The Unavoidable Hierarchy: Who's who in your organization and why

by Michael Hatfield

Overview

The Unavoidable Hierarchy provides an analysis of why, in virtually every organization, members advance or decline in standing for reasons that have little or nothing to do with their merit. Michael Hatfield explains how this dynamic can be observed and analyzed, and insights gleaned from the analysis.

With organizations struggling to meet the aspirations of their employees; ill-equipped or patently inappropriate individuals failing in executive posts and need for businesses to be at the top of their game, The Unavoidable Hierarchy is a timely and important book for all managers, particularly those concerned with the human dynamics of the business.

Michael Hatfield draws on advancements in Game Theory, Network Theory, Organizational Behavior and Performance Management concepts to capture and evaluate the (previously unarticulated) influencing factors behind the game of corporate snakes and ladders. The resulting analysis will help you identify how these factors manifest as strategies and tactics within the organization, meaning that effective countermeasures can be derived from such an analysis.

Whilst these factors are likely to remain ubiquitous, the author’s focus includes ideas and strategies for mitigating their impact and making changes at the level of both the individual and the organization.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472462558
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/08/2016
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.88(w) x 9.69(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michael Hatfield, PMP, CCC, EVM, is probably best known as the author of the long running column in PMNetwork magazine, Variance Threshold. Besides PMNetwork, his work has appeared in the Project Management Journal, Cost Engineering, Gantthead, People on Projects, The Measurable News, and even in the Nuclear Weapons Journal. He is the author of Things Your PMO Is Doing Wrong (PMI Publishing, 2008) and Game Theory in Management (2012). He has worked as an entry-level technician for the Air Force Weapons Laboratory's Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) test sites, as the director of a National Laboratory's Project Management Office overseeing a budget of $1.3 Billion (USD), and many very interesting jobs in-between.

Table of Contents

List of Figures vii

List of Tables ix

Acknowledgments x

Introduction 1

1 Everybody Wants to Rule the World 3

2 Where We're Coming From 13

3 Where We've Been 19

4 Why We're Headed There: It's All in the Game 32

5 Instructional Voyeurism 51

6 The Unavoidable Hierarchy 67

7 On Organizational Narratives: The Stories We Know, the Secrets We Keep 87

8 Preparing to Play the Ranking Game 99

9 Playing the Ranking Game 120

10 Tearing Down the Organization 152

11 Preventing the Group's Destruction 168

12 The Stories of Our Lives 184

13 The Stories of Others' Lives 198

14 Implications for Management and Leadership 210

Conclusion: What Have We Learned? 224

Appendix: List of Hierarchical Strategies Addressed in the Book 228

Index 230