DWD20200227

David's Time With Peter F. Drucker 2020.2.27 One hears a great deal today about "the end of hierarchy." This is blatant nonsense. In any institution there has to be a final authority, that is, a "boss" ——someone who can make the final decisions and who can expect them to be obeyed. In a situation of common peril——and every institution is likely to encounter it sooner or later——survival of all depends on clear command. It the ship goes down, the captain does not call a meeting, the captain gives an order. And if the ship is to be saved, everyone must obey the order, must know exactly where to go and what to do, and do it without "participation" or argument. "Hierarchy," and the unquestioning acceptance of it by everyone in the organization, is the only hope in a crisis. Other situations within the same institution repuire deliberation. Others still repuire teamwork——and so on. Organization Theory assumes that institutions are homogeneous and that, therefore, the entire enterprise should be organized the same way. ——《Management Challenges for the 21st Century·Chapter1》(Peter F.Drucker,1999)