Early usage included describing the ranks within the organized church, each subordinate to the next. Or, similar items can be aggregated in a hierarchical ranking by importance, such as Maslow’s famous Hierarchy of Needs. All modern systems are organized around hierarchies: schools, governments, churches, businesses, and drug cartels.
A hierarchical structure can provide critical touch points within an organization that aid the flow of information. Communication in healthy organizations runs up and down, side to side; hierarchy can facilitate effective, formal lines of communication.
Hierarchy also coordinates. The U.S would still be wandering around Europe if five-star General Eisenhower hadn’t told his Generals who told their Lieutenant Generals who told their Major Generals who told their Brigadier Generals who told their Colonels who told their Lieutenant Colonels who told their Majors who told their Captains who told their First Lieutenants who told their Second Lieutenants who told their Sergeants who told their Corporals who told the privates to turn right at Paris and stick together. Nothing is more awe or fear-inspiring than an army of thousands moving as a disciplined, elegant, coordinated, serpentine river of one—an impossibility without hierarchy.
The military organizational structure, proven by no less heady success than saving the free world, became the model for wartime and post-war business organization. Titans of big business and their disciples came by their command-n-control methods honestly—they knew they worked abroad. And they worked at home. America became an economic manufacturing engine like the world had never seen. Businesses were led by strong, powerful CEOs (Generals) who were served by disciplined, obedient middle managers who commanded the foot soldiers (privates) who actually did the work of making things. Loyalty and respect for authority were cherished corporate values.
But things have changed in the last six decades. Jobs requiring people to use their hands have largely fled overseas and have been replaced by knowledge work. Employees, to succeed, have become very well educated and sophisticated, paid for using their brains. Leading the modern workforce is a different ballgame. Savvy businesses seek to engage the whole person: head, hands, and heart. Enlightened leaders demand that employees participate in the decisions that affect them; servant leaders use the process to support and develop people.
Without education about the process, however, some workers feel that the ability to give input means every opinion has equal merit and must be given the utmost consideration—creating a sort of flat democracy, one layer on the organizational chart stretching to the East and West as far as the eye can see—an organizational crepe. Some rationalize that the abuse of power, an unfortunate, but a real side effect of the hierarchical form of governance, automatically renders the structure evil. Two giant principles teach us otherwise: hierarchy never defines the true value of human beings, and not every position or role in an organization is of equal importance. People are equally valuable. Their opinions are not. (Those wanting more responsibility should work to prepare themselves, not whine for equality—our new national pastime.)
It is not necessary to make organizational crepes. Organizations with healthy, nourishing cultures—where leaders exist to help others reach their full potential and followers embrace their unique and valuable role with gusto—use hierarchy as a tool. The result is a beautiful body—elegant, graceful, athletic, powerful, and successful!
