Top Down:
Why Hierarchies Are Here to Stay and How to Manage Them More Effectively
By Harold J. Leavitt
 
Authoritarian hierarchies are inevitable - So let's learn to live with them.

Pundits have been forecasting the demise of the hierarchical corporation for decades. We denigrate those authoritarian structures as controlling, territorial, bureaucratic, and slow-and we celebrate "alternatives" that are flatter, more democratic, and networked.
 
But renowned organizational behavior expert Harold J. Leavitt argues that such alternative structures have not proven viable - or even desirable - and that despite its human failings, hierarchy remains the foundational shape of every large human organization. Why? Because it works. Top Down neither defends nor attacks the much-maligned hierarchy. Rather, this counterintuitive book convincingly shows that even the "flattest" of today's organizations are really just hierarchies in disguise-and, to improve the ways hierarchies function, we must first acknowledge their inevitability.
 
Exploring both the benefits and shortcomings of top-down structures, Leavitt shows how leaders can reshape hierarchies to incorporate the human values and motivations that enable employees to thrive. He then offers middle managers suggestions about how best to negotiate the way through those authoritarian mazes, while maintaining their personal integrity and even finding satisfaction in their work.
 
Top Down is a refreshing "get real" examination of the true state of today's workplace-and an important step toward creating organizations that are efficient and productive, but also egalitarian and humane.
 

- Harold J. Leavitt, Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior Emeritus, the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

"Hal Leavitt has written a book to be savored. On the one hand, it is a magnificent summa of his half century of continuously path-breaking work. On the other, it is a bold leap into the future - debunking a great deal of current (wishful) organizational thinking, then offering a novel and realistic roadmap for organizational and leadership effectiveness for the new century."

- Tom Peters, author of Re-Imagine!

"The entrepreneurial spirit of an enterprise is like freedom: If you don't maintain a vigil the hierarchy will take over. Hal Leavitt explains why in this book. If you treasure entrepreneurial spirit as a competitive tool, but this book. Know your enemy."

- Po Chung, Cofounder and former Chairman, DHL International, Ltd.

"This is a masterful and important book, pulsing with unusual insights and originality. Leavitt, always an ally of reality, helps us to understand the inevitability of "hierarchy" and how those who work and live in them - virtually all of us - can make them just a tad more humane and livable."

- Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Management, USC, and coauthor of Geeks and Geezers

"Managers will profit greatly from Leavitt's latest, which analyzes our love-hate relationship with hierarchy and authority, and the constant tension between humanizing and systematizing forces within organizations. What a privilege it is to share these important ideas with such a wise and witty observer of the contemporary scene!"

- Mihaly Csikszenthihalyi, Director, Quality of Life Research Center

"Guess what? Hierarchies haven't gone away and, what's more, they shouldn't. In Top Down, Leavitt convincingly makes the case for both their ubiquity and utility. But, he does much more: he provides useful insights into how mangers and leaders can make hierarchies work better for the benefit of all of us. Horray!"

- Jerry I. Porras, Coauthor of Built to Last