Top Down: Why Hierarchies Are Here to Stay and How to Manage Them More Effectively [Hardcover]

Harold J. Leavitt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

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. It 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.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Harold Leavitt is Kilpatrick Professor of Organisational Behavior Emeritus at Stanford GSB. He has been a respected leader in the OB community throughout his career.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 189 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Review Press (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591394988
• ISBN-13: 978-1591394983
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended!, July 5, 2005

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Top Down: Why Hierarchies Are Here to Stay and How to Manage Them More Effectively (Hardcover)

This book could be subtitled "A Survival Manual for Those Stuck in the Middle." In the modern hierarchical (read "authoritarian") organization, the beleaguered middle manager is indeed stuck in the middle. Author Harold J. Leavitt is a self-professed "humanizer" who acknowledges the dehumanizing, authoritarian tendencies of the modern hierarchical organization. However, he goes beyond automatic humanistic inclinations to ask an important question: "What's the alternative?" Hierarchies have structured human activity for centuries. They've learned to cloak themselves in commoners' clothes in order to do business in egalitarian cultures, but don't let that fool you. Large organizations are still ruled by hierarchies, and woe unto the middle manager who forgets it. Leavitt's book evinces empathy for the plight of the unsung middle manager who has to meet the company's objectives while helping it appear to be something it's not: caring and humanistic. We highly recommend this book to all managers caught in the middle - which is to say, all managers.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Inevitability of Hierarchies, April 21, 2005

By 

Heather Fraschetti (arcadia, ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Top Down: Why Hierarchies Are Here to Stay and How to Manage Them More Effectively (Hardcover)

I've never had an inclination to write a book review on Amazon. However, after reading Hubert Shea's farcical review of Leavitt's Top Down, I felt compelled to do so. I've always been a fan of Leavitt's work, so it came as no surprise to me that Top Down was yet another of his brilliant books.

Hubert Shea's review berates Top Down. He seems to believe hierarchies no longer exist; that they've been replaced by "flat and lean" organizations. Having worked in several organizations, I find this notion absolutely absurd. In fact, even Leavitt (p.3) says, "So why bother to prove the world is still round?" Apparently, to some, the world is flat.

In Top Down, Leavitt does much more than argue the obvious existence of hierarchies. He challenges us, as readers, not to think hierarchies, but to think ABOUT hierarchies. He describes how hierarchies have changed in modern organizations with elements such as participative management and "Hot Groups." He opens our eyes to the fact that despite our disdain for them, hierarchies continue to be effective and thriving forms for modern organizations. Furthermore, he illustrates how we can humanize these inevitable hierarchies. Last, and certainly not least, Leavitt offers Top Down as a much needed resource to middle managers stuck holding the double-edged sword of authority in these modern times of organizational change.

Top Down is a book any individual working inside an organization should certainly read!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, September 25, 2010

By 

thefitz - See all my reviews

This review is from: Top Down: Why Hierarchies Are Here to Stay and How to Manage Them More Effectively (Hardcover)

It was exactly the book I wanted to read. Easy to read. While I enjoyed it, made sense etc. I thought the authors one voice could have been made more substantial by referencing other studies and more contrasting points of view. But, having said that, it wasn't the point of the book. Seeing that it is virtually one of the few recent books written on the topic, and from someone so experienced..it definitely is an important contribution to the topic of organizational structure.