Jaques’s “In Praise of Hierarchy” Article Critique

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction

The article by Jaques (2005) deals with the issue of misrepresentation of hierarchy in modern business literature. According to the article, the current consensus holds that hierarchy inhibits creativity, decreases flexibility, and otherwise hinders the performance of organizations. Jaques (2005) highlights the vagueness which characterizes the modern description of hierarchical structures and argues that the lack of proper understanding lies at the heart of the issue.

Main body

According to the author, the main trend in the academic literature is to depict traditional hierarchical structures as obsolete and unfitting for the requirements posed by the “the Information Age, the Services Age, or the Post-Industrial Age” (Jaques, 2005, p. 231). Interestingly, all of the mentioned concepts are only broadly defined, and the main reasons presented as arguments for distancing from them are the lack of trust and initiative in strictly hierarchical organizations. While these issues are certainly real, the primary cause of the drawbacks is the misuse of the concept, such as “the discontinuities in complexity that separate tasks into a series of steps or categories” (Jaques, 2005, p. 231).

It should be mentioned that while the author’s goal was to justify the feasibility of hierarchy and its suitability to the contemporary setting, he nevertheless responsibly presents its shortcomings. Specifically, he focuses on excessive layering – the presence of too many levels within the organization which, in addition to the communication hindering, create a setting where the managers and their subordinates coexist within the same frame of reference. The failure of management to add value to the work of their subordinates is another common criticism that leads to the situation where the breakup value of a large organization is greater than its share value, although it should be acknowledged that this indicator is relatively obscure and cannot be measured definitively (Jaques, 2005). Despite the highlighted barriers and shortcomings, Jaques (2005) argues that hierarchy is not only desirable for modern organization management but is essential and not easily substituted with alternative approaches. Most prominently, it is necessary for the establishment of an unambiguous and clearly defined range of responsibilities within the organization employing a large number of workers. According to the article, the hierarchical structure is the most natural and intuitive approach to the issue of accountability, which remains the primary reason for its resilience despite the efforts to substitute it with gimmicks.

The information presented in the article adds a new perspective to the concept of hierarchy. This is especially valuable in the highly dynamic business world, where the constantly changing setting challenges both theorists and practitioners of organizational management with new issues. Some of them are certainly real while others are mistakenly reframed to seem new. In response, scholars in the field create new approaches aimed at addressing emerging issues. Unfortunately, some of these solutions are unnecessarily complicated, misinterpret the original concepts, or even fail to address the problem altogether. On the other hand, the traditional approaches are misrepresented as inadequate, unfitting, and obsolete.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the article is useful for understanding the core premise of hierarchy as an effective structure that can, if properly applied, solve the issues it is believed to create. In addition, the author highlights certain difficulties in managerial practices overburdened with unnecessary fad insights. While it does not cover the issue in detail, it can be used as a recommended direction for further inquiry. Coupled with the understanding of the importance of hierarchy, such a viewpoint is expected to achieve greater performance and more appropriate utilization of the existing concepts.

Reference

Jaques, E. (2005). In praise of hierarchy. In J. Shafritz, J.S. Ott, & Y.S. Jang (Eds.), Classics of organization theory (6th ed.) (pp. 231-238). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.

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Jaques’s “In Praise of Hierarchy” Article Critique

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